Famous people have some unique qualities that make them seem very different from us mere mortals. But a walk down memory lane uncovers some incredible photos that prove that once upon a time, even the hottest celebrities looked just like regular humans, with bad hair, braces and all. Check out these pictures of your favorite celebs before they were famous, and see how many of them you can actually recognize.
1. Nicole Kidman
Kidman always knew she wanted to be an actress, and started taking dance and drama lessons at a very young age. In 1983, 16-year-old Kidman made her film debut in an Australian adventure kids show, BMX Bandits.
This is around when this picture of a smiley, curly Kidman was taken.
2. Johnny Depp
Depp’s first film role was in the classis horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), and this pictrue was taken around that time.
Seen in the picture is Depp’s first tattoo, which he got when he was 17: a ‘Cherokee Tribe’ tattoo he got to honor his Native American heritage, as his great-grandmother was a Cherokee
3. Hayden Panettiere
Panettiere was a child actress and first appeared in a commercial at the age of 11 months. When she was just 10 she was nominated for the first time for the Young Artist Award, which she later won twice.
This picture shows a 13-year-old Panettiere, already a seasoned actress.
4. Leonardo DiCaprio
DiCaprio is another actor who started his career as a young kid performing on TV.
In the picture, a young DiCaprio visits his Russian grandmother, Yelena Smirnova. The actor’s mother is of Russian descent, and he’s previously stated that he see himself as “half-Russian” as two of his late grandparents were Russian.
5. Ellen DeGeneres
This is a head shot of the comedian from the the start of her career. DeGeneres started performing stand-up comedy in her early 20s at small clubsin her native Louisiana, and in the early 1980s she began to tour nationally.
Today DeGeneres is one of the most successful comedians in the US, and is heading The Ellen DeGeneres Show since 2003.
6. Hugh Grant
Even though he was a kid in this photo, it seems like Hugh Grant has always been so…Hugh Grant! The British actor starred in his first film in 1982, but when he was then approached by a talent agent offering to represent him, he first declined.
Luckily for us, he later reconsidered, thinking that acting for a year would be a good way to save some money.
7. Vin Diesel
Vin Diesel is one of Hollywood’s hottest men, who’s known for his great physique and shaved head. However, this picture, from Diesel’s 1985 senior class yearbook – when he was still better known as Mark Sinclair – shows him with a full head of hair
Diesel began his acting career a few years later, but struggled to get roles until he produced and starred in Multi-Facial (1995), a short film which attracted the attention of director Steven Spielberg, who cast him in Saving Private Ryan.
8. Jodie Foster
The Academy Award winner started her career as a 3-year-old child model, and in the 1970s began acting in movies, with her breakthrough role being Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976).
This photo shows a strikingly beautiful young Foster in 1979, a year before she started school at Yale.
9. Sean Connery
The renowned Scottish actor actually started his career as a bodybuilder in the 1950s.
It was during a bodybuilding competition in 1953 that one Connery’s competitors mentioned that auditions were being held for a production of South Pacific, and he decided to try his luck. Connery succeeded to land a small part in the play – and the rest is history.
10. Hillary Clinton
Before she bacame the First Lady, and later the Secretary of States, Clinton was a student Wellesley College and even gave the commencement speech for her class in 1969.
In 2017 she returned to her alma mater to give another commencement speech, this time as a presidential nominee running a campaign against Donald Trump.
11. Freddie Mercury
One can’t miss the famous overbite of the legendary Queen front man, even in a picture of him as a schoolboy.
Mercury was, reportedly, always self conscious because of his teeth, but decided not to ever fix them as he believed they contributed to his unique vocal “range”.
12. Tom Hanks
This adorable young boy is a young Tom Hanks, today of one of the most popular film stars in the world. According to the actor, at school he was a good, kinda geeky, kid. In high school he started performing in school plays, and later dropped out of college to intern full time at a theater festival.
In 2010, Time magazine named Hanks one of the “Top 10 College Dropouts.”
13. Emma Stone
In the case of young Emma Stone, a habit of persistent thumb sucking as a child caused her to develop an overbite, which was fixed by wearing dental braces for 7 years.
Nowadays Stone is sporting a shiny smile and a stellar career – including an Academy Award for her role in La La Land.
14. Zac Efron
This cringy-yet-cute photo shows 15-year-old Zac Efron proudly showing his crimped hair. Luckily, this hairstyle didn’t last long, and Efron became a successful teen actor and a Disney star.
In 2019 he changed direction from his usual carefree musicals and comedies, and starred as serial killer Ted Bundy in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile.
15. Steve Buscemi
This Pat Davidson look-alike is a actually a young Steve Buscemi: This picture was taken in 1980, when Buscemi joined the NY Fire Department as a fire fighter.
He served in FDNY for four years, but then decided to try and pursue a career in acting, and in made his acting debut in the 1985 film The Way It Is.
16. Katy Perry
This is a picture of an almost unrecognizable 17-year-old Katy Perry, taken on the tour bus during her very first tour in 2001, when she was still using the name Katy Hudson (her given name).
In those days Perry was focused primarily on gospel music, but two years later she moved to Los Angeles and started transitioning to a more secular style.
17. Beyoncé Knowles
Even Queen Bey had to start somewhere. This photo is of a 10-year-old Beyoncé, two years after she’s already become a member of girl group, Girl’s Tyme, later to be called Destiny’s Child.
Never-before seen footage of the group was sold in 2016 for more than 3 million dollars.
18. Christian Bale
Here’s a picture of the young Christian Bale years before he became Batman, with a 1990s-appropriate haircut.
By this point the English actor had already gotted his breakthrough role in Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun (1987), which earned him widespread critical acclaim.
19. Morgan Freeman
The Academy Award winner began his long career in the 1970s, and his first recognition was when he was part of the cast of the successful children’s program The Electric Company.
He had a few recurring roles on the show, among them a hipster that loved reading, a DJ, Dracula and a vegetarian vampire.
20. Barack Obama
Before his political awakening, the 44th American president was a student at Occidental College in Los Angeles, a school he chose after learning that a girl he liked also went there.
Obama has written and talked about using alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine during his teenage years.
21. Taylor Swift
The pop star started writing songs and playing guitar while she still a kid, and when she just 14 years old the whole Swift family relocated to Nashville so she could pursue her dream of becoming a country singer – a bet which certainly paid off.
In this yearbook photo, Swift (+ amazing cornrows) is almost unrecognizable.
22. Dolly Parton
Another natural born singer is American music legend Dolly Parton. This photo was taken in 1965 when Parton was working as a songwriter, two years before the singer’s debut album, Hello, I’m Dolly, came out.
Parton belongs to a select group of people who have received at least one nomination from the Academy Awards, the Grammy Awards, the Tony Awards, and the Emmy Awards. In 1999, she was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
23. Robert De Niro
This cute looking boy went on to become one of Hollywood’s greatest actors.
De Niro first acting experience at the age of 10, in a school production of the Wizard of Oz, and when he was 16 decided to drop out of high school to pursue a career as an actor. He got in his first professional acting role four years later, in the film The Wedding Party (1969).
24. Angelina Jolie
Jolie made her acting debut as a 5-year old, alongside her father, actor Jon Voight, in Lookin’ to Get Out. As a teenager, Jolie tried to get acting jobs but was often told her style was “too dark”.
While she starred in some low-budget films, Jolie also worked as a part-time model. This photo from the 1990s is another proof to Jolie’s unique beauty.
25. Ewan McGregor
This photo is from the Scottish actor’s yearbook, where he was voted as Best Senior Instrumentalist, and is appropriately photographed with his French horn.
McGregor has made a long way since his days in the school orchestra, with roles on hit movies like Moulin Rouge and Star Wars.
26. Arnold Schwarzenegger
This photo shows a wide-eyed Arnold Schwarzenegger, then a successful bodybuilder, on his first trip to New York in 1968. Two years later he won the Mr. Olympia competition and at 23 he became the youngest person to ever become Mr. Olympia, a record he holds to this day.
Since that first trip to NY, the Austrian-born Schwarzenegger became one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, and even went on to be elected as Governor of California.
27. Robin Williams
Young Robin Williams was bullied by classmates because he was overweight, but eventually joined the high school drama club and said that comedy helped him become more confident at school.
When he was 25 he started performing comedy in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and gained a great following before being offered a role on Mork & Mindy.