39 Celebrity Yearbook Photos of Your Favorite Stars Before They Were Famous

By
Kelsey Glein
Kelsey Glein
Kelsey Glein is a Seattle-based writer and editor who covers all things fashion, beauty, and pop culture. She was previously the Digital Editor of InStyle and is currently a Social Media Manager at a cosmetics company.
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Updated on March 28, 2024 @ 10:02AM
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Photo: Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library, Shutterstock

Believe or not, even the biggest celebrities have had an awkward phase. The proof? High school yearbook photos.

Before she was an Oscar winner, Jennifer Lawrence was a young, lip-gloss wearing teen in Kentucky. And Justin Bieber didn't achieve his status as a heartthrob until a few years after that hilarious eighth grade yearbook photo was taken.

From triple threat Jennifer Lopez's 1987 portrait, taken during her time at Preston High School in the Bronx, to Tom Cruise's dapper senior picture, shot at Glen Ridge High School in 1980, we love these stars' throwback looks. Even better? The snap of Beyoncé as a freshman in 1996—her side part is peak high school.

Click through our gallery to see the hilarious photos of your favorite stars before they became famous. Some of them are almost unrecognizable—and some haven't changed one bit.

01 of 39

Jennifer Lawrence: 2005

Jennifer Lawrence: 2005
Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

Before J.Law was an Oscar winner, she was a sweet little eighth grader from Louisville, Ky., who loved statement earrings.

02 of 39

Justin Bieber: 2008

Justin Bieber: 2008
Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

The Canadian teenager sported the shaggy hairstyle he later made famous in his eighth grade yearbook photo.

03 of 39

Reese Witherspoon: 1994

Reese Witherspoon: 1994
Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

Witherspoon could totally pass as her daughter, Ava Phillippe, as a high school senior.

04 of 39

Barack Obama: 1979

Barack Obama: 1979
Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

The future POTUS sported an afro in his yearbook photo from the Punahou School in Honolulu.

05 of 39

Emily Ratajkowski: 2008

Emily Ratajkowski: 2008
Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

The high school junior looked just as stunning as ever in this fresh-faced snap from San Dieguito Academy in Encinitas, Calif.

06 of 39

Fergie: 1990

Fergie: 1990
Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

As a high school freshman, Fergie's beauty M.O. was (probably) the higher the hair, the better.

07 of 39

Jennifer Lopez: 1987

Jennifer Lopez - Transformation - Beauty
Yearbook Archives

Lopez graduated from Preston High School in the Bronx with big dreams. "I remember watching Rita Moreno in West Side Story and going, 'That's what I want to do. I want to sing and I want to dance and I want to act,'"€ she has said.

08 of 39

Julia Roberts: 1985

Julia Roberts - Transformation - Beauty
Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

The gorgeous teenager graduated from Campbell High School in Smyrna, Georgia.

09 of 39

Victoria Beckham: 1992

Victoria Beckham - Transformation
CAMERA PRESS/Geoff Marchant/Retna

The ambitious teenager loved to play with her look. "I used to get sent into the toilet every single day at school to take off my makeup and brush my hairspray out," she has said.

10 of 39

Tom Cruise: 1980

Tom Cruise - Transformation - Hair - Celebrity Before and After
Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

The handsome Glen Ridge High School senior would appear the following year in both Endless Love and Taps.

11 of 39

Courteney Cox: 1982

Courteney Cox - Transformation - Beauty
Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

The blue-eyed beauty graduated from Mountain Brook High School in Alabama.

12 of 39

Beyonce: 1996

Beyonce - Transformation - Beauty
Yearbook Library

The freshman at the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston was already a part of Destiny's Child when this photo was taken.

13 of 39

Blake Lively: 2003

Blake Lively - Transformation - Beauty
Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

The Burbank High School cheerleader sported classic California-girl highlights.

14 of 39

Kim Kardashian: 1995

Kim Kardashian - Transformation - Beauty - Celebrity Before and After
Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

The Armenian-American beauty sported a flippy bob for her freshman year at Marymount High School in Los Angeles.

15 of 39

Taylor Swift: 2005

Taylor Swift - Transformation - Hair and Makeup
Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

The Hendersonville High freshman had the tiara but didn't feel like a princess until she left to begin recording her first album. "I really don't miss much about high school," she said during her homeschool days, "because the moment I'm in right now is like waking up in a dream."

16 of 39

Jennifer Aniston: 1987

Jennifer Aniston - Transformation
Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

The natural brunette (and natural beauty) graduated from N.Y.C.'s LaGuardia High School of Music and Art.

17 of 39

Rachel Bilson: 1999

Rachel Bilson - Transformation - Beauty
Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

"I used to make my mom iron my hair with a clothing iron!" Bilson has said of her high school look. "She would totally fight me, but I insisted. So I had this dry, brittle, disgusting straw hair plastered to my head."

18 of 39

Zoe Saldana: 1996

Zoe Saldana - Transformation - Beauty - Celebrity Before and After
Yearbook Library

The Newtown High School student sported a very '90s shag.

19 of 39

Ben Affleck: 1987

Ben Affleck - Transformation - Hair - Celebrity Before and After
BOSTON HERALD / Rex USA

The Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School student took on several TV guest spots and even an ABC Afterschool Special while he was still a student.

20 of 39

Lea Michele: 2004

Lea Michele - Transformation - Beauty - Celebrity Before and After
Graeme Massie/Splash

By the time she attended Tenafly High School in New Jersey, Michele was already a Broadway success.

21 of 39

Amy Adams: 1992

Amy Adams - Transformation - Beauty - Celebrity Before and After
Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

"I used to steal my older sister's pink-and-green Maybelline mascara," Adams has said of her understated high school look in Castle Rock, Colorado.

22 of 39

Madonna: 1975

Madonna - Transformation - Beauty
Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

The Rochester Adams High School cheerleader plucked her brows pencil-thin and played up her eyes with soft liner.

23 of 39

Cameron Diaz: 1988

Cameron Diaz - Transformation - Beauty
Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

The teen magazine model was a cheerleader at Long Beach Polytechnic High School.

24 of 39

Hilary Swank: 1990

Hilary Swank - Transformation - Beauty
Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

The avid gymnast and swimmer at South Pasadena High School sported voluminous '80s bangs.

25 of 39

Sandra Bullock: 1982

Sandra Bullock - Transformation - Beauty
Yearbook Archives

The Arlington, Virginia high school senior wore pigtails with her cheerleading uniform.

26 of 39

Katy Perry: 2000

Katy Perry - Transformation - Beauty
Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

As a freshman at Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta, Calif., the blonde Perry idolized Freddie Mercury.

27 of 39

Megan Fox: 2001

Megan Fox - Transformation - Beauty
Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

"I was never a mean girl," Fox has said of her high school years in Port St. Lucie, Florida.

28 of 39

Meryl Streep: 1967

Meryl Streep - Transformation - hair and makeup
Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

As a senior at Bernards High School in Bernardsville, N.J., Streep was a popular cheerleader. "It was my first real characterization," she later joked. "I played blond homecoming queen for a few years."

29 of 39

Mariah Carey: 1987

Mariah Carey - Transformation - Beauty
Yearbook Archives

The hairspray enthusiast and Harborfields High School senior graduated despite missing so many classes she earned the nickname "Mirage."

30 of 39

Jennifer Garner: 1990

Jennifer Garner - Transformation - Beauty
Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

The Charleston, West Virginia, high school student ignored beauty don'ts. "I wasn't allowed to wear makeup, so I would sit in homeroom and put on eye shadow," she has said. "[The compact] had four colors in it, but I used only the blue."

31 of 39

January Jones: 1996

January Jones - Transformation - Beauty
Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

Awkward stage? Not for this teen! The blond Roosevelt High School senior worked at the Dairy Queen in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, before moving to N.Y.C. to model.

32 of 39

Emma Stone: 2003

Emma Stone - Transformation - Beauty - Celebrity Before and After

As an Xavier College Prep student, Stone rocked bright blonde highlights.

33 of 39

Carrie Underwood: 2001

Carrie Underwood - Transformation - Hair and Makeup
Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

As a high school senior in Checotah, Oklahoma, Underwood showed her familiarity with the curling iron.

34 of 39

Angelina Jolie: 1991

Angelina Jolie - Transformation
Classmates.com/Yearbook Archive

As a student at Beverly Hills High School, Jolie was an unknown quantity. "I wore black boots with big, silver bat [charms] that dragged when I walked," Jolie has said. "I wasn't aware of how I looked, but apparently I looked really creepy."

35 of 39

Amy Poehler: 1989

Amy Poehler - Transformation - Hair - Celebrity Before and After
Splash News

Poehler worked some major bangs as a senior at Burlington High School in Massachusetts. "Every day I would walk into school and just be, like, 'You're welcome, fellas,'" she joked on Conan of her gravity-defying hair. "I drove all the way there with the windows down."

36 of 39

Zooey Deschanel: 1997

Zooey Deschanel - 1997 - Transformation - Beauty
Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

The high school junior hit the heavy liner for, as she called it, a "Brigitte Bardot French new wave look."

37 of 39

Tina Fey: 1988

Tina Fey - Transformation
Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

"I had a pretty rough puberty," the Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, native has said. "Growing up as a girl is always traumatizing, especially when you have the deadly combination of greasy skin and getting your boobs at 10."

38 of 39

Gwyneth Paltrow: 1990

no title
Yearbook Archives

"When I look back at pictures of me in high school, I was sort of a minimalist. I never went through the big-hair-and-makeup phase," Paltrow has said.

39 of 39

Amanda Seyfried: 2001

Amanda Seyfried - Transformation
Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

The busy Seyfried finished up her senior year of high school, starred on As the World Turns, and still made time for primping: "I used to straighten my hair every day."