Then and now: 9 Hollywood stars’ career progression, in pictures – from child actors Leo DiCaprio, Selena Gomez and Ryan Gosling, to a black-haired Margot Robbie, George Clooney and ‘proud’ Anne Hathaway
Their sheer talent may make their showbiz careers seem inevitable now, but when these Hollywood stars were given their first big breaks, they could never have known just how well things would turn out.
Anne Hathaway played a teen princess instead of an attractive “older” woman, Selena Gomez was just a baby, and George Clooney still had black hair.
So which of Tinseltown’s finest look the most different in their early roles compared to their most recent? Here are nine pairs of then-and-now film and TV stills for you to decide for yourself …
1. George Clooney
2. Margot Robbie
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3. Michael B. Jordan
Gritty roles appear to be California native Michael B. Jordan’s favourite, if his first and most recent on-screen roles are anything to go by. Jordan got his big break in The Wire, appearing in 13 episodes of the hit HBO show in 2002 as baby-faced drug dealer Wallace, per IMDB. These days, he’s the accomplished producer-director of the Creed films, in which he also plays the lead – a boxer named Adonis.
4. Ryan Gosling
One thing clearly hasn’t changed in the 27 years since Ryan Gosling’s been on our screens, and that’s his personality. From 1997’s Breaker High where he plays “aspiring ladies man” Sean Hanlon to his hilarious turn as Ken in Barbie and his latest role as a stuntman in The Fall Guy, he combines comedy and charm like no one else.
5. Selena Gomez
Gomez was just 10 years old when she was cast as Gianna in kids TV show Barney & Friends in 2002, according to Capital Radio. These days, things have taken a darker turn with black comedy drama Only Murders in the Building – oh, and that voice got a little deeper too!
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6. Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie’s first role was an early 90s, direct-to-video gem titled Cyborg 2: Glass Shadow that was set in the year 2074. She was just 17 at the time and said she “literally threw up” when she watched it and realised how much she needed to improve, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Fast forward to her latest role, 2021’s Marvel film Eternals, and she makes it all look like a breeze.
7. Leonardo DiCaprio
8. Anne Hathaway
Anne Hathaway teared up in a recent episode of Vanity Fair’s Scene Selection when she was asked to react to watching herself in The Princess Diaries, her first film role. “It’s very emotional to see it,” she said. “It felt so big at the time and it wound up being so big … I’m just so proud to be in this movie.” Her latest project, The Idea of You, sees her playing a 40-year-old who falls for a Harry-Styles type character.
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9. Natalie Portman
Last year, Natalie Portman talked about her first film – a Luc Besson flick called Léon: The Professional – to The Hollywood Reporter, saying she had “complicated” feelings about it. She was only 12 when it was made and later regretted that she was subsequently painted as a “Lolita figure”. She since more than reclaimed her narrative, and most recently starred in May December.
- While Ryan Gosling’s comedy chops were on display almost 30 years ago in teen TV show Breaker High, his fellow Barbie star, Margot Robbie, was in an altogether darker film – a horror called I. C. U
- Most have forgotten that before Black Panther and Creed, Michael B. Jordan was a main character in The Wire – but why did Angelina Jolie ‘literally throw up’ when she rewatched her first-ever film?