14 Pairs of Celebrities Who’d Become Friends Before They Rose to Fame

Almost all of us have childhood friends, classmates, former fellow students, etc. All these people knew us quite well even before we started our way to the top. Surely, celebrities were also surrounded by their peers when they were children and teenagers. And it just happened that some of them also became famous.

At CHEERY, we would like to tell you about the pairs of celebrities who became friends even before they both rose to fame.

Princess Diana and Tilda Swinton

Katherine Matilda Swinton comes from an ancient Scottish aristocratic family. In childhood, she attended a girls’ boarding school where her classmate and friend was Diana Spencer — future Princess of Wales. Many years later, Tilda Swinton criticized this kind of educational facility.

According to the actress, London’s West Heath boarding school was “a very lonely and isolating environment.” She believes that children don’t benefit from this type of education because they need their parents and the love parents can provide. In 1997, the school was closed.

Vinnie Jones and Jason Statham

Jason Statham grew up in Norfolk, and his childhood friend was Vinnie Jones with whom he played football together. Statham even played for the local school for some time, but eventually got interested in diving and even joined the national team. 20 years later, they met on the set of the movie Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

Nastassja Kinski and Demi Moore

Demi Moore and Nastassja Kinski met in the late 1970s as they lived next door to each other in Los Angeles. They were both under 18 and quickly found common ground. Nastassja wasn’t fluent in English at the time, and Demi had to read scripts to her aloud.

At the time, Demi wanted to become a model and didn’t even dream about an acting career. So, Nastassja inspired her to try acting. Soon, Nastassja moves out, and they’ve never seen each other again. Years later, Nastassja won a Golden Globe, and Moore was nominated for this award twice.

B. J. Novak and John Krasinski

B. J. Novak and John Krasinski who played Jim and Ryan in the series The Office are not only colleagues, they also attended the same high school in Newton, Massachusetts. They used to be buddies and played baseball together in Little League.

Timothée Chalamet and Lourdes Leon

Timothée Chalamet and Madonna’s elder daughter, Lourdes Leon, attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. They acted in a school play together and even dated for some time.

Rachael Leigh Cook and Josh Hartnett

Josh Hartnett was 2 years ahead of Rachael Leigh Cook at Minneapolis’s South High School. And as it usually happens, Rachel had a small crush on the handsome senior. They met again while filming the movie Blow Dry together.

Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and Emma Thompson

The three studied at Cambridge University and were members of the amateur theatrical club Footlights. By the way, Emma was the first woman to be accepted there. She dated Hugh Laurie for some time and introduced him to Stephen Fry. At the time, this trio was very close friends.

Later, they took part in a number of projects together while Laurie and Fry formed a creative duo that is still active.

Michael Fassbender and Tom Hardy

During his youth, Tom Hardy attended the Drama Centre London. It was really hard to get there. Michael Fassbender was also a student there. Hardy recalls how Michael played a character in a wheelchair and he refused to get out of character even during breaks.

“We had, like, half an hour for lunch, a half an hour to feed the whole school. We had this little canteen, and Mikey would be holding up the whole queue because he wouldn’t get out of his wheelchair. That’s the kind of school I went to. ‘Mikey, man, just stand up and order your lunch so we can go back to school, so we don’t get thrown out at the end of the week.’ And he’d be like, ‘Get lost!’ It was awesome,” Tom Hardy recalled.

Owen Wilson and Wes Anderson

Owen Wilson met Wes Anderson when he was a sophomore at the University of Texas. They rented an apartment together. It had broken windows, and the owner refused to fix them.

So, they decided to stage a break-in of the apartment to force the landlord to acquiesce to their demands. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out. But later Wes used this episode as an inspiration for his first feature film, Bottle Rocket, where Owen Wilson had one of the parts. Their hilarious student years made them close friends, and they still are.

Meghan Markle and Katharine McPhee

The American singer, model, and actress Katharine McPhee and the Duchess of Sussex attended the same school and did musicals together, but over time they lost sight of each other. They reacquainted when Meghan Markle moved to London to be part of the royal family. At the time, Katharine was performing in Waitress on the West End. So, former schoolmates became close friends.

After Meghan and Prince Harry announced they would be stepping back from their duties as royals, and left the UK, they stayed in Canada for a while, and Katharine McPhee’s husband, David Foster, found a house for them there.

Robert Pattinson and Jack Whitehall

Actor Robert Pattinson and comedian Jack Whitehall both attended Tower House School in London. Whitehall made fun of his former classmate during his stand-up performances many times, “Every school has a Mr. Perfect everyone wants to compete with. We also had one, it was Robert Pattinson.”

Holly Hunter and Frances McDormand

Holly Hunter and Frances McDormand met in the early 1980s when they were both in their twenties and only started their path to the top. They were introduced to each other by their then-boyfriends who were best friends. The girls came along, and the 2 couples rented 2 neighboring apartments.

However, both aspiring actresses soon broke up with their boyfriends, and Frances moved to live with Holly. They lived together for a few years. This was how their life-long friendship began.

Brian Atwood and Melissa McCarthy

Actress Melissa McCarthy and famous shoe designer Brian Atwood attended the same high school in Colorado. Brian was quick to realize that Melissa would be a star. He convinced her to move to New York and rent an apartment together.

Brian recalled, “We lived in Hell’s Kitchen and we were so broke. I gave her a free subway map for her 21st birthday. It was just a special time.”

Winston Duke and Lupita Nyong’o

The Black Panther star revealed that he and Lupita studied at Yale together and were friends. According to him, Lupita was “tough, cooperative and generous.” He also confessed that he was a nerd.

They saw each other playing in the student theater many times. And once Lupita and Winston were just wandering along the streets of New Haven and singing to pedestrians.

Do you have former fellow students who’ve become famous? Tell us about them in the comments below.