Many of the top celebrities have only recently found their breakout roles, but as it turns out, some of the biggest stars in Hollywood have been around for much, much longer than we ever knew. It’s not easy to make it big in the entertainment industry, and a lot of hard work has been going on behind the scenes for actual decades when it comes to some of our favorite celebs β including actors and actresses who have become household names at this point, like Reese Witherspoon, and Ben Affleck.
Believe it or not, there are some seriously big celebrities we had no idea were child stars, and the list is pretty mind-blowing. We had no idea that some of these stars had been acting as long as they have. What they say about being persistent is true: Those who have kept working and pushing β even from such a young age β have found some seriously massive success.
Read on to find out which stars have actually been acting for a lot longer than most people think they have. Some of the celebrities on this list may end up being a little surprising!
Austin Butler
Long before Austin Butler’s roles in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and The Shannara Chronicles, he was a blond child star β and he had roles on a lot of popular shows. As a pre-teen, Austin appeared in Disney Channel hits β like Hannah Montana and JONAS β and even had a recurring role on the Freeform show Switched at Birth.
Jason Segel
Jason Segel is best known for playing Marshall on How I Met Your Mother, as well as his roles in comedies like I Love You, Man and Knocked Up. But long before that, in the late ’90s, a much younger Jason appeared on Freaks and Geeks and, in 1998, he was in Can’t Hardly Wait at just 18 years old.
Scarlett Johansson
Interestingly, Scarlett Johansson has been a working actress for much longer than people might think. Long before she was Black Window, Scarlett was in Home Alone 3, and The Horse Whisperer, and her career in Hollywood seems to date all the way back to 1994, when she was just 10 years old.
Ryan Gosling
We know Ryan Gosling as one of Hollywood’s biggest heartthrobs, but before The Notebook, Ryan was on The Mickey Mouse Club β along with other child stars who would go on to be mega famous, like Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. In fact, he even had a walk-on role in the beloved ’90s Nickelodeon show, Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Keri Russell
Keri Russell was definitely still young when she first shot to fame while starring on Felicity on the network that is now known as The CW, but she’s been acting a lot longer than that. Keri was also on Honey, I Blew Up The Kid, and also had roles on shows including Boy Meets World, and Married… With Children.
Jessica Alba
It’s hard to imagine Jessica Alba before she was the mega star she is today, but she started acting in 1994, when she was just 13 years old. In the beginning, her roles were small in shows β like The Secret World of Alex Mack and Chicago Hope β but as we know, it wouldn’t be long before her career took off.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
We know Joseph Gordon-Levitt the best from movies like The Dark Knight Rises, 500 Days of Summer, and 50/50, but a very tiny Joseph was snagging roles long before he was famous. Catch a much younger JGL in shows, including Family Ties, Murder She Wrote, and even Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.
What a throwback!
Kristen Stewart
Some people might think that Kristen Stewart’s first role was Bella Swan in Twilight, but that’s definitely not the case. A much younger K-Stew can also been seen starring in Panic Room with Jodie Foster, as well as movies like Speak and Catch That Kid. Falling in love with a vampire is definitely what changed her career forever, though.
Christian Bale
Christian Bale has definitely become one of the most memorable actors to ever take on the role of Batman, but that’s not where he got his start. As a child, the British actor starred in various TV movies, including A Murder of Quality and Treasure Island, and played Alexei in a mini-series about Anastasia, who claimed she was the daughter of the last czar of Russia.
Laurence Fishburne
Before we knew Laurence Fishburne from his role in Black-Ish β and Mission Impossible III and The Matrix, just to name a couple of his credits β he began his career as a child in the ’70s. Laurence had a recurring role on One Life to Live for two years, and things just kept getting better for him from there.
Jason Bateman
Who knew that before he was on Arrested Development and Ozark, Jason Bateman had actually been acting since he was just 12 years old? Jason’s first role was playing James Cooper Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie in 1981, and as a kid, he also snagged roles in Silver Spoons and Knight Rider.
Diane Lane
Diane Lane is probably best known for the roles she’s had as an adult β like playing Annette Shepherd in House of Cards, and in movies like Under The Tuscan Sun. But in reality, Diane has been acting since she was a kid, and her first role was in the 1979 movie A Little Romance, which she filmed when she was just 14 years old.
Katherine Heigl
We’ll never forget Katherine Heigl as Izzie Stevens on Grey’s Anatomy βΒ or the way she made her mark on history in romantic comedies like 27 Dresses. But before she was practically a household name, Katherine acted in the early ’90s as a kid, with credits including That Night, King of the Hill, and Wish Upon a Star.
Regina King
We already know that Regina King’s acting credits go back to an episode on Living Single and New York Undercover, but she’s been taking on roles for much longer than that. When she was 14 years old, Regina starred alongside Ice Cube and Cuba Gooding Jr. in Boyz n the Hood β taking on the role of Brenda Jenkins on the series 227 prior to her cinematic debut β and the rest is history for this Emmy Award winner.
Seth Rogen
Before he became the comedy king β and before he and his mom became two of the most delightful follows on Twitter β Seth Rogen started his acting career earlier than some fans might think. He starred in Freaks and Geeks in 1999, when he was 17 years old, and that kicked off his career, and his friendship with other stars β like James Franco.
Reese Witherspoon
These days, Reese Witherspoon is indisputably one of the world’s most famous actresses βΒ she’s even formed her own production company and clothing brand. But she’s been in the business for a long time, and her earliest role was in The Man in the Moon in 1991, when she was 15 years old.
Natasha Lyonne
For a lot of fans, the first role they saw Natasha Lyonne in was when she played Nikki on Orange is the New Black, and later, she got a lot of acclaim for her role in another Netflix series, Russian Doll. But long before that, she was a child actor on Pee Wee’s Playhouse. We’ve probably watched her on that show as kids and didn’t even know it!
Ben Affleck
Ben Affleck is a superstar for a reason: He has an impressive resume behind him, including movies like Good Will Hunting, Armageddon, and Pearl Harbor. But he’s been acting since he was a kid, grabbing smaller roles in ABC’s after-school specials and even had a cameo in the film Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Kate Winslet
Fans who thought Kate Winslet playing Rose in Titanic was her first role, think again β she’s been acting since 1991. When she was just 16, Kate played Reet in a TV series called Dark Season, and she also snagged credits in movie versions of Hamlet and Sense and Sensibility before her Titanic days.
Natalie Portman
Natalie Portman is now an award-winning actress, but she got her start early. Although her role in The Phantom Menace is one of the earliest roles that brought her fame β and she was still pretty young then β Natalie was acting for a long time before that in movies, including Beautiful Girls and Mars Attacks.
