Before the red carpets and sold-out concerts, every celebrity had to sit for a school yearbook photo. Some of these snapshots show awkward smiles, questionable hairstyles, or just plain awkward moments, but they all capture the beginnings of the stars we know today. Looking back at these photos, it’s easy to see that even the biggest names started in ordinary places.
Many of the pictures are adorable, while others are funny or surprising, offering a rare glimpse into a time before fame. They remind us that every celebrity has a past filled with ordinary, human moments. Let’s dive into 48 celebrity yearbook photos from before they were famous.
1. Robin Williams
Robin McLaurin Williams’ yearbook photo from Deer Path Junior High School in Illinois.
2. Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen’s yearbook photo from Freehold High School in New Jersey.
3. Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford in his yearbook photo from Main East High school in Park Ridge, Illinois, where he graduated in 1960.
4. Courtney Cox
Courtney Bass Cox’s yearbook photo from Mountain Brook High School in Alabama.
5. Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks looks pretty sauve in his senior photo in 1974 from Skyline High School in Oakland, California.
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6. George Clooney
George Clooney’s yearbook photo from Augusta High School in August, Kentucky, where he played baseball and basketball.
7. Bruce Willis
Bruce Willis attended Penns Grove High School in Carney’s Point Township, New Jersey.
8. Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey’s yearbook photo from Harborfield’s High School in Greenlawn, New York, where she graduated in 1987.
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9. Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie attended Beverley Hills High School but later transferred to Moreno High School.
10. Bradley Cooper
Bradley Cooper’s yearbook photo from Germantown Academy in Philadelphia, where he graduated in 1993.
11. Sally Field
Sally Field attended Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, California, where she was a cheerleader.
12. Matt Damon
Matt Damon’s yearbook photo from Cambridge Rindge and Latin School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
13. Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep’s senior high school yearbook photo from 1966 from Bernards High School in New Jersey.
14. Prince
Prince Rogers Nelson’s yearbook photo from Central High School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he graduated in 1976. While attending, he played basketball, football, and baseball for the school.
15. Tommy Lee Jones
Tommy Lee Jones’ yearbook photo from St. Mark’s School of Texas in Dallas, Texas, 1965.
16. Matthew McConaughey
Matthew David McConaughy’s yearbook photo from Longview High School in Texas.
17. Helen Hunt
Helen Hunt’s yerabook photo from Providence High School in Burbank, California.
18. Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington’s yearbook photo from Mainland High School in Daytona Beach, Florida, where he attended from 1970-1971.
19. Sandra Bullock
San Bullock’s high school photo from 1979 while she was attending Washington Lee High School in Arlington, Virginia.
20. Robert Downey Jr.
Robert Downey Jr’s yearbook photo from Santa Monica High School, where he dropped out in 1982 to move back to New York to pursue an acting career.
21. Tina Fey
Tina Fey’s yearbook photo from Upper Darby High School in Pennsylvania, where she was an honors student, a member of the drama club, tennis team, choir, and co-editor of the school’s newspaper.
22. Samuel L Jackson
Samuel Leroy Jackson’s yearbook photo from Riverside High School in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
23. Jon Hamm
Jon Hamm’s yearbook photo from John Burroughs School in Ladue, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri.
24. Halle Berry
Halle Berry’s yearbook photo from Bedford High School, where she was an honor student, editor of the school newspaper, prom queen, and a cheerleader.
25. Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin’s yearbook photo from Alfred G Berner High School in Massapequa in Long Island, New York.
26. Anne Hathaway
Anne Jacqueline Hathaway’s yearbook photo from Millburn High School in New Jersey.
27. Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt’s yearbook photo from Kickapoo High School in Springfield, Missouri.
28. Alan Arkin
Alan Arkin’s yearbook photo from Franklin High School in Los Angeles.
29. Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg’s yearbook photo from Saratoga High School, where he attended for three years.
30. Sam Elliott
Sam Elliott attended David Douglas High School in Portland, Oregon, and graduated in 1962.
31. Wynona Ryder
Winona Ryder’s yearbook photo from Petaluma High School in California.
32. Steve Martin
Steve Martin as a senior in high school in 1963.
33. Will Smith
Will Smith’s yearbook photo from Overbrook High School in Philadelphia, where he graduated in the class of 1986.
34. Nick Offerman
Nick Offerman’s high school yearbook photo from Minooka Community High School.
35. Ice Cube
O’Shea Jackson Sr. (better known as Ice Cube) yearbook photo from Taft High School in Los Angeles.
36. Channing Tatum
Channing Tatum’s yearbook photo from Tampa Catholic High School, where he graduated in 1998 and was voted most athletic.
37. Barbara Streisand
Barbara Streisand’s yearbook photo from Erasmus Hall High School in Flatbush, Brooklyn.
38. Bill Murray
Bill Murray’s high school photo from Loyola Academy.
39. Jimmy Fallon
Jimmy Fallon’s yearbook photo from Saugerties High School, where he graduated in 1992.
40. Julia Roberts
Julia Roberts wearing a pearl necklace in her Campbell High School yearbook photo.
41. Jerry Seinfeld
Jerry Seinfeld’s 1972 yearbook photo from Massapequah High School in Long Island, New York.
42. Snoop Dogg
Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (aka Snoop Dogg) in his yearbook photo at Long Becah Polytechnic High School, where he graduated in 1989.
43. Jennifer Lawrence
So this Jennifer Lawrence photo from 2005 is actually an 8th-grade photo, which is technically Junior High School.
44. Kevin Bacon
Kevin Bacon’s yearbook photo from Julia R. Masterman School in Philadelphia. “Ah, ninth grade. Don’t miss it at all,” he wrote about this freshman-year photo of himself.
45. Jennifer Garner
“She was a boss,” says Jennifer Garner of her past sax-playing self. Jennifer Garner attended George Washington High School in Charleston, West Virginia.
46. Lady Gaga
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, in 1998.
47. Ryan Reynolds
Ryan Reynolds attended Kitsilano Secondary School in Vancouver, Canada.
48. Scarlett Johansson
Johansson attended the Professional Children’s School in Manhattan, and it makes sense based on her success.
Want to see more celebrity yearbook photos?
Check out 19 Yearbook Photos of Students Who Had Dark Futures Ahead (1950s-1980s), or take a look at 20 Yearbook Photos of Famous Oscar-Winning Celebrities. Finally, if you want to see yearbook photos from the seventies, check out 20 Yearbook Photos from the Smokin’ Seventies.
