What These 35 Celebs Looked Like In Their 20s, Before They Became Legends

Jeffrey Lynn Goldblum is synonymous with high-grossing films. He featured in the best-selling Jurassic Park (1993) and Independence Day three years later. He became popular in 1978 for his role in the horror Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Goldblum moved to New York at 17 to pursue his career in 1970 and worked with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse to sharpen his acting skills. His first role in the Big Apple was the stage play Two Gentlemen of Verona.

He was later spotted by director Robert Altman, who cast him in California Split (1974) and Nashville (1975). In 1974, at 21, he also took on the role of a home invader in the movie Death Wish. In character, he can be seen as a clean-cut figure with loose curls that fell to the bottom of his ears.

The lean, mean (and funny) fighting machine was born Chan Kong-sang in 1954, in Hong Kong, before immigrating to Australia with his parents six years later, per Britannica.

He mastered the fighting arts Jeet Kune Do, Taekwondo, Judo, and Hapkido, then brought his skill and comedic timing to the screen. Unlike many of his Hollywood peers, Chan performed his own stunts and even invented some of his moves.

In his 20s, Chan was wiry and agile, with a mop of pitch-black hair. At this time of his life, international audiences started noticing him, thanks to films like Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow and Drunken Master.

Dustin Lee Hoffman is credited with being one of the key proponents of Hollywood today and is associated with versatility in his acting. Born in California in 1937, Hoffman originally pursued a career in medicine.

He dropped out after getting poor grades and restarted his tertiary education in drama. He spent two years alongside Gene Hackman at the Pasadena Playhouse in California. Like many actors of his generation, his beginnings were humble, and he struggled to find roles.

In 2008, the Massachusetts publication South Coast Today reported the actor, saying he felt like he was living in his own “private insane asylum” during that era, while dealing with self-doubt. To the question, “Was Dustin Hoffman handsome in his younger days?” on Quora, the answer was yes, “in a distinctive way.”

When people ask what the voice of wisdom looks like, Morgan Freeman comes to mind. Not necessarily because of what he’s said, but because of how he says it, with that unmistakable, deep, resonant timbre.

The Tennessee native was born in 1937, making him 88 today, and he’s become synonymous with roles that exude experience and calm authority—like the all-knowing Professor Samuel Norman in Lucy and the analytical CIA director Bill Cabot in The Sum of All Fears.

His path to screen legend started at the age of nine when he acted in a school play, and by the age of twelve, he won a state drama competition. In his adult life, Freeman made his Broadway debut at age 30 in the musical Hello, Dolly!, perhaps delayed by his service in the Airforce.

A photo of Freeman in his twenties shows a clean-shaven, rangy young man in his military uniform.

Mary Louise Streep, born June 22, 1949, is more than just a pretty face. She made her stage debut fresh into her 20s in the 1971 Playboy of Seville, followed by an on-screen appearance in The Deadliest Season six years later — one year after receiving her MFA from Yale.

In that same decade, her roles in The Deer Hunter and Kramer vs. Kramer propelled her to stardom, according to the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

It wasn’t all flashing cameras, though. The young actress endured humble beginnings, which, as some on Reddit note, didn't detract from her “extremely breathtakingly beautiful” appearance.

Funny man Martin Hayter Short is a citizen of the United States and Canada. He was born in 1950 and, throughout his lifetime, has received a panoply of industry awards—including Emmys and a Tony. His country has also recognized him for his contributions with the Officer of the Order of Canada, per IMDb.

He became famous in 1977, in his late twenties, when he joined Second City, an improv company in Toronto. There, his character was that of one spastic Ed Grimley, with his hair jelled into a single sharp point and his slacks worn up to his belly button.

Reddit also weighed in on the actor, with one commenter saying they felt like Short was born old. Opposing sentiments on the video of the actor in his 20s, however, were summed up with the words: “OMG, he’s adorable!!!!”

Born Gloria Fowles on September 7, 1943, this celebrity contributed to the disco scene of the mid- to late-1970s with hits like “Never Can Say Goodbye,” which was considered the first significant club banger.

Let Me Know (I Have a Right) and Never Can Say Goodbye also made the hotlists, along with others. In 1978, she suffered a fall that temporarily paralyzed her and resulted in numerous operations and decades of chronic pain.

Her 20s consisted of singing at various nightclubs until Columbia Records signed her. Photos of the era show the star with generous hairdos, often opulently clad and always beaming.

If the genre is Italian mob, and Robert De Niro is in it, it sells itself. Born August 17, 1943, De Niro is regarded as one of the greatest actors in film history. If Scorsese says so, then who are we to disagree?

He began acting at age 10, when he played the Cowardly Lion in a school production of The Wizard of Oz. His professional film career kicked off at age 20 with his role in The Wedding Party in 1963. The real recognition came in 1965’s Three Rooms in Manhattan.

In his 20s, De Niro exuded a vibrant masculinity that still grabs the attention of netizens today.

A revered criminal mastermind, albeit only in film, this man was born in New York’s Little Italy in 1942, in a neighborhood that is said to have influenced his movie themes, which are all about violence, redemption, and the less digestible nuances of America.

Think Casino, Gangs of New York, and Goodfellas.

According to UCLA's School of Film, Scorsese’s vocation is anchored in two degrees from New York University’s School of Film. In his early 20s, he favored shoulder-length hair and was noted to be passionate about filmmaking, to the point that he even lectured at the same institution.

He married Laraine Marie Brennan in 1965, the same year he welcomed his first daughter, Catherine, into the world. Their marriage lasted until he was 29 in 1971.

Jessica Lange was born on April 20, 1949, in Minnesota. She started her tertiary education in 1967 at the University of Minnesota under an art scholarship, which was cut short when her family relocated to France.

She studied acting in Paris between 1971 and 1973, and then returned to the Big Apple, where she modeled for a while before landing the role in the remake of the movie King Kong.

The image she cast in the screenplay has been described as a “fine-boned Midwestern beauty.” Lange has not weighed in on what she looked like there, but that is because she has never seen the film—or so she says.

Born Diane Hall in Los Angeles, California, on January 5, 1946, this American actress took up an education in Drama. She left it prematurely for New York’s Neighborhood Playhouse before she entered her 20s.

Her claim to fame was the Broadway production Hair in 1968, and four years later, she appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Twenty-six at the time, the actress, in a suit, sported a bob not much different from the style she favors today.

Much like the anchors of The Tonight Show of this era, Carson dug deep and was able to draw out a few facts, including, to the audience's delight, that Diane was single.

Barbra Streisand, born in Brooklyn, New York, on April 24, 1942, made a name for herself in both the music industry and film.
 
Her original plan was to become an actress, but it was her singing that propelled her to fame. Like few others in the industry, she achieved the rare distinction of winning all four of North America’s major entertainment awards: an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony.

At the age of 21, she won two Grammy Awards for her debut album. As the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts noted, this achievement made her “the youngest artist ever to have received that award.”

She was rightfully dubbed the “Queen of Motown Records,” thanks to her involvement in The Supremes, a 1960s all-girl band out of Michigan. As a testimony to this success, the group snatched up first-place positions with 12 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and went on to be remembered as the most successful American vocal band.

Ross and her band members were signed by Motown in 1961 when she was only 17, and she took the band to stellar heights between the ages of 21 and 26. As proof that she was, in fact, the magical ingredient, she went solo just before she turned 30 and produced the chart-topper Ain't No Mountain High Enough.

Ross’s love for flamboyant hairstyles started in her teens and continued through her twenties, as can be seen in her photos of the era.

Singer, actress, and television host Marie Dionne Warwick has scooped six Grammy Awards in her career, among other accolades.

The New Jersey native was born in December 1940 and became famous in the early- to mid-1960s with hit singles like Don't Make Me Over and Walk on By. Warwick gained international acclaim at age 21 when she performed at the Olympia Theater in Paris in 1962.

Videos of the actress in her 20s show her with short hair. Although she is of average height, her couture—comprising long dresses and heels, a lean build, and leggy silhouettes—made her look much taller.