While Hollywood stars are some of the most recognizable people on the planet, many will find it difficult to put a name to a face.
Four decades ago, these ten A-listers were preparing to graduate alongside their fellow students.
Although they’re household names today, they were just normal teenagers back then – and no doubt clueless about the superstardom that lay ahead of them.
From international models to Grammy award-winning musicians and Oscar-nominated actors, has exclusively sourced throwback annual photos of celebrities before they achieved global fame.
Linda Evangelista
Linda Evangelista was already making waves in the modeling industry before she graduated
Supermodel Linda Evangelista, 58, was once considered one of the most beautiful and striking women in the world.
As a teenager, she began modeling locally in her Canadian hometown of St. Catharaines, and two years before graduating high school, she entered the Miss Teen Niagara beauty pageant.
Although she didn’t win the competition, she caught the attention of a representative from Elite Model Management.
The supermodel Evangelista pictured at the Azzedine Alaia Spring 1990 show circa 1989 in Paris, France
In 1984, just a year after leaving Denis Morris Catholic High School, Linda moved to New York City after signing a contract with Elite before the company whisked her away to Paris.
Linda started her international high fashion career in the French capital and went on to cover magazines from Vogue to Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Glamor and Elle.
When she was just 22, Linda married the then 37-year-old former French modeling agency boss Gerald Marie. Their marriage lasted six years.
In February 2021, Marie was accused of sexual misconduct and rape by eleven women. The allegations he denied relate to the 1980s and 1990s. Due to a statute of limitations in France, police announced earlier this year that they were closing the investigation.
While Linda claimed she knew nothing of the alleged misconduct, she said she believes her ex-husband’s accusers.
Speaking about her relationship in the documentary The Super Models, she said: “I learned that maybe I was in the wrong relationship.” Leaving an abusive relationship is easier said than done.
In September, Linda revealed that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer in December 2018
“I understand this concept because I’ve lived it.” If it was just a matter of saying, “I want a divorce, see you then”… that’s not how it works. He knew not to touch my face, not the money maker, you know?
In recent years, Linda has been at the center of numerous personal controversies, including botched surgical procedures.
In September, she revealed that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer in December 2018 and had undergone a bilateral mastectomy. Then last year, doctors discovered cancer in her chest muscle.
Charlie Sheen
Charlie Sheen looked like butter wouldn’t melt – years before his public breakdown
Fresh-faced Charlie Sheen looked good in his yearbook photo — but the Two and a Half Men star never quite made it to graduation.
As a teenager, he attended Santa Monica High School in California with his Hollywood colleague Robert Downey Jr.
A few weeks before his graduation in 1983, he was expelled from school for poor grades and poor attendance.
Charlie, who had been a star pitcher and shortstop on the baseball team, took a keen interest in acting and made amateur Super 8 films with his brother Emilio and school friends Rob Lowe and Sean Penn.
His poor grades didn’t get in the way of his passion for film – and just a year after dropping out of school, he starred alongside Patrick Swayze in the teen drama Red Dawn.
The actor starred alongside his father Martin Sheen in the 1987 film “Wall Street.”
Charlie pictured at the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association’s 2023 Beastly Ball at the Los Angeles Zoo in June
His major film roles followed shortly thereafter, including “Platoon” (1986) and “Wall Street” (1987).
In 2003, he landed the role of Charlie Harper on the CBS comedy sitcom Two and a Half Men and suffered a nervous breakdown in 2011, at the height of his fame.
At the time, he declared that he was “winsome,” drank “tiger blood,” and had “Adonis DNA.” In 2015, he revealed that he had been diagnosed with HIV in May 2011.
Charlie has been married three times, first to Donna Peele for one year in 1995, then to Denise Richards for four years in 2002, and to Brooke Muller for three years in 2008.
He is the father of five children.
Brooke Shields
Child star Brooke Shields in her 1983 yearbook photo
Actress and model Brooke Shields’ show business career began several years before she graduated from Dwight-Englewood School in Englewood, New Jersey.
At just 14, she was the youngest model to ever appear on the cover of Vogue – and at 16, she was one of the most recognizable faces in the country.
Brooke’s foray into modeling began when she was just 11 months old during a shoot for Ivory Soap. She went on to appear on covers such as People, Time, Elle and Tatler.
Brooke at the 55th Annual Golden Globe Awards on January 18, 1998
In 1978, when she was 11 years old, Brooke gained widespread fame for her starring role in the film Pretty Baby, in which she appeared in nude scenes and was forced to seductively kiss the then 27-year-old Keith Carradine.
In March this year, Brooke was confronted with childhood exploitation in the documentary Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields, when her daughter Rowan said of the controversial film: “It’s child pornography!” If you’d let us [do that] at the age of 11?’
Brooke was overcome with emotion and replied, “No.”
Recalling the conversation, she told the Sunday Times Magazine: “It was hard for me not to justify my mother to them, but when they asked I thought, ‘Oh God, I have to admit that.'”
Brooke, now 58, had long since shrugged off accusations from her mother, Terri Shields, who allowed her to pose nude for Playboy when she was 10.
Brooke pictured at a press conference in Cannes aged 13, where she spoke about the film Pretty Baby
The actress, pictured at the 2023 Vanity Fair Oscar party, criticized her late mother for abusing her as a child star
However, she recently criticized her late mother, who died in 2012, saying: “I don’t know why she thought everything was fine. ‘I don’t know.’
Brooke has been married twice. She married tennis player Andre Agassi in 1997 before divorcing two years later.
In 2001 she married television writer Chris Henchy, with whom she has daughters Rowan (20) and Grier (17).
Ben Stiller
Ben Stiller sported a shock of curly hair in his yearbook photo at Calhoun School in New York
Teenager Ben Stiller seems a world away from the Zoolander actor we all know and love – but he was working on his blue steel long before the film aired.
Now 58, the curly-haired boy graduated from the Calhoun School in New York in 1983 before enrolling as a film student at the University of California.
Ben made his acting debut before leaving school, appearing in his mother’s short-lived TV series Kate McShane at the age of nine.
Not only did he star in a number of films, including There’s Something About Mary (1998), Tropic Thunder (2008) and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013), but he also served as a director, producer and writer several numbers of productions.
Ben was pictured with his wife Christine Taylor at the off-Broadway premiere of Danny and the Deep Blue Sea last month
Ben is married to Christine Taylor. The couple first met while filming Heat Vision And Jack in 1999.
They finally married in May 2000 but separated in 2017. However, the couple later reconciled after living together during the Covid pandemic in 2020 and have remained together since then.
They share a daughter, Ella, 21, and a son, Quinlin, 17.
Ella has followed her famous parents into an acting career, with film roles in Night At The Museum: Secret of The Tomb and voice acting in Megamind.
Kristin Davis
Kristin Davis graduated from AC Flora High School 40 years ago
Long before she played a prestigious art dealer looking for a husband on Sex and the City, Kristin Davis was graduating from AC Flora High School in South Carolina.
After high school, the actress moved to New Jersey, where she attended Rutgers University before moving to New York.
In the early 1990s, Kirstin landed small roles on ER and General Hospital before her big break on Melrose Place as antagonist Brooke Armstrong Campbell, whom she portrayed for a year before she was killed.
But it was her role as the art-loving romantic Charlotte York in “Sex and the City” alongside Cynthia Nixon, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall that made her famous.
Away from the bright lights of Hollywood, Kristin is the mother of two adopted children; Gemma, who she adopted in 2011, and Wilson, who she adopted in 2018.
She was cast as Charlotte York in Sex and the City in 1998 alongside Cynthia Nixon, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall
The actress is happily single and recently revealed that she was never interested in marriage
She has been vocal about motherhood and marriage, previously saying that she believes waiting until she was in her mid-40s to have a child was the right decision.
The actress also revealed earlier this year that she was never interested in marriage.
Unlike her famous, wedding-obsessed character Charlotte, the raven-haired beauty has never tied the knot – and she doesn’t want to.
On Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin’s Best Friend Energy podcast, she revealed that marriage just isn’t her “thing.”
‘I’m not married. “I’ve never been married before,” the “And Just Like That…” star explained. “It was never like a goal, shall we say,” she added.
However, she has had some famous relationships, including previous romances with Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin and Aaron Sorkin.
John C Reilly
The baby-faced John C. Reilly before he became a well-known Hollywood actor
Comedic actor John C. Reilly clearly hasn’t changed all that much since his baby-faced yearbook photo 40 years ago.
The Step Brothers star attended Brother Rice High School in Chicago before studying theater at DePaul University in Chicago.
He played a small role in a 1987 production of The Grapes of Wrath before making his film debut in Brian De Palma’s 1989 Vietnam drama Casualties of War.
John, now 58, received an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor for his role as Amos Hart in the 2002 musical Chicago.
He gained fame through his roles in comedies such as Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and Step Brothers, which were released a year later.
Step Brothers actor John at the Chopard Trophy during the 76th annual Cannes Film Festival
Off-screen, John married Alison Dickey, an independent film producer, in 1992, three years after they met on the set of Casualties of War in Thailand.
The couple has two sons, Leo and Arlo Reilly, who are both models.
Robin Wright
Actress Robin Wright stunned in her yearbook photo, taken months before her big break
Robin Wright was one of the highest paid actresses in the US – but her rise to stardom began after she graduated from La Jolla High School in Los Angeles.
Although her television career began at the age of 18 when she played Kelly Capwell on the NBC Daytime soap opera Santa Barbara, she had already had her first taste of modeling four years earlier.
From 2013 to 2018, Robin appeared as Claire Underwood in the Netflix political drama House of Cards, a role that earned her a whopping eight Emmy nominations.
In 2016, it was reported that she earned a whopping $420,000 per episode.
However, before House of Cards, Robin appeared alongside Tom Hanks in the 1994 film Forrest Gump, in which she played Jenny Curran, a role that earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination.
Robin was married to actor Sean Penn, with whom she shares children Dylan (32) and Hopper (30).
The former couple began dating in 1989, broke up and got back together regularly before marrying in 1996.
They initially planned to divorce in December 2007, but called it off four months later.
Robin and her daughter Dylan Penn pictured at the Ralph Lauren SS23 Runway Show at the Huntington Library in October 2022
They separated again in April 2009, but withdrew the documents the following month.
However, Robin filed divorce papers in August 2009 and their divorce was finalized in July 2010.
“Divorce in itself and with children is devastating,” the “Princess the Bride” star said in 2014.
“Worse than that. One of the reasons we got back together and broke up was to try to keep the family together.
“When you have kids, it’s a family, and you try again, and you try again.”
The Undertaker
For his final photo, Undertaker wore a suit and boots and a black tie
WWE hero The Undertaker, real name Mark Calaway, is one of the best professional wrestlers in history.
But he looks a far cry from his menacing in-ring alter ego in innocent high school pictures.
Mark was an avid basketball player at school
Before starting his brilliant career in 1987, he graduated from Waltrip High School in Houston, Texas, where he excelled in football and basketball.
Sports played a large role in Mark’s life during his teenage years and he went on to study in Texas on a basketball scholarship before enrolling in a sports management program and playing center for the Rams for a year in 1985.
However, in 1986, Mark dropped out of college to concentrate on his athletic pursuits and even considered becoming a professional basketball player in Europe – before turning to professional wrestling.
He entered the world of WWE as The Master of Pain and later as Texas Red and The Punisher, among others, before settling on The Undertaker – who turned out to be a vampire.
He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame last year after retiring from the sport in 2020 after an in-ring career that spanned over 30 years.
In July, the 58-year-old sports star took his bravery to a whole new level by standing in front of a shark that had swum close to shore to protect his wife Michelle McCool on the beach.
The Undertaker retired from the ring in 2020 after a 30-year career
He was filmed by his Michelle standing in her trademark all-black outfit as the shark swam close to shore.
Michelle later tweeted that it was a nurse shark that doesn’t naturally attack humans, but she said her husband didn’t know that at the time.
Shania Twain
Shania Twain wore coiffed hair in her blurry high school photo
Shania Twain is almost unrecognizable in her 1983 yearbook photo — except perhaps for her signature blowout.
The now 58-year-old Queen of Country Pop attended Timmins High and Vocational School in Ontario, Canada, while juggling her musical endeavors outside of the classroom.
When she was just 13 years old, she was a guest performer on the CBC’s Tommy Hunter Show while also serving as a vocalist in a local band called Longshot that covered Top 40 music.
Ten years after graduating high school, Shania released her self-titled debut album before releasing The Woman in Me two years later.
The You’re Still The One hitmaker is one of the best-selling music artists of all time
However, it was Shania’s third studio album, Come on Over (1997), that catapulted her to stratospheric heights. At the time, the album was the best-selling studio album by a female solo artist.
It also became the best-selling country album, selling over 40 million copies worldwide.
Shania spoke about how music helped her as a child growing up in a violent household in her hometown of Timmins.
She said in her Netflix documentary Just a Girl: “Growing up in an abusive household was terrible, but I locked myself in music to block out everything else so that all I could see, hear, think and imagine was music. “’
Calista Flockhart
Calista Flockhart pictured 14 years before she was cast as Ally McBeal
The teenager was a member of the Student Council Cabinet during her high school years
Fourteen years before she became famous as Ally McBeal, Calista Flockhart was preparing to graduate from Shawnee High School in New Jersey.
The fresh-faced teenager, now 59, was reportedly an avid cheerleader, as well as a student council member and flute player in the school band.
Calista continued her passion for the arts at Rutgers University, where she graduated in 1988 with a degree in theater.
In 1997, Calista became a household name after she was cast in the lead role in David E. Kelley’s Fox television series Ally McBeal, a character she would play until 2002.
The show followed Ally, a lawyer who works at the Boston law firm Cage and Fish alongside her ex-lover and his wife.
Calista and her husband Harrison Ford on the Indiana Jones and The Dial Of Destiny red carpet during the 76th Cannes Film Festival
A year after her debut on the hit series, she won a Golden Globe Award.
Calista has been married to Star Wars favorite Harrison Ford since 2010.
The couple met on January 20, 2002 at the Golden Globe Awards and later got engaged on Valentine’s Day 2009 before tying the knot in June 2010.
Calista and Harrison have a 22-year-old adopted son Liam together. Liam is also father to daughter Georgia from his 20-year marriage to late ex-wife Melissa Mathison, which ended in 2004.