40 Vintage Photos Of Celebrities Before They Were Famous
40 Vintage Photos Of Celebrities Before They Were Famous
As many actors, singers, models and more have shown us, it only takes one breakout role, paparazzi moment or music single after years of hard work to catapult someone to household name status.
Many indisputably famous, A-list celebrities today were actually on 'the circuit' for years before, in an attempt to get their big break.
Here are some iconic pictures from throughout the past few decades showing some of our favourite celebrities before they hit the big time.
From Jennifer Aniston to Emma Stone to Oprah Winfrey, scroll through for some vintage celebrity portraits...
Jennifer Aniston
Taken: At an NBC stars party, 1990.
Breakthrough: Playing Rachel Green on Friends, of course, which premiered in September 1994. Well, the rest is history.
Jennifer Lopez
Taken: In 1992 during a Los Angeles portrait session.
Breakthrough: Playing Selena in the 1997 biopic of the Latino singer, which saw her nominated for a Golden Globe.
Ariana Grande
Taken: When Ariana starred in the Broadway Cast of 13, this particular appearance was taken in 2008 when the cast visited Planet Hollywood in New York City.
Breakthrough: Acting wise, when she landed the part of redhead Cat Valentine on the Nickelodeon hit series Victorious in 2010. Grande was elevated to double-threat stardom when she released her first album Yours Truly in 2013.
Blake Lively
Taken: At the Nickelodeon kids choice awards in 2005.
Breakthrough: Playing Serena Van Der Woodsen in Gossip Girl from 2007 - 2012.
Priyanka Chopra
Taken: At London's Milennium Dome when Chopra competed in and then won the Miss World competition show.
Breakthrough: Globally, in 2015, when she played the lead role in US crime drama Quantico. But in India, it was much earlier than that. She landed her first Bollywood role in 2003.
Brad Pitt
Taken: At a cocktail party in Beverly Hills in 1988.
Breakthrough: Pitt became known as an international heartthrob following his role in Thelma and Louise in 1991. Movie roles followed throughout the 1990s with Seven released in 1995.
Gigi Hadid
Taken: At the Heart Foundation Gala in Hollywood in 2006, which she attended with her mother Yolanda.
Breakthrough: Signing to IMG in 2013 and made her NYFW debut in 2014 which led to a whole lot of shows, campaigns and magazine covers for the next six years.
Leonardo DiCaprio
Taken: In 1989 when little Leo was just 15.
Breakthrough: Starring in What's Eating Gilbert Grape in 1993, where he earned his first Oscar nomination. Last year, DiCaprio said he experienced an overnight crazy level of fame after 1997's Titanic.
Meghan Markle
Taken: At a Coach exhibit in the Hamptons in August 2006.
Breakthrough: Portraying Rachel Zane on the legal drama Suits from 2011 up until her engagement to Prince Harry in 2017.
Angelina Jolie
Taken: During a portrait session in LA in 1991.
Breakout moment: Though she might have experienced some fame due to her actor father Jon Voight, Jolie garnered international recognition when she won an Oscar for Girl, Interrupted in 1999.
Margot Robbie
Taken: At the Melbourne Fashion Festival 2009.
Breakthrough: Though she was already known in Australia due to her role on daytime soap opera Neighbours, Robbie became known on a global level after starring opposite DiCaprio in Wolf of Wall Street in 2013.
Kim Kardashian West
Taken: At a party in LA in 2006.
Breakthrough: Born into a Los Angeles crowd with famous friends - she grew up with the Hiltons and the Richies, her stepdad was an Olympic athlete and her father a renowned lawyer - Kardashian gained worldwide fame when her family's reality TV show began in 2007. Since Keeping Up With The Kardashians, there have been beauty lines, fashion lines, tech ventures and pretty much world domination.
Ryan Reynolds
Taken: In 1997 during a portrait session.
Breakthrough: After starring in Canadian soaps and sitcoms, Reynolds found fame in the mid-late noughties via a string of roles in popular rom coms like Just Friends (2005), Definitely, Maybe (2008) and The Proposal (2009).
Jay-Z
Taken: In September 1989.
Breakthrough: Jay-Z aka Shawn Carter released his first rap album, the critically-acclaimed Reasonable Doubt in 1996, a year after founding Roc-A-Fella records.
Julia Roberts
Taken: In1986 in New York City on a night out with Christopher Walken.
Breakthrough: Robert's incredible career started with a role in Mystic Pizza in 1988.
Matt Damon
Taken: At the LA premiere of small film School Ties in 1992.
Breakthrough: Though he'd had small roles, including with Roberts in Mystic Pizza, Damon's big break came with an Oscar win when he co-wrote and starred in Good Will Hunting in 1997.
Meryl Streep
Taken: During an actor's portrait session in August 1976.
Breakthrough: The multi-award winning actor received her first (of many) Oscar nominations for The Deer Hunter in 1978.
Bella Hadid
Taken: At a benefit concert in Las Vegas in 2010, which she attended with her mother Yolanda.
Breakthrough: Signed to IMG models in 2014, Bella's runway debut was for Desigual at NYFW and the next season followed up with a Tom Ford appearance. She's been one of the most in-demand models in the world ever since.
Oprah Winfrey
Taken: When Winfrey was the co anchor of Eyewitness News in Baltimore, Maryland in June 1978.
Breakthrough: The Opera Winfrey Show of course, putting her literally into people's living rooms since 1986.
Hailey Bieber
Taken: At the ESPY awards LA 2010, which she attended with her actor father Stephen Baldwin.
Breakthrough: In 2014, Baldwin (now, Bieber), made her first runway appearance for Topshop during LFW and had her first campaign for French Connection.
Jennifer Lawrence
Taken: At the Annual Movieguide Faith and Values Awards in February 2007.
Breakthrough: For movie lovers, Lawrence starred in The Winter's Bone in 2010 before being cast in big budget films like X Men a year later and The Hunger Games Franchise in 2012.
Kanye West
Taken: In 2002 at a hip hop industry party.
Breakthrough: After writing songs for Jay-Z and others, West made his own breakthrough with The College Dropout album in 2004.
Emma Stone
Taken: At an event for Replay Jeans in 2006.
Breakthrough: Starring as Jonah Hill's love interest Jools in 2007's hit comedy Superbad and subsequent lead roles in Easy A (2010) and Crazy Stupid Love (2011).
Reese Witherspoon
Taken: At the Deauville Film Festival - looking very much like her daughter Ava Philippe - in 1991.
Breakthrough: Cruel Intentions in 1999 and then two years later playing 'Gemini Vegetarian' Elle Woods in Legally Blonde.
George Clooney
Taken: During a photoshoot in LA in 1985.
Breakthrough: Portraying Dr Doug Ross in medical drama ER from 1994 to 1999.
Eva Mendes
Taken: At The Others premiere in 2001.
Breakthrough: Training Day alongside Ethan Hawke and Denzel Washington in 2001.
Timothée Chalamet
Taken: At a pre-SAG party at Chateau Marmont, Hollywood in 2013 when Chalamet had a small role in TV drama Homeland.
Breakthrough: In 2017 - the year of Call Me By Your Name and Ladybird.
Emily Blunt
Taken: On the opening night of the play 'The Royal Family' at The Theatre Royal in London in 2001.
Breakthrough: Portraying the uptight magazine assistant Emily in The Devil Wears Prada in 2006.
Matthew Perry
Taken: To promote his series Second Chance in New York in 1987.
Breakthrough: As one sixth of the cast of Friends in 1994.
Saoirse Ronan
Taken: At the 2007 Venice Film Festival photocall for Atonement.
Breakthrough: After gaining an Oscar nomination for Atonement, Ronan went on to achieve worldwide fame for her roles in The Grand Budapest Hotel in 2014 and Brooklyn in 2015.
Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and Daniel Radcliffe
Taken: At a photocall for Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone 2001 when the three lead actors were aged between 10 and 11.
Breakthrough: Immediately after the first film was released, we can probably guess that life was never normal again for the three actors.
Channing Tatum
Taken: Backstage at the Marc Ecko show in NYC in 2003.
Breakthrough: In the 2006 dance film, Step Up.
Courteney Cox
Taken: In December 1987 in New York City.
Breakthrough: Playing Monica Geller in Friends from 1994 to 2004.
Gwyneth Paltrow
Taken: At Studio 54 in New York City in 1985 with mother Blythe Danner.
Breakthrough: After starting to get noticed in Seven (1995), Emma (1996) and Sliding Doors (1998), Paltrow rocketed to worldwide fame when she won an Oscar for Shakespeare In Love in 1998.
Ben Affleck
Taken: In 1995
Breakthrough: Co-writing and starring in the Academy Award winner Good Will Hunting with Matt Damon in 1997.
Cara Delevingne
Taken: At the London premiere of Remember Me in 2010.
Breakthrough: A Burberry campaign and LFW show in 2012.
Tom Hardy
Taken: At the premiere for Star Trek: Nemesis in 2002.
Breakthrough: In the 2010s, starting with Inception for which he was awarded the BAFTA rising star award.
Keira Knightley
Taken: At the Bend It Like Beckham premiere in London in 2002.
Breakthrough: Though some fans of the cult film will have known her from then, it wasn't until she starred in The Pirates of The Caribbean franchise in 2003 that really accelerated Knightley towards global stardom.
Matt Le Blanc
Taken: At a motorbike convention in California in November 1991.
Breakthrough: Three years later when he portrayed Joey in Friends.
Orlando Bloom
Taken: At the Cannes Film Festival in 2001 months before the first of the Lord of the Rings trilogy was released.
Breakthrough: Playing Legolas in the Lord of the Rings franchise.
From Brad Pitt to Matt Damon to Kanye West.