It is not a surprise that in the old days of Rome, the father of a family was the head of the family and had all the power. But some of the powers that they had were absolutely crazy. They had complete control over everyone’s lives.

This included the ability to disown a newborn and cast them out of the house. All they had to do was say they were unable to feed them, and it was perfectly acceptable. Sounds pretty cruel.

We all have sat in the food court and had lunch with a friend, but did you know that this concept is nothing new. In fact, the ancient Romans had a setup that was pretty similar to this.

They called it a Thermoplia, and it was a counter with clay jars that housed the food. This was a popular place for the commoners to grab a bite, and you could eat in the establishment or take it home.

In today’s world, we don’t think anything of taking something back to a store when it doesn’t work out. There we can either do a return or get a refund. This ability might not be around if it wasn’t for the ancient Romans.

They were the first civilization that adopted this idea. You could purchase something down the market or from a tradesman, and if you didn’t like it, you could return it to them or even get a replacement. After Christmas would not be the same without them, it appears.

The ancient Romans had the same amount of hours in the day, but they did something pretty interesting with the division of those hours. That’s right, it wasn’t an even split, and that made for seasonal times.

Some times of the year, an hour would be 75 minutes; at other times, it would be just 45 minutes; this was because of the fact they split the day up by sunset until dawn and dawn until sunset.

Have you been to a concert or sporting event in a big stadium? Then you should probably give a big high five to the ancient Romans. The basic design of our modern stadiums is based on the Roman amphitheater.

The architects of Rome came up with the idea by adjusting aspects from the Greeks and making improvements on them. They made them bigger and made them a complete circle.

When it comes to beauty trends, often, things go in cycles. Things like big eyes with luscious lashes for ladies have always been something that marked beauty. But sometimes, the meaning and why they were important varies.

In ancient Rome, the thick eyelashes were a sign of chastity. They thought that your eyelashes fell out when you were a little promiscuous. They really thought some pretty crazy things in the past, right?

The Romans knew how to throw parties. One of the biggest was the Saturnalia which was thrown in honor of the god of agriculture, Saturn. This party even saw the slaves having a day of freedom to party it up with their owners.

They were granted the ability to feast at the tables of their owners, and they could also speak their minds when it came to their masters.

Today, when someone has a unibrow, they are looked at as unattractive and, at the very least, are the butt of a lot of jokes. But back in the day, those nicely groomed eyebrows were a sign of being common and unintelligent.

The really posh and upper-class Romans all wanted the eyebrows to grow together. This was a sign of true intelligence. Some people have used fake eyebrows or drew them on. Just like today!

So we might think it is gross and probably a little unsanitary, but in Ancient Rome, many people drink the blood of the mighty warriors of the Colosseum, the gladiators. This may make you a little nauseous, but the Romans had their reasons.

Apparently, imbibing this liquid was said to help with impotence and infertility. People would drink this tonic hoping for the warrior virility to be transferred to them to have more kids.

When you think of royalty, one color comes to mind…purple. Why is that? Back in the ancient world, the ingredients used to get that color were hard to get and rare. This, in turn, made it super expensive.

Because of this rarity and difficulty, the high-class people of ancient Rome were the ones that could purchase fabric made in purple.

Though Christianity is one of the major religions of the world now, it started as a smaller religion. In fact, back in the day, they were looked at as a cult and frowned upon. During ancient Roman times, there were a lot of falsities about the religion that circulated.

One of the most heinous rumors spread to keep people from converting to this new religion was that they were cannibals. After all, they did eat bread and said it was the flesh of their Christ and the wine was his blood.

So on to another horrible ruler and perhaps the worst of them. That emperor would be the famous fiddler of Rome, Nero. He was a different kind of ruler because he had no qualms about being corrupt and was very active in removing any of the people that were in his way.

He might have deteriorated into the crazy ruler we have all learned about, but what we don’t learn is that the first part of his rule was very successful.

So when we are taught about Rome, we are right about its heyday when it was the heart of the world, but the city started off as a small city that was known for its trade. This made it a trade stop on any routes across the country and the world.

Rome was not what it was called at first; it was Latium. It was a juncture between two major territories, and that is how it became the city it was.

There was something that many of us were taught or learned that we have to dispel right now. The Romans had a lavish feast with tons of food, and in order to enjoy this, they threw up at some time in the meal.

This is false. Though the feast was lavish and large, they also ran a long time, so they paced themselves. This meant there was no need to binge and purge.

The people of ancient Rome loved a good bath and staying clean, but they may not have been as clean as we think they were. Today when you get in the shower or tub, you grab that bar of soap to get yourself clean.

But back in ancient Rome, they didn’t use soap. They relied on clean hot water to get their bodies fresh and clean.

It may not be the liberties that women of today have, but back in ancient Rome, women had more rights and freedoms than many of the women in other empires of the time. Roman women, unlike many other women, were able to own their own property.

On top of that, Roman women were able to go and come when they wanted. But they were still not able to enter the halls of government.

We are taught about Rome, and the empire that came from it but very few of us are taught the story of its founding. It is actually a pretty interesting story. It involves some wolves and a pair of twins.

Two twins were abandoned and found by a she-wolf. The wolf raised them, and they were the ones who found the mighty city of Rome, building it from the core of Latium.

When we were taught about the ancient world, one of the things we learned is that it was hard to survive. There were rampant diseases and many things that could kill you, including constant battles.

Because of this, we were told that the mortality rate was very low. But on the whole, the average was not as low as we were told. It was still lower than ours, but it wasn’t as bad as we thought.

What many people don’t think about when they are learning about ancient Rome is that this was a metropolis that saw major trade. The fact it saw so many traders made the city alive with many different tongues.

Many of the merchants were also versed in many languages so they could deal with all the people that came into their city. That meant many of them spoke not only Roman but things like Egyptian, Greek, and Germanic language so they could trade with more people.

Nowadays, people are very cautious about the idea of cultural appropriation. But back in ancient Rome, it was a basic way of life and the way that empire was able to last as long as it did. They not only added pieces of the concord cultures into their culture but many other things.

Of course, the Romans melded pieces of Greek culture into their world, but many other things from other cultures that they concord.

Like many other things in ancient Rome, the aqueducts are something that stood the test of time. They were so well built that even today, there are examples of them all over the European continent.

The aqueducts were built to last, and they were by far one of the inventions to come from ancient Rome, if not the best. They allowed the empire to deliver water to places that were not close to water.

Nowadays, there are tons of major cities that you might deem megacities. But back in ancient Rome, there were not very many of them in the world. The first may well have been Rome.

You may want to argue with it, but it is definitely the first. Rome housed at one time over a million people, where places like Babylon only saw a population of 200,000.

What would the world be without concrete? Many modern buildings use this compound as the foundation, which means we have a lot to thank the Romans for. But our cement is nothing to the Romans!

The Romans used volcanic ash as a core ingredient. This mixed the limestone and seawater made a strong mortar. In fact, this compound only seems to get stronger with time, and that is pretty cool.

So one of the things we all learn about ancient Rome is that they were amazing innovators. They came up with some pretty epic things, and that includes bathrooms. This innovation includes the sewer, but the bathrooms of their time were not what we think of.

The bathrooms of ancient Rome were stall-less and a place to socialize. They had fewer inhibitions than we do. So their bathrooms were holes set in benches in a public setting.

Rome had many emperors that probably were in desperate need of therapy or a little time away in the sanitarium. One of the most famous was Caligula. Besides being accused of killing his family and anybody that stood against him, he also liked to chat up the moon.

Oh yeah, and he fought for his horse to be made a special counsel to the emperor. He must have really liked that horse!

In Rome, women may have had a lot of rights, but they didn’t have a personal name. Most women would be given a name after their lineage. So if you came from Claudius, you would be Claudia. But what if there was more than one girl in the family?

Well, then you would get a descriptor after your name. So the second Claudia would be Claudia Secunda. And it would go from there.

Hand signals are still used to this day settings to show approval and sometimes to not. But in Ancient Rome, a simple gesture of the hand in the Colosseum could mean a whole world of different things. We all know the thumbs up and thumbs down, but there were others.

If you bend your thumb in any direction, it means the fighter was meant to die. To save the gladiator, a clenched fist was raised in the air.

When you think of the Colosseum, you probably think of gladiatorial fights. But the amphitheater was used for tons of other events as well, including some pretty epic naval battles.

That is right, Emperor Titus actually filled the Colosseum with water and had mock naval battles in it. That sounds pretty cool! What do you think? We wish we could have seen that.

In ancient Rome, many households owned slaves, but they were able to gain freedom. Sort of once they were freed, they still were required to work for their former owner. On top of that, these freed slaves that were citizens had to vote for their former owners in elections.

They also had to work for them for free and even leave them their property when they passed away. If not, they could be put back into a slave state.

It is no surprise that at its height, Rome was the center of the world. It was the heart of the empire and a major trading and cultural center. But how did it stack up against the cities of the modern world?

Well, Rome was a major metropolis that at one time or another was the home of over a million people, which even by today’s standards is pretty big.

Nowadays, tons of people live in apartments; in fact, some of those apartments are pretty darn posh. But back in the days of ancient Rome, people with money lived in those villas we all think of when we think of that period.

The poor were the ones that loved the apartments. These apartments were very similar to apartments in cities of today when it comes to layout and planning.

There are a lot of things that we can say about the bathroom habits of the Romans, besides doing their duty while they completed business deals. It was all a very communal event. For us, though, the coolest fact had to do with the cleanup.

They didn’t have toilet paper to wipe their bottom, but they didn’t walk around dirty. Instead, they used a sponge on a stick. They called this tool xylospongium.

As teens, we all spent hours hanging out at the local mall. This type of establishment has its roots all the way back to the ancient Romans. They had something called Trajan’s Market in Rome, a place with many private shops.

The market also had several eating and drinking establishments; some of these even administered free food to the shoppers as they perused the goods.

There were a lot of ways that crimes got punished in the Ancient Roman world. Among them was the punishment of a duel in the Colosseum. But if this was your sentencing, you might not always find yourself fighting another human.

Often you might find yourself up against one of the wild animals kept beneath the amphitheater; this even included a lion. That is some serious punishment!

Today when you go to an event at a stadium, there are kiosks sitting outside the arena that typically sell hats, tee-shirts, and other paraphernalia for the event. The old world was no different.

Well, that’s not true; they didn’t sell t-shirts and hats. Instead, the kiosk outside the Colosseum sold things like gladiator sweat and the fat of animals that were killed. These were used as cosmetics, among other things.

We’ve gotten used to seeing these famous faces constantly, but we don’t often look back to what they were like at the start of their career. Thanks to the internet, though, we can see these A-listers hanging out with their younger selves. Let’s take a look at where they started and how far they’ve come with these awesome pics!

Although nowadays he’s known as one of the most wholesome and busiest actors in Hollywood (just take a look at how many movies he’s starring in the next year), he didn’t start out as part of the glitz and glam of Tinseltown.

Known by his stage name, “Rocky Maivia” (a combination of his father’s and grandfather’s wrestling names), Johnson began wrestling in 1996. He was critical to the creation and success of the World Wrestling Federation, aka WWF. Although his acting has taken center stage, he does still compete.

Everyone that grew up in the ‘90s and early 2000s learned of Mary-Kate and Ashley when they began playing the adorable Michelle Tanner in Full House. From there, their resumes only got more impressive with time.

Their last role as part of their acting empire, however, was in New York Minute in 2004. Since then, they’ve left the acting world but not the world of glamor — they’ve created a lucrative fashion brand and now spend their time managing it.

Seeing Dawson Leery next to James Van Der Beek is making us remember exactly why we had a huge crush on him back when Dawson’s Creek was airing in 1998, and James was 19.

It also totally shows us why we still love him. Just look at that charming smirk! Of course, he’s still acting; his latest roles include Matt Bromley in Pose and Grant in the comedy horror film Bad Hair.

It was clear very early on that Beyoncé was going to be a star — from a young age, she participated in (and won) several singing and dancing competitions. Her more serious break came when the singing group she had joined, Girl’s Tyme, morphed into Destiny’s Child.

From there, we all know Beyoncé’s meteoric rise to fame. After all, who can forget such hits as “Survivor”, “Bootylicious”, and”Crazy in Love” (which was also her first number-one single)? Do we really need to explain how Queen Bey is still proving what an immense talent she is to this day?

Haley Joel Osment was probably the cutest child star of the ‘90s. He first got attention at the age of four when a talent scout signed him and got him in commercials. His first major appearances on the silver screen were as a young Forrest Gump, and, more importantly, as Cole in The Sixth Sense.

From there, the huge roles just kept coming. While his projects since hitting his late teens have slightly dwindled, Osment is still acting both on TV and in films. He’s also been the voice behind the beloved Sora in the Kingdom Hearts video game franchise.

Cherilyn Srakisian’s journey toward becoming the Goddess of Pop began with a cute little number called “I Got You Babe” — which shot Sonny & Cher straight into fame. At the same time, she also established herself as an impressive solo act.

Cher has since become an incredible musical icon, conquering every stage and every entertainment industry she could think of. Even after over 60 years of making music, this powerhouse doesn’t seem to be slowing down.

She might be known nowadays as a talented choreographer, actress, singer, and dancer (and as one of the iconic original judges on American Idol), but Paula Abdul actually began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Interestingly, the Jacksons saw her cheering and gave her a chance to choreograph several music videos for them. From there, she slowly transitioned into creating her own music. Her career since then has been filled with music and dance.

Wax on, wax off — polish your eyes and take a look at the original Karate Kid, Ralph Macchio. Macchio began professionally acting at age 16, with his first role being Jeremy Andretti in Eight Is Enough.

Of course, his major break came when he played underdog Daniel in The Karate Kid, a role he has reprised many times over the years — including, most recently, in the sequel series Cobra Kai.

At the young age of 20, Madonna dropped out of college and moved to New York City with $35 in her pocket to try to make it big as a modern dancer. For quite a few years, she picked up odd jobs while pursuing her career in music.

In 1982, she released several singles that garnered enough attention to propel her forward, all the way to “Like a Virgin” and “Material Girl” stardom. The rest, as they say, is history. The Queen of Pop continues to make headlines and albums to this day.

It’s impossible not to fall in love with the sweet smile and immense talent that is Dolly Parton. Before becoming a worldwide sensation, though, Dolly was just a humble songwriter for others. She finally became known for her singing talent with the debut of her first album, Hello, I’m Dolly.

After winning the hearts of every country music lover out there, Dolly branched out to other genres, also becoming a pop sensation. Her latest work includes a rock album, which she started working on after getting nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Beautiful British model Kate Moss began her career in 1988 when she was just 14. She was spotted by Sarah Doukas at the airport in New York after returning from a holiday in the Bahamas. Moss became known for her “grunge” look.

Beyond becoming a renowned model over the years, Moss has also gone into fashion design, creating several collections with Topshop. In 2016, she founded her own agency, KMA (Kate Moss Agency), signing on Rita Ora and Esmé Creed-Miles, among others, as clients.

Looking at a young Leonardo DiCaprio sure takes us back. He first began appearing in commercials at age 14, soon gaining his first role in The Outsiders. We do, of course, have to mention the incredible star status he gained as a teen heartthrob in the late ‘90s with Romeo + Juliet and the massive success of Titanic.

From there, it’s been a pretty steady rise for Leo, as he’s still a huge star. Even so, nowadays, it seems like people are more concerned with his dramatic love life than with his up-and-coming films.

With his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour underway, what a time to talk about the incredible career of the amazingly talented and iconic Elton John. John began performing at age 15 at a local pub.

His real career, however, began when he met his longtime musical partner, Bernie Taupin, in 1967. The duo has since created the musical talent that is Elton John together. Of course, it’s impossible to sum up his decades-long career, so, let’s just say that it’s still going strong.

He’s once… twice… three times a massively talented singer! It’s Lionel Richie, everyone! And can we just say that this Motown wonder has aged so well? This is one handsome 70-something-year-old that we’d love to be serenaded by.

After all, he was one of the most successful balladeers of the ‘80s — and for good reason. His solo career might have begun in 1982 with his album Lionel Richie, but those sweet dulcet vocals are still going strong today.

While we might most fondly think of Tom Hanks (beyond his wholesome self) as a serious dramatic actor, he actually got a start with a series of comedy films that got some pretty good reviews.

While Splash and Big did wonders for his career, his true shot to stardom came with the iconic Forrest Gump. Hanks has since only reached higher with his many amazing films and truly unforgettable roles.

Although he began his career with a starring role on Days of Heaven, Richard Gere rose to prominence thanks to American Gigolo. This transformed him into one of Hollywood’s favorite heartthrobs.

That’s probably why he got his role in Pretty Woman. He also found himself playing the suave Billy Flynn in Chicago. He’s still acting while also working on his musical talent.

Can we just take a moment to swoon over 16-year-old Robbie Williams in his early Take That days? Unfortunately, the young star had quite a few difficulties with illicit substances during those days, and he left the group in 1995.

Lucky for us, he kept making his own music and even made his return to the group in 2006. He has received 18 Brit Awards, alongside tons of other music awards worldwide — he definitely does Take the Crown.

How you doin’, Matt LeBlanc? ‘Cause you’re looking like you’re doing just fine! He may be older and somewhat rounder these days, but we’re definitely hoping that today’s Matt is a lot wiser than his younger character of Joey Tribbiani.

While Joey might be his most known character, LeBlanc’s career actually started quite a few years before his Friends fame. In fact, his first appearance was in a Heinz Ketchup commercial way back in 1987. Of course, he’s still acting, although he hasn’t yet found a TV role since his show Man With a Plan was canceled in 2020.

By now, we all know what an incredible struggle and journey Britney Spears has undergone in order to gain back her independence and return to the industry… on her terms. So, we really couldn’t care less that she doesn’t look 20 anymore.

The 41-year-old singer has been spending her time working on her book and on her family with Sam Asghari. We can only hope, however, to soon hear that ‘Oops!… She did it again’ and returned to making music.

He might have been the man with no name in Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy, but we definitely know Clint Eastwood’s name. This Spaghetti Westerns veteran has, since his time in the Wild West, also graduated to directing many films.

Apparently, his dating history is just as action-filled as his films. Over the years, he’s been connected to many women, eventually fathering at least eight children with six different women. He refuses to confirm exactly how many children he has.

Thanks to great musicians like Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and the Beatles, Bruce Springsteen became interested in creating his own music at a young age. He got his first guitar in 1964 and soon after joined a band and started performing.

From there, it was nearly a decade of playing with different bands, honing his skills and musical taste. In 1972, he formed a new band, which eventually became the E Street Band. The band still plays with Springsteen to this day.

Who would have thought that the perfectionist and loyal Gryffindor would grow up to be the fierce and impressive Emma Watson? Okay, yeah, basically everyone. Clearly, Hermione Granger was made to be played by Watson.

Although she hasn’t acted as much in recent years (with the notable exceptions of Beauty and the Beast and Greta Gerwig’s Little Women), Emma is just as outspoken, nowadays taking her activism into board meetings instead of the red carpet.

This international star was often compared to the likes of Steve McQueen, Clark Gable, and Humphrey Bogart in his early years, and we can totally see why. Although his citizenship only included the US and Ireland, thanks to a move in his teen years to Australia, that was where he began his career.

His initial movies (like the Mad Max films), cemented Mel Gibson as an action star. However, as he built his skill, people soon learned that he had a talent in other genres as well. In recent years, due to certain statements made by the actor, he hasn’t been as much in the limelight.

When it comes to movie roles, Harrison Ford certainly has a type (and we absolutely love it) — a wise-cracking, heart-of-gold criminal. Because how else do you explain the fact that Indiana Jones and Han Solo are so much alike?! Seriously, it took us a moment to recognize which one he was dressed up as in this pic.

Beyond his acting career, which is still thriving (with Indiana Jones 5 out this year), Ford also has quite a few other interests. This includes a pilot’s license, which he’s even used to help the local authorities in Wyoming with a rescue! Now, that’s a true action hero!

Like many comedians, Jerry Seinfeld began his career appearing in open-mic nights at different improv clubs. Only, he got really lucky when in 1976, he appeared in an open mic at Catch a Rising Star — which led to him appearing on a televised comedy special!

After becoming a late show favorite guest, Jerry finally created Seinfeld in 1988 alongside Larry David. Amazingly, for a show about nothing, it quickly became the most-watched sitcom on TV and Jerry has been a household name ever since.

Everybody, put your hands together for the one, the only Fresh Prince! But before we saw him on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Smith was using the same nickname to create his musical career as an MC and rapper.

He’s since proven that beyond musical and comedic talent, Will Smith could also move us to tears or make us hold our breath in anticipation in his more action-oriented films. Unfortunately, due to his televised slap, his career seems to have been put on a bit of a hold recently.

“Yo, Adrian!” shouts Rocky Balboa, but we want to give a shout-out to the great actor behind the hit franchise — Sylvester Stallone! Under the stage name Mike Stallone, Sylvester began his career in 1969. He changed his stage name again just a year later, finally going back to his real name only a few years into his career.

Did you know that his first starring role was actually in a soft adult film? This was obviously before the success of Rocky when he was strapped for cash. Of course, nowadays, he’s far from destitute and is enjoying his hard-earned career success.

Say hello to this glorious mustache. The young Tom Selleck definitely stole our hearts in 1980 when he starred as the clever private eye in Magnum, P.I. But, his career didn’t stop there.

He’s been winning us over again and again. Since 2010, he’s been doing so as the head of a family of police officers in the long-running Blue Bloods. In recent years he’s also begun singing — appearing on Nicolas King’s album Act One.

We “Can’t Stop Loving You”, Phil Collins! From the moment he began sharing his musical talent with the world, we were hooked. Genesis was his big break, but did you know that he actually had a bit of an acting career before getting into music? That clearly didn’t take.

Of course, many of us in the younger generations first got to know him through his incredible work on the Tarzan soundtrack (which he also recorded himself in several other languages). You’ll always be in our hearts, Phil!

She’s made such a name for herself over the years that it’s hard to consider her a nepo baby, but Jennifer Aniston actually is the daughter of two actors. Of course, over the course of her amazing career, she’s created her own legacy.

Her big break, as we all know, came as Rachel Green in Friends when she inspired a generation of young women. She’s since only grown, honing her dramatic acting chops alongside her comedic timing.

Mother Monster is in the house! With this pic, it’s basically impossible to tell which is the younger version of Lady Gaga. In any case, we know for a fact that the bullies who used to tell Stefani Joanne Angelia Germanotta that she’ll never be famous have been eating their words for years.

Lady Gaga isn’t just an incredibly talented musician and singer (though she most definitely is that); she’s proven in recent years that she’s just as great at acting. She now moves back and forth between her two passions, and we can’t wait to see her blend them in the new Joker film.

Let’s come clean — we all had a crush on Christina Applegate as Kelly Bundy on Married… With Children. There was just something about the beautiful and ditzy character, played by this talented actress, that had us hooked.

Applegate has only gotten better since, taking on more complex roles that really showcase her incredible talent. Seriously, her latest role in Dead to Me is absolutely incredible! Sadly, due to her diagnosis of MS, it looks like she’ll be putting her acting career on pause.

His father might have sold wood, but the “only wood” Henry Winkler “was interested in was Hollywood,” according to the cheeky comedian and actor. He began his career straight out of the Yale School of Drama as a stage actor.

His breakthrough came when he got the role of Fonzie on Happy Days. Apparently, he was told he got the job on his birthday! While “The Fonz” might be timeless, younger audiences probably know him better from his roles on Arrested Development or Barry.

You might be tempted to think that Steven Spielberg’s glorious career began with the masterpiece Jaws in 1975, but he actually spent years before that trying to break into the world of directing.

Of course, nowadays, he’s known for his genius directing, having been responsible for some of the most enjoyable and profitable films of all time. His most personal work, semi-autobiographical The Fabelmans, recently hit theaters to rave reviews.

Johnny Depp actually began his rise to fame as a musician when he left school at 16 to pursue his rock dreams. It was only at 20, after meeting Nicolas Cage, that he decided to give acting a shot. He became a teen heartthrob when he landed his first big role on 21 Jump Street.

However, he didn’t love the commercial aspect of the role and sought more independent and interesting projects. His role in Edward Scissorhands began a lifelong collaboration with Tim Burton, which is still going strong.

Robert De Niro worked in Hollywood for a decade in all sorts of small roles before he got his big break in 1973, when he played a mobster in Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets. His nuanced acting was apparently perfect for criminal roles, as he was soon cast as Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II.

Thanks to his many collaborations with Scorsese, De Niro rose quickly from there, marked as an impressively diverse actor. He might not be super handsome, but there’s quite a bit of charm in every character that De Niro plays.

Did you know that before beginning her illustrious acting career, Courteney Cox actually worked for the video game company Bethesda Softworks? Well, soon after that, she began acting in all sorts of projects. She finally landed her breakout role in Friends.

While we definitely associate her with Monica Geller, Cox was also recognized at the time as one of the biggest horror actresses with her role in the Scream franchise. Of course, she’s still acting, even returning to set to film the sixth Scream film recently.

We might think of him nowadays as the suave and funny aged actor that he is, but Rob Lowe was actually technically a child actor, beginning his career at age 12. His breakout role was in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders.

He later gained even more fame as Sam Seaborn on the fan-favorite The West Wing. Lowe’s career has only risen to new heights since, and we have to say, he’s just as crush-worthy now as he was in his younger years.

Mr. Silver Fox himself, George Clooney, has only gotten better with age — although he’s always been a heartthrob. His career first began in 1978 when he played an extra on Centennial. But, it wasn’t until 1994 that he landed his first real break in ER.

During his time on the show, he also began appearing in films — showcasing his versatility by starring in comedy, action, and romantic movies. He’s still enjoying that same diversity of roles nowadays as he jumps from project to project, leaving his foxy mark on all of them.

Paul McCartney met John Lennon when he was only 15 years old, and was soon invited to join his band, the Quarrymen. They quickly invited McCartney’s school friend George Harrison to also play with them, and soon after, they became The Beatles.

Look, we’re not going to get into Beatlemania, but McCartney was right in the thick of it. Of course, after the band broke up, McCartney created his own solo career, where he’s done extremely well for himself to this day.

Then and now, it doesn’t matter — Julia Roberts will forever be our Pretty Woman. But she’s not just an incredibly beautiful person; she’s also an amazingly talented actress that has made us laugh and cry many times over the years.

With Mystic Pizza, Steel Magnolias, and Pretty Woman, Roberts quickly established herself as an A-list leading lady, and she’s kept up that level of success since. She keeps appearing in endlessly diverse roles that make us fall in love with her over and over again.

Let’s take a look at one of our favorite child-actors-turned-acting-adults ever — the fabulous and charming Drew Barrymore. Her breakout role was, of course, as Gertie in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Due to her fame, though, her teenhood was quite complicated.

However, she managed to make it out the other side with her career fairly intact as she became a favorite rom-com and chick-flick actress. Her latest venture has been her talk show, which has quickly become a wholesome must-watch.

Brad Pitt tried to make it big in Hollywood for quite a few years before he was finally noticed when he played a supporting role in Thelma & Louise. He then really broke out thanks to his role as Paul Maclean in A River Runs Through It.

It was finally Interview With the Vampire that truly cemented his place in Hollywood. He’s since had an incredibly diverse career thanks to his talent for making each of his characters unique.

Cyndi Lauper began writing and playing songs when she was just 12, thanks to a guitar that was given to her by her sister. This girl definitely wanted more than just to have fun — in her early singing days with the band Blue Angel, she refused any contract that wouldn’t include the band.

She’s since, “Time After Time”, made us dance with her amazing songs. But, she isn’t just a musical sensation. Did you know that she also acts on occasion, even having a recurring role as a psychic on Bones?

We’re “Never Gonna Give You Up”, Rick Astley! After all, how could we ever let down the internet’s favorite memeable musician? His most famous song was also his debut solo song, and it shot him to the top of the charts.

Amazingly, Astley decided to retire from music in 1994 to raise his daughter. He returned only in the late 2000s but has since slowly risen back to fame. Of course, he’s become an inescapable part of pop culture in recent years thanks to Rickrolling.