29 Celebrities and What They Were like before They Were Famous

1.

Went to middle school with Megan Fox for a bit. She rode my bus and she mostly kept to herself. Most of the guys would fight over who was going to sit next to her but she was very shy and didn't really have much to say.

2.

I live in the town where Dolly Parton grew up, and practically everyone above the age of 50 who grew up here claims to either be a distant relative of Dolly’s, or they claim to know her in some way. Everyone has their story of the time they met Dolly. It’s pretty obvious, but regardless of who you talk to, Dolly has always been sweet and generous, but everything has simply grown exponentially due to her fame.

Examples are the millions of books she gives out for free to children around the globe each month, or how she gave out $10,000 cash to many of my close friends after their houses burned in a fire a couple years back. Thousands of people are employed here and work for one of the businesses she owns, and it’s a tad strange to see when you walk in, but the birthing center at the local hospital is funded by and named after her. I honestly can’t think of one person I know who doesn’t like her. Dolly’s heart has only gotten bigger because of fame.

3.

I went to school with Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley from Harry Potter). I was into acting too, so we had done a few school plays together. He was really nice, very chill, a good laugh. I haven't seen him since school days, but he kept coming to classes whenever he wasn't filming, was always happy to chat about the movies. Sometimes he'd need a little break from so many people wanting to talk, and would come and hang out in the library, and honestly, you'd never know he was in the biggest film series at the time.

Honestly, I think a lot of these answers boil down to if they want fame or not. Rupert loved what he was doing, but didn't care about being famous and having people cater to his ego. Just a nice normal kid.

4.

A friend of mine is buddies with Paul Rudd. Says he's exactly the same and a great human.

5.

Jack Black is the same person he was as a teenager, funny, kind, caring, and spreading that joy of music.

6.

I went to high school with Mark Ruffalo. He was nice. He was “one of those thespians”. Our high school had an acting group that challenged the students to get out of their shell and do things in front of strangers like introducing yourself as the wild fairy of the woods and presenting them with a flower. We didn’t talk much, but like I said, he was a good guy.

7.

Friend of mine was friends with Tom Hanks in high school and went to prom with him. He still writes her personalized BDay cards on one of his typewriters.

8.

Chris Evans was really obnoxious as a popular local teenage actor. Imagine his character from Scott Pilgrim but as a kid. He grew up and grew out of being obnoxious and I’m happy for his absurdly successful career.

9.

My Grandpa (RIP) owned a grocery store in Miami in the late 70s. Wesley Snipes and his friends once stole some candy from his store and when he caught them he let them have it. Since then Wesley and his friends were regulars. Once, Wesley left his bike in front of the store and it got stolen (was a pretty bad area). My grandpa gave him his old bike that he kept in the back of the store. My uncle took over in 2001 when my grandpa died. In 2007 he came back to the store while my uncle and cousin were there, to ask about my grandpa. My uncle said they talked for a little over an hour about how he my grandpa treated him like a son. When he found out my grandpa passed he felt guilty he didn’t visit sooner. He embraced my uncle and cousin and left. My uncle said he told him they plan on having the building repainted while they talked. About a week later a crew of painters arrived and told my uncle they were already paid to have the building repainted. Such a genuine dude.

Edit: Sorry I haven’t been able to reply to everyone, but thank you guys so much for love! Even tho he’s often portrayed negatively, glad to see that people still find try to find the best in us, even it’s a small gesture.

10.

Worked in a restaurant about 15 years ago as a manager. Rachel McAdams walked in for an interview. She was still in acting school and serving table to pay for it. She worked at my restaurant over the course of the next 2 summers, serving on our patio. Still friends to this day. She hasnt changed a bit. Still bikes to get groceries.

11.

My grandmother worked at Dollywood for many years and met Dolly a handful of times. When she died, Dolly sent two dozen or so roses to the funeral home. She’s a real gem

12.

My coworkers dad grew up with Queen Latifah in North Jersey. His whole family loves her because they were about to lose their house, so she paid it off for them. They’ve never said a bad thing about her.

(Queen Latifah, if this gets back to you, thanks for what you did for your friends in NJ. Phil’s a really cool guy.)

13.

My mom used to ride the bus to work in downtown Cleveland with Steve Harvey’s first wife. Apparently she supported him while he was trying to get his career started. And then basically as soon as he got successful he divorced her for a younger woman.

14.

My dad was good friends with Johnny Depp back in the day. It was around when he was first filming 21 Jump Street (the show, not the movie lol). My dad says he was really humble and kind and always paid their bar tab. Apparently he was quite generous in giving out lots of free quality cocaine at partys too!

15.

My grandfather taught Jack Nicholson in High School math class. Said he was rebellious but wasn't too bad at math.

16.

Chris Hemsworth and his brother Liam, both really good blokes before and after they became famous

17.

I sat next to Tom Holland while we did our History GCSE, and went to primary school with him so knew him quite well. He was quite often off filming in Thailand for The Impossible at the time. I didn't keep contact with him past GCSE but he was a great guy and very funny, as he seems to be now which is nice to hear.

One memory I do have is a bunch of us laughing at him when he was practising ballet in the school gym getting ready to be Billy Elliott. We weren't laughing for long.

18.

I went to college with Joe Keery aka Steve Harrington in Stranger Things. He was my college boyfriend’s suite mate and just the nicest guy. His hair has always been dreamy and amazing. Last time I saw him was at a viewing of the Hateful Eight after we graduated and he still made a point to come over and say hi!

19.

I went to school with Emily Ratajkowski. She’s always been kind and really smart and genuinely talented. Worst I can say is in middle school she auditioned for a play and she didn’t get the part she wanted so she didn’t do the play at all. I got the part she refused, lol. I ran into her when we were in college (still before she got famous) and she seemed sincerely happy to see me and catch up, I remember she loved the coat I was wearing. IMO her interviews and ‘famous persona’ are authentic - she is a legit badass babe. I’m super proud of her.

20.

I knew Robert Pattinson about 15 years ago. Nice guy, friendly, a lot of fun to be with. He lived by himself in the centre of Soho, London, in a tiny one-bed flat that I think he felt like the romantic vision of a starving artist, or at least wanted to.

He had a weird side. He'd say random, violent, depraved things. He was obsessed with Jack Nicholson. He never really cared about what people thought, he had confidence and he was always himself, and he knew he could be deliberately contradictory and he used that as a personality trope. But he was a good guy, and I get the impression he's very comfortable with himself now that he has developed his career, that he acts very well, and that he can pick and choose his roles based upon what he wants to do and who he wants to work with.

Twilight for him was always a means to an end, and I think he worked it very much to his benefit, and didn't compromise himself.

21.

A close family friend was best friends with Tom Cruise before he got famous. I didn’t believe her and she showed me pictures they have taken together like a Vegas road trip, camping, etc. He was really awesome but as soon as he got an ounce of fame it went to his head and he became very arrogant and a fame w***e

22.

Tyler the Creator - Exactly the same. We were all concerned at how bizarre he was. He would call people “a table” or something incredibly random and the sense of humor caught on in my high school. The fame did nothing, he’s still strange and a sweetheart.

23.

I went to high school with Emma Chamberlain. She was a huge bully in high school and pretty much a brat who thought she could get away with whatever she wanted (before she got famous). Her parents were divorced which led to them both always trying to be her friend and never actually parenting her, so they basically let her do whatever she wanted.

When she said that people from her high school made fun of her because she was “poor” and that the parking lot was all bmws and range rovers I lost my mind because SHE was the bully in high school, and while the school definitely had some wealthy students it was mostly a middle class crowd.

24.

My older brother went to school with Chris Pratt, and was in his German class. Chris told the teacher his older brother was in Germany and said he could grab her a piece of the Berlin Wall. Two weeks later Chris grabbed a piece of concrete from the sidewalk, spray painted it, and gave it to her. The last time I check (2018) it was still there.

25.

Jennifer Lawrence. I moved to Louisville middle of 7th grade year. She was my first friend, and the first person I had a sleepover with. We hit it off. She was very different from me, a cheerleader, came from a lot of wealth, but her family was really awesome and we were both kinda weird and outgoing so we become good friends very fast. Her family owned a farm that had a children’s summer camp and we went to it a couple of times, she had one of her birthday parties there! I remember her kissing our friend Jon under a trampoline. We talked about it for way too long! We hung out fairly often until she moved to NYC a year and half after we met.

We started taking acting classes together in 8th grade at a local theater here in town, Walden Theater. It’s funny because on our first day, we had no idea we were both taking the class. I walked in to the first one, and there she was. We were both so excited to have a friend! We were in the first level of the theater but after a couple weeks, both moved to the intermediate class (we were the oldest people in the class, so that’s why they moved us up so fast)

We carpooled together to Walden Theater every Tuesday and Thursday for acting class. I would ride the bus home with her, her mom would take us to class, then my mom would pick us up and take her home. She was a natural at acting, I’ll tell you that. I was still somewhat shy, but she could pretty much be given any character and even though she was 14, you’d believe it. She ALWAYS talked about how she had a photographic memory, and that’s how she was able to remember lines so easily. And she did. It was insane.

I have read where she said she’s had no prior acting, but this isn’t true? I’m not sure if she said this for a part of her look, or maybe she considered it informal, but we definitely took acting classes our entire 8th grade year.

I will say, what you see with her is what you get. She was always very quirky, kinda weird (which was funny because she was so preppy presenting, but really wasn’t like that), she was very loud, made her presence known. It’s been bizarre seeing her in interviews because she acts the exact same.

I remember she moved to NYC to pursue modeling between 8th and 9th grade. It worked because soon after she was in a commercial for Burger King and a couple of MTV’s “My Sweet 16” commercials as well. She was doing online classes for our high school (Ballard High School) and came to visit one time in 9th grade and another in 10th grade. I squealed when I saw her, I genuinely missed her. I had no idea she was about to become one of the most famous actresses of our generation.

26.

My dad was good friends with Will Smith before the Fresh Prince days - Will actually showed him the pilot before it aired. Fast forward however many years to After Earth and Will invited us on the set. His first words when he saw my dad 10+ years later was “the philly crew is back!” Both will and Jaden are the sweetest people you’ll ever meet

My dad also did all of the work on Will Smith’s and Jazzy Jeff’s cars back in the day. Had a little too much fun in Will’s Jeep and flipped it on its roof. Thanks for coming to my TedTalk.

27.

I went to high school with Post Malone. We graduated the same year. He always wore a suit to class and was that nerdy dedicated kid. Glad to see how his life turned out. I hoped nothing for the best for him and now I listen to him all the time haha. I’m just a rando to him though. We never really talked

28.

When I was really young I’d go the reptile park, originally owned by Bob Irwin and passed on to his son Steve. Steve was always nice, would do all the lizard and croc shows, would hang out and chat afterwards. My dad would take me there occasionally and Steve would seem to remember us, treated everyone like an old buddy.

This was before he became famous obviously, and the small reptile park became the Australia Zoo. In my final year of high school I got in the zoo for work experience and they let me stay on. Steve was rarely there, and when he was he’d avoid guests (because they would swarm him and he’d get nothing done) but when I did run into him he was always super nice and still acted like that old friend.

Didn’t say crikey nearly as much as you’d think. That’s definitely something aussies say but he really played that up for the cameras as his catchphrase. Unfortunately he died later that year so... right up til the end he was just a lovely person.

29.

Not personally but everyone in my town has a Dave Chappelle story. I worked with a guy who said he knew him, I called BS. We then met Dave and they were actually friends. Basically no one in town thought he would be much. Now he is a local hero really down to earth. You literally see this man just chilling in the park in normal cheap clothes. Nothing has changed him. You wouldn’t think he was famous. Maybe homeless but not famous.

30.

I went to high school with Bo Burnham as he was just starting out in comedy and music. He walked into my chemistry class one day, joked with the chemistry teacher, then kicked over a trash can. As he was walking away down the hall he yelled “Badass alert.” Thought he was entertaining.