Celebrity Headshots From Before They Were Famous
These stars look so young!

For some stars, it was just a few short years before they hit it big, while for others it would take decades before they became household names. One thing is for sure though: Our favorite films and TV shows would not be the same without them. To remind you just how far some of your favorite celebs have come since starting their careers, we rounded up the best celebrity headshots from before they were famous. Ahead, see a pre-Save the Last Dance Kerry Washington, Nicole Kidman's very '80s hairstyle, what a teenage Rita Moreno looked like before snagging her Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Anita in West Side Story, and a baby Meryl Streep—an icon even then.

Leonardo DiCaprio
Young Leo got his start acting in commercials in the late '80s, but the child star landed a recurring role in the original Parenthood (yes, there was a sitcom version before the 2000s drama version). He moved on to movies like What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Romeo + Juliet, and hit superstar status with Titanic.

Gwyneth Paltrow
Long before she founded Goop, Paltrow was a budding actress in the '90s (with a Hollywood pedigree) who starred in made-for-TV movies like Cruel Doubt (pictured here) before she got her part in Se7en. While Se7en didn't end well for her character (spoilers for those who don't know what was inside the box), it launched her film career and she went on to do Moonlight and Valentino, Emma, Sliding Doors, Shakespeare in Love, Iron Man, and so many more films before launching her lifestyle brand.



Will Smith
Now this is a story all about how his life got flipped, turned upside down. Back in the '90s, before he was a Genie in Aladdin or saving the world on Independence Day or fending off aliens in Men in Black, Will Smith was known best for his rapping skills and made it big with the NBC series, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Sandra Bullock
Sandra Bullock made her screen acting debut in 1987 in a movie called The Hangman, but it wasn't until 1992 when she was spotted in the charming rom com Love Potion No. 9, and in 1993 in a memorable role in Demolition Man that she started to gain real attention. She became a household name after 1994's action flick, Speed.





Rita Moreno
Rita Moreno stole everyone's heart as Anita in West Side Story, but the young actress had been in show business for 11 years by then. After winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, her career was catapulted into a decades long career that led to roles in the 9 To 5 TV series, Sesame Street, and most recently on Jane The Virgin and Netflix's One Day At A Time.


Penélope Cruz
The Spanish sensation was known abroad before hitting it big in the states with Vicki Christina Barcelona. You may have remembered her starring alongside Johnny Depp in Blow or with Tom Cruise in Vanilla Sky in the early 2000s. Nowadays, Cruz has taken on bigger roles and collaborated with husband Javier Bardem.

Meryl Streep
Meryl now has an impressive 21 Oscar nominations, but back in 1976 she was just getting started. It was her 1979 role in Kramer vs Kramer that really put her on everyone's radar. Streep continued to wow us as she swapped from TV to the silver screen effortlessly. Four decades later, people can rank their top five Streep films at the drop of a hat.





Kerry Washington
Kerry Washington first started acting as a teenager in Manhattan, working with a theater group that used improv to tackle social issues. In 2001, Washington caught the world's attention in Save the Last Dance. Thanks to her award-winning performance on Scandal, the actress landed a spot on Forbes' 2018 list of the highest paid actresses in TV.

Kate Bosworth
Even though she had minor roles in Horse Whisperer and Remember the Titans, Kate Bosworth didn't get her big break until Blue Crush in 2002, when the Los Angeles native was 19 years old. How does Bosworth feel about film's sequel buzz? "I would love to do it, I really would," she said on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen. "That movie is still such an important part of my life and it really gave me a career in many ways."






Alexis Bledel
When a then-19-year-old Alexis auditioned for Gilmore Girls, she had no prior experience on screen. Despite her inexperience, there was something about her that made Warner Bros. cast her as one half of the Gilmore duo. "She just jumped off the screen, you know. Those blue eyes," casting director Julie Mossberg described in an interview with Vanity Fair.

Idris Elba
After earning a spot in the National Youth Music Theatre, due to a grant from the Prince's Trust, Idris Elba worked in various odd jobs in his home city of London while auditioning. The actor's first TV role was for the soap opera Family Affairs in 1997. He later became more prominent thanks to his part on HBO's The Wire.

Andie Macdowell
Her daughters, Rainey and Margaret Qualley, may be some of Hollywood’s newest stars (Margaret made her on-screen debut in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood this year), but not too long ago it was Andie Macdowell who was rising up in the industry. Macdowell landed her first role in the 1984 film Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes.


Naomi Watts
The actress found success in her home country of Australia with roles like For Love Alone and Flirting (which she costarred in with her best friend Nicole Kidman) in the late '80s. The actress moved to Los Angeles in 1993, but didn't attain her movie star status until her role in Mulholland Drive in 2001.

Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell began acting in high school in 1989 when he shot his first film, an indie project called Clownhouse. It wasn't until 1994 that the actor returned to film—in the meantime, he was picking up minor roles in television and commercials—with a role in The Search for One-eye Jimmy.



Marisa Tomei
The Brooklyn-born actress got her first role on camera on the soap opera As the World Turns. After, Tomei went on to star in off-Broadway plays, sitcoms, and small films. It wasn't until the actress appeared in the 1992 comedy My Cousin Vinny that her true star power was recognized and she won the 1993 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Gretchen Mol
Born in Connecticut, Mol moved to New York as a teenager to attend the The American Musical and Dramatic Academy. Her first role was in the Spike Lee film, Girl 6, in 1996. She followed it up with small roles in major pictures but didn't rise to prominence until HBO's Boardwalk Empire in 2010.





Brigitte Bardot
Bridgette Bardot first began modeling when she was 15 years old and shot her first film, Crazy for Love, in France in 1952. The following year, she debuted on the American screen, costarring with Kirk Douglas in Act of Love. It was this film that helped turn her into a sex symbol throughout the '50s and '60s.



Angelina Jolie
With a famous father like Jon Voight, it's no wonder Angelina Jolie didn't wait long to step in front of the camera. The A-list actress appeared in her first film, Lookin' to Get Out, with Jon at the age of 7. She later returned to film in the 1993 movie, Cyborg 2: Glass Shadow, and became one of Hollywood's rising stars a few years later with her role in Hackers.

Madonna
Madonna moved to New York City in 1978 to study at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and pursue a career as a dancer. In 1980, she joined the band Breakfast Club as their lead singer, but ventured out on her own a year later. By 1982, the pop icon had scored a record deal with Sire Records and her song "Everybody" was high on the dance charts.


Debbie Harry
The Blondie lead singer wasn't always so blonde. After growing up in a small New Jersey town, Debbie Harry moved to Manhattan to pursue her music career. It was there that she met her boyfriend, guitarist Chris Stein, bleached her hair (to emulate Marilyn Monroe), and founded the new wave band that would eventually storm the country's music charts.

Goldie Hawn
It's hard to remember a time when Goldie Hawn didn't dominate the acting world, but back in 1967 she was just starting out with her first role as Sandy Kramer on the television show Good Morning World. Her first major film role in Cactus Flower cemented her spot in cinema and snagged her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.


Marilyn Monroe
After getting married at the age of 16, Marilyn Monroe (neé Norma Jean Baker) lived with her first husband in California. She signed a contract with 20th Century Fox in 1946 while her husband was overseas, they divorced, and she took the stage name of Marilyn Monroe. Her first role with the studio was in Dangerous Years in 1947, but her big break was in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in 1953.



Robert De Niro
Although Robert De Niro filmed his first movie, The Wedding Party, in 1963 at the age of 20, it wasn't until six years later that the film premiered. By its 1969 premiere, he had already appeared in several other productions. The Academy Award-winning actor's career really took off after his 1973 film Mean Streets.

Betty White
Betty White has been on TV for more than 80 years and is the definition of an icon. But how did the comedic actress get her start? Back in the '40s she began working in radio and appeared on various game shows. In 1949, she got her own radio show called The Betty White Show, and that same year she began cohosting the variety show Hollywood on Television.




Helen Mirren
Before Helen Mirren could boast about her acting Triple Crown (she's won an Oscar, Emmy, and Tony award), she was hard at work on the stage as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Mirren made her film debut in 1967, but it wasn't until 1994 that the actress earned her first Academy Award nomination for The Madness of King George.




Lynda Carter
Lynda Carter became notable after winning the Miss World USA beauty pageant in 1972 representing Arizona. After, Carter pursued a career in acting and appeared in guest spots on TV shows like Nakia and Starsky and Hutch. In 1975 that her superpowers kicked in and she was cast in the Wonder Woman TV show.










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