The Cutest Celebrity School Photos

(L-R) Kerry Washington, Dwayne Johnson and Jennifer Garner smile for school portraits
Credit: Instagram

NEED TO KNOW

• Before fame, some celebrities were just regular kids walking the hallways of their schools

• Kim Kardashian, Dwayne Johnson, Jennifer Garner and other famous faces have shared their school photos on social media over the years

• Check out what some of your favorite stars looked like in their elementary school days

Celebrities — they’re just like us, at least when it comes to school photos.

Before walking on red carpets and striking a pose for magazines, Hollywood’s biggest stars posed for school portraits in all their throwback glory. From Kerry Washington‘s colorful overalls and Snoopy pin to Dwayne Johnson‘s Hawaiian shirt and afro or even Jennifer Garner‘s adorable bowl cut, these grade-school snaps of musicians, actors and reality stars offer all the aww-worthy nostalgia.

Ready for a trip down memory lane? Keep scrolling to see some of your favorite celebs in their adolescence, complete with big hair, ruffles and themed lunch boxes.

01 of 24

Reese Witherspoon

Reese Witherspoon in a school photo
Credit: Reese Witherspoon/Instagram

Reese Witherspoon wasn’t far off from landing her first movie role (at age 14, in Man on the Moon) when she was photographed for this cute school portrait. The Big Little Lies star shared the throwback photo on Instagram in July 2025, captioning the pic: “If I could tell her one thing: stick with the radiators.”

02 of 24

Drew Barrymore

Drew Barrymore in a school photo
Credit: Drew Barrymore/Instagram

Drew Barrymore was already a global superstar by the time this photo was taken, having landed the role of Gerti at 6 in 1982’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. (She was 6 years old at the time of filming). However, Barrymore still had to pose for a school photo just like any regular kid.

03 of 24

Jennifer Garner

Jennifer Garner in her kindergarten photo
Credit: Jennifer Garner Instagram

Garner may have gotten a fancier wardrobe since her days of wearing homemade jumpers to kindergarten, but luckily, her dimples haven’t changed a bit.

04 of 24

Gwen Stefani

Gwen Stefani in a school photo
Credit: Instagram/gwenstefani

This sweet shot of a baby Gwen Stefani — shared on Instagram in July 2023 to celebrate receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame — gave no indication she’d be a punk princess and the frontwoman for No Doubt within just a few short years.

05 of 24

Kerry Washington

Kerry Washington in a school photo
Credit: Kerry Washington/Instagram

Ahead of the release of her 2023 memoir Thicker than Water, Washington shared a look at “Little Kerry” on Instagram.

“So precious, right?! And also, so strong. Stronger than she knew at the time! If I could have told her then, I would have. But I remind her now whenever she needs to hear it!” the Scandal star captioned the adorable snap.

06 of 24

Fergie

Fergie in a school photo
Credit: Fergie/Instagram

To celebrate her 50th birthday in March 2025, Fergie addressed a letter to little Stacy Ferguson in a throwback photo on Instagram.

“Keep loving deeply with all your heart, and keep working on yourself. It always all makes sense later. I love you,” the Grammy-winning singer wrote, in part.

07 of 24

Kristen Bell

Kristen Bell in a school photo
Credit: hello bello/instagram

Actress Kristen Bell credited her “disastrous” haircut as a kid for her ability to “never take flak from anybody.”

“What she did to make sure I fit in with the boys is take the bangs past the forehead, past the ear, all the way down to the back, which I believe we now call a mullet,” Bell recounted to James Corden on The Late Late Show in September 2016.

08 of 24

Jessie James Decker

Jessie James Decker in a school photo
Credit: Jessie James Decker/Instagram

To ring in her 36th birthday, Jessie James Decker pulled a deep cut from the archives — and, much to the delight of her fans, it was this sweet elementary school snapshot shared on Instagram in April 2024.

“It’s meeeeeee Jesssssicaaaaas,” she wrote along the hashtag “#ariesseason.”

09 of 24

Jenna Dewan

Jenna Dewan looked pretty in pink in this portrait she posted for National School Picture Day.

“But- is it weird that I want hair like this again? ,” the Step Up star wrote on Instagram in September 2022.

10 of 24

Katie Couric

Katie Couric in a school photo
Credit: Katie Couric/Instagram

Katie Couric posted this throwback photo on Instagram in September 2021 in honor of Feeding America’s Hunger in Action Month, proving she’s always had that famously bright smile.

11 of 24

Dwayne Johnson

Dwayne Johnson in a school photo
Credit: Dwayne Johnson/Instagram

Before achieving fame as wrestler “The Rock” and becoming an international superstar and tequila magnate, Johnson was just a cute 7-year-old in Hawaii, “with my buck teeth, aloha shirt and WTF is going on with my afro matted down on one side?”

“No way this stud doesn’t grow up to become Sexiest Man Alive,” the actor joked on Instagram in October 2020.

12 of 24

Kat Dennings

Kat Dennings looked awfully cute in her Girl Scouts uniform. However, her time in the troop was short-lived.

“I got kicked out of Girl Scouts for writing, choreographing and starring in a skit called ‘Lexie Monroe, Detective’ that was deemed inappropriate for Earth Day,” she captioned the photo on Instagram in October 2020.

13 of 24

Emma Stone

Emma Stone in a school photo, circa 1997
Credit: Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

Even as a braces-sporting sixth grader, Emma Stone had a twinkle in her eye. It might have been that the Bugonia star had already found her life’s passion: According to Vanity Fair, she began acting in a community theater when she was 11.

14 of 24

Kelly Clarkson

Kelly Clarkson in a school photo in 1994
Credit: Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

A young Kelly Clarkson brought her accessories A-game to her sixth-grade picture session in 1994, but she would soon trade in scrunchies for a pen and notebook for songwriting. The original American Idol winner wrote her hit song “Because of You” at age 16, according to Country Living.

15 of 24

Megan Fox

Megan Fox in a school photo in 1988
Credit: Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

“I remember having that unibrow, which I always hated,” Megan Fox told Allure in May 2010 of her eyebrows as a kid. “I used to beg my mother to let me pluck my eyebrows.”

She continued, telling the publication, “It’s an old wives’ tale that babies born with unibrows are destined to be famous, and when I was born, my grandmother looked at my mom and said, ‘This baby’s going to be famous.’ I believe I was 10 when my mother finally let me pluck into the unibrow.”

16 of 24

Kim Kardashian and Kourtney Kardashian

Kim Kardashian (left) and Kourtney Kardashian in their first-day-of-school photos as a kindergartener and first grader, respectively
Credit: Courtesy Kardashian Family

Lunch box-toting sisters Kim Kardashian and older sister Kourtney Kardashian had each other to lean on for their first-day-of-school photo as a kindergartener and first grader, respectively.

17 of 24

Khloé Kardashian

Kris Jenner (left) takes a picture with daughter Khloé Kardashian on the first day of school in 1992
Credit: Courtesy Kardashian Family

Khloé Kardashian brought mom Kris Jenner — and an epic Mickey Mouse backpack — along for her first day back to school in 1992.

18 of 24

Jamie Foxx

Jamie Foxx in his sixth grade photo in 1980
Credit: Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

Before he adopted the name Jamie Foxx as a comedian and actor, he was Eric Bishop. Pictured here as a sixth grader in 1980, young Eric had been playing piano since he was 5 — which would come in handy for his Oscar-winning performance as Ray Charles — Foxx told JazzTimes in December 2004.

19 of 24

Keith Urban

Keith Urban (center) plays the guitar at school
Credit: Splash News Online

Keith Urban began playing guitar at age 6 and had such a knack for it that he was winning talent competitions while in elementary school. By the time he was 15, Urban dropped out of school to pursue a music career.

20 of 24

Marissa Jaret Winokur

Marissa Jaret Winokur in a school photo
Credit: Courtesy Marissa Jaret Winokur

Marissa Jaret Winokur may have skipped the Hairspray for her school photo, but matching the yarn to her outfit took the look to the next level.

21 of 24

LeAnn Rimes

LeAnn Rimes in a school photo
Credit: LeAnn Rimes/Instagram

It’s hard to believe, but LeAnn Rimes released her debut album, Blue, and its title track at just 13 years old, becoming the first-ever youngest Grammy winner for Best New Artist the following year in 1997.

The country music star also had something to smile about in this ” ‘back to school’ mood” snapshot posted on Instagram in September 2017.

22 of 24

John Mayer

John Mayer in a school photo
Credit: John Mayer/Instagram

John Mayer sang about “Waiting on the World to Change” as an adult, but as a kid, he was just waiting for the bell to ring at the end of a school day. The musician shared this throwback pic in his shirt and tie on Instagram in September 2017 with the caption: “#tbt this guy.”

23 of 24

Katie Holmes

Katie Holmes in a school photo
Credit: Katie Holmes/Instagram

Before she was known for playing Joey Potter on Dawson’s Creek, Katie Holmes put her acting chops to the test in front of the yearbook photographers, as seen in this throwback photo she posted on Instagram for her 47th birthday in December 2025.

24 of 24

Diane Keaton

Diane Keaton in a school photo
Credit: Courtesy of Diane Keaton

Diane Keaton was all smiles in her school photo, years before making it big in the Godfather trilogy and 1977’s Annie Hall. The actress died at age 79 in October 2025.

Read the original article on People