Celebrity school photos: the stars before they were famous

We all remember our school days. For some of us they were the best of times, but others would rather forget memories of homework, uncomfortable uniform and teenage acne. It's hard to believe celebrities ever had to go through that awkward adolescent stage, but thanks to these pictures, we've got the proof right here ...

You wouldn't think this is the same legendary Hollywood heartthrob we know today. George rocked a bowl cut and chunky glasses when he was at school, and actually had bell's palsy, where half of his face was paralysed.

He was part of drama club (of course) and grew up to be prince of his senior prom.

The actor was a low profile character in the 1999 rom com Never Been Kissed, but his presence in Hollywood was felt soon after. Check James out as a high school kid here, before we saw him on a screen.

It's not hard to believe Blake was popular at school. She was on the cheerleading squad and in a competitive show choir, but proved she had both brains and beauty as class president.

Making us feel like we slightly underachieved, Blake also found time to star in The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants during school.

Did you know this cutie dropped out of school when he was 16? It marked the beginning of his acting career, as during this time he starred in a number of TV programmes.

The actress may have really shot to fame thanks to Friends, everyone's favourite programme to watch when hungover, but her high school life was 'tragic', according to Jennifer's interview with People magazine.

'It was the ’80s and I looked like a goth nightmare,' she continued.

We've been there Jen, don't worry.

Despite spending her entire childhood starring in the Harry Potter films as Hermione Granger, Emma did manage to go to private school in Oxford.

We wonder if she was as much of a teacher's pet as Hermione ...

From the looks of this photo, it seems like Natalie started preparing for her role as a ballet dancer in Black Swan early! She wasn't one for high school parties, she told Marie Claire, instead opting for the Intel Science Talent Search competition, which is considered one of the most demanding research competitions for high school students.

Proving her status, she wore a dress from the Star Wars: Episode I premiere to her prom ... not the typical high street dress like the rest of us then.

Natalie Portman's co-star in Black Swan, Mila, was also a quieter pupil. The beautiful actress revealed she was teased as a child over her appearance, especially because she had big eyes.

She told Ellen DeGeneres her grandma would take her to school and bring sweets so Mila could make friends.

We totally haven't got tears in our eyes ...

Can you spot the cheeky chappy? Not long before he took a place on the X Factor stage and joined one of the biggest boybands in the world, Harry Styles was just like any other teenage boy, looking far from pleased in that school uniform.

Before he transformed into Dr Strange or Sherlock Holmes, Julian Assange or the dragon Smaug, he was a normal teenage boy named Benedict.

The actor studied at an all-boys boarding school in West Sussex.

The former president started off just like the rest of us. In this photo, Barack's proud grandparents stood by him at his high school graduation in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Long before Ashton married Mila Kunis, or even landed his first acting role, he was developing a passion for acting and appearing in school plays.

Channing has clearly always been a hunk – he even took part in a bodybuilding competition at his school when he was 18. More of an active pupil than studious, he played football, baseball, American football, did track running and martial arts!

The Rock treated us to this throwback photo of him at school. Even though it really speaks for itself, he wrote us this hilarious caption with it:

'By the time I was 16 yrs old, I had already enrolled in four high schools across the country due to being evicted and lil' trouble with the law,' he explained.

'I was also 6'4 225lbs, rockin' a dead caterpillar on my lip (aka the porn 'stache) and all the kids in every high school thought I was an undercover cop cause I looked like a mutated, yet handsome SOB of a man child ... Yup, one of the many reasons why I'm a grateful man for the life I have today and also grateful I straight up kicked puberty's ass early in life. #GodBlessSamoanAndBlackGenetics #AndGodBlessOurTeenageYears #AndWTFWasIThinkingWithThisMustache.'

The X-Men and Hunger Games actress is another celebrity to have dropped out of school – when she was just 14 – to fully pursue her acting career.

It was understandable that when Jennifer told her parents she wanted to leave, they said: 'you're out of your mind.'

How does Will Smith look basically the same now as he did over 30 years ago?

When he was 16, he met Jeff Townes and they started rapping together. Not before long, the 'Fresh Prince' was born and his first album came out when he was in his last year of high school.

Another star to have given up his studies, but initially Johnny made this decision to pursue a career as a rockstar.

We're sure he broke a few hearts as well as smashing guitars when he was a teen!

You wouldn't think the model and reality star would look so happy to be wearing braces. But alongside her elder sister, Kourtney, Kim is a reminder America's royal family had to go through the same embarrassing teenage looks as the rest of us.

No one can make braces look cool.

At school, Lady Gaga didn't even exist. The iconic singer went by her birth name, Stefani Germanotta. According to the school's 2004 yearbook, people would call her Stefi or 'The Germ'. Charming!

She wrote in the book she dreamed of headlining at Madison Square Garden one day ... dreams really do come true.

Like Blake Lively, Sandra was also a cheerleader at school, but wasn't very confident in her moves.

'I had no idea what I was cheering about,' she told Jimmy Kimmel. 'I was not well-versed in basketball terminology. But, I had spirit and I was a good bottom at the pyramid.'

Now she's an actress at the top of her game – how the tables have turned.

Due to his acting commitments, Taylor felt like an outcast at school because he had to miss classes and time with his friends.

The gorgeous actor was awarded Best Smile by his class though, and we agree 100%.

Yes, Zayn can sing well, but he's even better at nailing the edgy, moody and cool look that makes teenagers weak at the knees, even back when he was a teen himself.

It seemed the former One Direction member was a bit of a troublemaker, bringing a BB gun into class once!

We saw the actress take on university as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, but before that, Reese was a cheerleading pupil like many of her colleagues. She shared this photo and said:

'Say hi to little, cheerleader Reese! #TBT I loved writing #WhiskeyInATeacup because I had the chance to walk down memory lane! I’m so proud to share with y’all where I come from and some amazing memories from my childhood.'

Teenage Nicki is almost unrecognisable to the rapper we see today. Her school proved extremely influential in her life – she has a song called High School featuring fellow rapper Lil Wayne, and wanted to go back there to give a talk.

Controversy came when Nicki was told she wasn't allowed to visit. The Superbass singer took to Twitter to say: 'That school changed my life and I wanted to pay it forward to the students there now. I was really looking forward to it.'

Another Friends actor to have his school photo feature on the list is Matt LeBlanc.

He had such a good time at school, he went back for the 30th anniversary of his graduation. He Tweeted his experience and it turned out everyone kept asking 'how you doin'?'

To be honest, we would have done the same.

We wish we'd been in the same class as this handsome guy! Matthew kept fit as a teen, playing golf and tennis at his school.

His first job in high school involved raking sand traps at 3am at a country club, sometimes having to shoot and kill armadillos that were on the golf course, he told GQ.

The Hidden Figures and Empire actress gifted us with this sassy throwback of her in her final years of school.

'You couldn't tell her ISH!!! She knew she belonged in #Hollywood right here, she just didn't know how she was getting there but she DREAMED BIG AF!!!' She captioned the post.

Now THIS is a strong teenage look we can get behind.

Yep, this really is Madonna during her high school years. She shared this trip down memory lane, explaining the story behind it.

'My Sister Paula and I on my High School graduation day!' She said.

'We sewed our own dresses from Butterick patterns. 👗 I was always so embarrassed we could not afford store bought dresses. In retrospect Im glad i learned how to use a sewing machine. ✂️ Notice No cleavage or bare knees!! Papa Ciccone was very strict. 😂 #highschool.'