We love learning about our favorite celebrities, particularly if they have an interesting backstory. The journey to Hollywood and superstardom can be a long and windy path, and celebs often go through at least one evolution in their career. From changing their names when they moved to Hollywood to having a totally different job before becoming famous, our biggest stars have lots of secrets that are always a source of amazement. Keep reading to learn 32 surprising facts about Hollywood's biggest stars.
Nolan Gould
The actor who plays the scatterbrained Luke Dunphy on Modern Family is super smart: He has an IQ of 150 and is a member of Mensa (the high IQ society). Nolan skipped a bunch of grades and started college courses at age 14; he has said he's a liberal arts guy—not a math and science person.
Sir Ian McKellen
We have actor Sir Ian McKellen's great-grandfather, Robert Lowes, to thank for giving us weekends. In 1843, Lowes (who was a workers' rights activist, according to the Visit Manchester website) successfully campaigned for workers to have Saturday afternoons off.
Frank Oz
Frank Oz is the man of a million voices. In his time working as a puppeteer and voice actor, he voiced Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Animal, Sam Eagle, Cookie Monster, Bert, Grover, and even Yoda! He's also a director; his credits include The Muppets Take Manhattan and Little Shop of Horrors.
Eddie Murphy
Did you know that Eddie Murphy almost starred in his own Saturday morning cartoon series? In 1987, he was in discussions to create a (G-rated) version of his wild comic sensibility. The premise wasn't disclosed and the idea was ultimately shelved, but now I kind of wish we'd gotten it.
Steve Buscemi
Get this: Steve Buscemi was a firefighter. From 1980 to 1984, he worked for the New York City Fire Department's Engine Company No. 55 (in the neighborhood of Little Italy). Simultaneously, he was quietly exploring acting as a career and doing standup. He's also played a firefighter, coming full circle.
Emma Stone
In 2024, Emma Stone revealed in an interview that her name is actually...Emily?? She changed her name because "Emily Stone" was taken at Screen Actors Guild. "It's sort of like when you register a business and you can't have the same name as someone else," she said while on the TODAY Show. She now goes by either name.
Whoopi Goldberg
"Whoopi Goldberg" is apparently just a fully made-up name! Caryn Elaine Johnson got the idea for her now-famous first name because her nickname was "whoopee cushion" when she did stand-up: "When you're performing on stage, you never really have time to go into the bathroom and close the door. So if you get a little gassy, you've got to let it go," she told the New York Times in 2006.
Joaquin Phoenix
Joaquin Phoenix has actually had a few names in his life. He was born Joaquin Bottom; then, the family changed their last name when he was young. Then, he went by Leaf Phoenix as a child actor (he and his siblings, including River Phoenix, all had nature names). Then, it was back to Joaquin when he was grown up.
Meghan Markle
I can't believe I never knew this! Meghan Markle was born with the first name Rachel, which is ironically the name of the character she played on Suits. Meghan decided to go by her middle name professionally and drop her first name early in her career.
Julia Roberts and Matthew Perry
Did you know that Matthew Perry and Julia Roberts briefly dated? They were together between 1995 and 1996 (Friends premiered in 1994, and both actors were wildly famous). Perry would later say in his memoir that his low self-esteem caused him to end the relationship.
Sofia Coppola and Nicholas Cage
Sofia Coppola and Nicholas Cage are...cousins?? Cage's father, August Coppola, was a literature professor and brothers with Francis Ford Coppola, the acclaimed film director. It's no surprise that Nicolas caught the acting bug from his family members early in life.
Jayne Mansfield and Mariska Hargitay
Jayne Mansfield, who was seen as a blonde successor to Marilyn Monroe, was mom to actor Mariska Hargitay (seen here as a baby). Tragically, Mansfield was killed in an automobile accident when the car ran into a tractor-trailer—Hargitay was in the car but survived.
Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks' ancestor is President Abraham Lincoln! He's related through Lincoln’s mother, Nancy Hanks, who married Thomas Lincoln in 1806 in Kentucky and died at age 34. Fun fact: Hanks would later go on to narrate National Geographic’s Killing Lincoln.
Claire Danes
Did you know that Claire Danes almost played Rose in Titanic?? Apparently after she had the lead role as Juliet in Romeo + Juliet there was “strong interest” in having her reprise her chemistry with Leonardo DiCaprio in the film. She later said she wasn't ready for that level of fame.
Zendaya
There's regular Harry Potter fans, and then there's Zendaya, who watches the movies every single day. In a 2021 interview with InStyle, she said it was a way to practice self-care. "Don’t come over to my house if you don’t want to watch it...because it’s going to be on.”
Henry Golding
Before he was an actor, Henry Golding was a hairstylist—and he apparently hasn't lost his skills. "Once in a while, when [my wife's] struggling with a blow dry in the morning, I'll finish off the back for her," Golding told the Radio Times. And, in 2018, he shared a video of him doing his mom's hair (awww).
Sydney Sweeney
On top of Sydney Sweeney's myriad skills, she's also a mechanic and obsessed with vintage cars. She apparently worked in a body shop when she wasn't doing acting gigs. She even did an Auto 101 series for Ford that included classes and a line of workwear!
Madonna
Madonna worked at Dunkin' Donuts for one week! Speaking to Howard Stern in 2015, she explained that while she was doing odd jobs before hitting it big as a musician, she briefly worked at the coffee place and was fired for playing with the machine that puts jelly into the donuts. Ha!
Ariana Grande
Ariana Grande can do a bunch of impressions of famous singers, as she demonstrated to Jimmy Fallon on his show in 2015. She can do Britney Spears singing "Mary Had a Little Lamb," Christina Aguilera singing "The Wheels on the Bus," and Celine Dion singing "Can't Feel My Face."
Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga has won a bunch of awards, but her most notable statue-collecting spree was when she won a Grammy, BAFTA, Academy Award, and Golden Globe in a single year for her contributions to the 2018 film A Star Is Born. She's the first woman to ever do that!
Cate Blanchett
In 2012, Cate Blanchett spoke to HuffPo and explained her love of extreme hairstyles isn't just an acting thing. She used to shave her head as a teen! "When I was at school, I used to shave my hair really close. It was like a Victorian schoolboy haircut. It was just so easy. And for some reason, I’ve let it grow again, but I think I’ll just cut it all off again."
Michael B. Jordan
In one of those "holy crap" moments you can't believe is real, Michael B. Jordan was doing his own stunts for Creed (meaning, he actually boxed instead of a body double)—and took a full punch to the face from Cruiserweight boxer Tony Bellew that knocked him out cold.
Bill Murray
This honestly tracks: at 20 years old, Bill Murray was arrested at Chicago's O'Hare Airport for having about 10 pounds of marijuana in his suitcase—which he intended to sell, obviously, and was worth about $20,000. He was given five years of probation, and he dropped out of college before he could be kicked out.
Angela Bassett and Tina Turner
Tina Turner was involved in What's Love Got to Do With It, the exceptional biopic of her life starring Angela Bassett. Towards the end of the movie, she even did Bassett's hair and makeup, finishing in way less time than it took for the film stylist to achieve the same look.
Gillian Anderson
Gillian Anderson was a real character in high school—not only was she voted "Class Clown," "Most Bizarre Girl," and "Most Likely to Be Arrested," but she was indeed arrested, along with her boyfriend, on graduation night for trying to glue the locks on the school doors.
Anthony Perkins
If you're familiar with Psycho, you'll know Anthony Perkins, who played the iconic Norman Bates. It's a lesser-known fact that Perkins had relationships with men (even though his image was "heterosexualized" in films). Here, he's with Grover Dale backstage at Greenwillow, which is where the two met and began a relationship.
Rihanna
Rihanna? More like Robyn Fenty! Seriously, that's the singer's given name (her full name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty). Like Meghan Markle (and a number of other celebs), she decided to go by her middle name. But she uses her last name for her business—Fenty Beauty.
Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley was blonde?? Apparently, he was born with light hair that darkened a bit in adolescence. But the impetus to dye it was that he wanted to look like some of his heroes, including Tony Curtis and Marlon Brando. He originally used shoe polish and then upgraded to various hair dyes.
Robert Downey Jr.
Did you know that Robert Downey Jr. caused chaos at the airport when he was headed to Japan for the Iron Man premiere? He was held and interrogated for six hours for not disclosing his prior arrests and criminal activity—and told not to return to Japan ever again.
Tippi Hedren
Tippi Hedren, former actor, has some very famous progeny: her daughter is Melanie Griffith (her only child with ad executive Peter Griffith). Griffith and first husband Don Johnson would then go on to have Dakota Johnson—so that's three generations of actors right there!
Michelle Pfeiffer
When Michelle Pfeiffer moved to Los Angeles early in her career, she came under the influence of a "very controlling" couple. She called them "kind of personal trainers" who believed in breatharianism (that people could live off of sunlight alone) and assigned her a diet that "nobody could adhere to," she said. It was only after she met her husband that she realized she was part of a cult.
Elizabeth Taylor
According to interviews with Vanity Fair, Elizabeth Taylor said, "I was pronounced dead four times...Once I didn’t breathe for five minutes, which must be a record.” In 1961 she was diagnosed with the flu and fell into a coma; at one point during one of her illnesses, she even had to have a tracheotomy to help her breathe.
