If you like throwback photos of your favorite actors and singers, do I have a gallery for you! Since many of our biggest celebrities started life as child or teen actors—or had famous parents and grew up in the limelight—we've often been tracking their careers since they were small. Whether they were two or 21 when they started working, these early photos are equal parts nostalgic and delightful. Below, pictures of our biggest celebrities looking so very young.
Lindsay Lohan
A teen Lindsay Lohan being snapped for Bette (a 2000 CBS television sitcom) is a great reminder of how long the actor has been in the business. She started working at age 10, and this is a mere four years later—basically she's a consummate pro at this point.
Elijah Wood
What a dapper gentleman Elijah Wood is! This is from 1994; technically his film debut was Back to the Future Part II in 1989. He's backstage at the Oscars, already having made a name for himself as a talented child actor. That bow tie is utterly adorable!
America Ferrara
For her breakout role in Real Women Have Curves, America Ferrara was only 17 when the film was released. Here, she's at the Sundance Film Festival, looking—I'm just gonna say it—just the same as she does now. She's aged like fine wine, that's all I'm saying!
Matthew Broderick
Baby Matthew Broderick is such a sweetie! This was apparently taken in 1983, right around the time of his first film roles (WarGames and Max Dugan Returns) and he would be about 21 or 22 here. Ferris Bueller would come along just a few short years later.
Kirsten Dunst
This portrait of Kirsten Dunst circa 1993 is extremely foreshadowing, since cheerleader movie Bring It On wouldn't come out until 2000. Here she's about 10 or 11—she started acting when she was 3 years old(!), and Interview With the Vampire would have come out a year later.
Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp is at the nightclub Limelight in this photo around 1988. For context, Depp's acting debut (A Nightmare on Elm Street) was in 1984, and Depp would have only been about 25 years old. He's rocking a bunch of '80s trends, too: earring, graphic tee, and glorious hair swoosh.
Michelle Williams
Even before Dawson's Creek, Michelle Williams was acting: here is in in an episode of Home Improvement all the way back in 1995 as a literal tween (she would have been 14 or 15 when this aired). Dawson's would come along in 1998, which would be considered her breakout.
Jacob Elordi
Did you know that before he was a preeminent actor, Jacob Elordi was 2012's senior mens Fashions on the Field winner?? He's only 15 year, and his acting career wouldn't start for another seven years—if you're curious, The Kissing Booth was released in 2018.
Jennifer Lopez
This "casual" 1992 portrait of Jennifer Lopez, apparently taken when she was around 23, is right around her television debut (on In Living Color in 1991). Her breakout role in the titular Selena wouldn't come along until 1997, so she's just a regular rising star here!
Timothée Chalamet
Look at that hair gel!! Timothée Chalamet is a relative baby here at the 2013 Screen Actors Guild Award. If you want to feel old, this is the same year Chalamet graduated high school (even though he'd started acting in commercials way back in 2008 as a kid).
Heath Ledger
Here, the late Heath Leader poses for 1997 Fox show Roar. Ledger would be about 18 here, and in the midst of taking on parts of Australian shows. 10 Things I Hate About You would be released only a couple short years later in 1999—people recognized his greatness quickly.
Gabrielle Union
Gabrielle Union would be not-yet-18 here in 1990, and this would have been roughly her "sitcom era" (if you missed it, she had appearances in Saved by the Bell, Sister, Sister, Smart Guy, Moesha, 7th Heaven, and Friends). She appears to be aging backwards.
Tracee Ellis Ross
If you did not know that Tracee Ellis Ross is the daughter of Diana Ross (here pictured with sister Rhonda), let this photo wash over you. Tracee is on our left and Rhonda to our right—Tracee would only be between 1 and 2 years old here! Also, she totally looks like herself.
Jennifer Lawrence
Here for a The Burning Plain photocall at Venice Film Festival in 2008, Jennifer Lawrence has just started her film career and is only about 18 here. Aside from the regrettably '00s-style thin eyebrows (we've all been there), Lawrence looks adorable and amazing here.
Ariana Grande
This is Ariana Grande at age 15 (she's at Planet Hollywood here as part of the cast of the Broadway show 13)—it's the very debut of her career! Her role as Cat Valentine in Victorious would come along a short two years later, and then she was off to the races.
Zoë Kravitz
Yes, this baby is Zoë Kravitz! She has the coolest mom (Lisa Bonet) and dad (Lenny Kravitz) ever, and they're attending an Our Common Future press conference together in 1989. Her acting debut wouldn't start until much later in 2007, when she was nearly 20.
Jennifer Aniston
Young Jennifer Aniston?? Yup, this is the star in 1975 in her home (Aniston would have been about 6 years old and in some photos she's posing with her mom and dad)—presumably because both her parents, John Aniston and Nancy Dow, were actors. I can't get over how cute she is.
Brie Larson
Lots of people don't know that Brie Larson was an actor from the time she was a child. This is during the Snow Dogs premiere (2002) but her career had actually started four years earlier. If you are first familiar with her appearence in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, that was released in 2010.
Halle Berry
Here attending the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Benefit in 1989, Halle Berry would have been about 23 here. This would have been at the very, very beginning of her career, just after she moved to New York. She would move to LA not long after and star with Eddie Murphy in Boomerang in 1992.
Jennifer Connelly
Here at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival for One Upon a Time in America (her very first film role), Jennifer Connelly is only 13 here. She started her professional career as a child model and continued modeling until she started to concentrate on acting—Labyrinth would come along in 1986.
Angelina Jolie
Teenage Angelina Jolie in a jaunty hat: delightful! She is about 16 here in 1991—she tried a little modeling but swiftly committed to acting as a bigger passion—and her first on-screen role was 1992's Lookin' to Get Out, in which she starred with her father Jon Voight.
Ryan Reynolds
Hello, Ryan Reynold's teeny tiny soul patch! If you are unfamiliar, Reynolds starred in the hit TV show 2 Guys, A Girl, and a Pizza Place (this is from the ABC Preview Announcements in 1998 before the show began, and Reynolds would have been around 21 here).
Scarlett Johansson
This launch party for Tommy Hilfiger's new junior jeanswear line features a very young Scarlett Johansson—this is the same year she had her breakout role in The Horse Whisperer, released later in 1998. She's about 13 here but had already been working since 1994.
The Rock
A big lol to The Rock appearing at the 1999 Emmy Awards with a patterned leopard silk shirt! He started pro wrestling in 1996, and by now his career was really taking off (he's in his 20s here). But he was also starting his crossover into regular acting with a cameo on That '70s Show.
Natalie Portman
Natalie Portman looking absolutely thrilled to hang out with Tweety Bird is great energy for a photo. She's either 14 or 15 here, a little after her acting debut at age 12 (in Léon: The Professional in 1994). Only a few years later, she'd be cast in the Star Wars prequels (released in 1999).
SJP and RDJ
Did you know that Sarah Jessica Parker and Robert Downey Jr. used to date?? This is circa 1985. and both actors would be around 20 years old. Parker would just be a few years away from Hocus Pocus (1993) and Downey from Chaplin (1992). The pair broke up in 1991.
Zendaya
If you have been a fan of Zendaya since her time as a child actor, this image won't be a surprise. But if you've only ever known Zendaya as an adult actor, this is her acting debut in Shake It Up and she's likely only about 13 here. So much greatness lies ahead!
Kurt Russell
How is it that young Kurt Russell looks exactly like adult Kurt Russell?? Technically, this photo was apparently taken in 1970; Russell would have been about 18 here. He would have been in the middle of a 10-year contract with The Walt Disney Company playing a teen.
Charlize Theron
Posing next to a tractor outside her home in Benoni, South Africa, in 1992, Charlize Theron would have only been about 17 here. She was a model and dancer until a career-ending injury—she would move to Los Angeles in 1994 and be cast in The Devil's Advocate just a couple years later.
Leonardo DiCaprio
Ack! It's baby Leo! (Looking...basically the same, right?) This is from 1975; DiCaprio did start his career young—appearing in several commercials in the late '80s and then in films in the early '90s—but he could have just as easily been a baby model. Look at those cheeks!
Jodie Foster
By the time she appeared in The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1969) at roughly age 7, Foster had already been acting for a little while. Her first gig was a Coppertone commercial when she was 3, after all! Here she plays the sassy Jody, who's incredibly smart and can throw a punch. It tracks!
Elizabeth Taylor
This is Elizabeth Taylor in a bit part in Courage of Lassie (1946), only a couple years after she had her acting debut in 1942. She's only around 14 years old here, and had had her breakout role in National Velvet just two years ago when she was 12.
