It’s warming to know that some of our favorite celebrities were actually best buddies before the red carpets and the limelight of Hollywood. Perhaps it’s the nostalgia of simpler times, or perhaps it’s the comfort of knowing that their fame has not affected their friendship, or maybe it’s just the fun of picturing them sharing fries in the school cafeteria or dealing with teenage crushes. Whatever the reason, these friendships are real. Here are 10 celebrity pairs who were best buddies before they became famous.
10. Timothée Chalamet & Ansel Elgort
But long before the red carpets and awards, Chalamet and Elgort were just classmates at LaGuardia High School in New York City. It was their shared passion for the performing arts that brought them together in their teens, and this friendship extended into their professional lives as well. It is obvious that these “theater kids” were meant for great things.
9. Jamie Dornan & Andrew Garfield
Before Christian Grey’s encounter with his Spider-Man alter ego, Dornan and Garfield were also struggling actors living in a London flat. Their flatmate clique wasn’t bad either—Robert Pattinson, Charlie Cox, and Eddie Redmayne all hovered in their sphere. That’s not so much a starter flat, more a Hollywood hall of fame to come.
8. Scarlett Johansson & Jack Antonoff
These two became prom dates in high school and went on to be best friends forever. Johansson and Antonoff were both students at New York’s Professional Children’s School, where their friendship (and short-lived teen romance) started. Although they did not make it as an item, their friendship endured the cringeworthy prom phase and the rollercoaster of fame.
7. Adam Levine & Jonah Hill
Levine and Hill date back to middle school, brought together courtesy of their dads running into each other in the principal’s office. They became neighbors in Los Angeles, remaining close as their careers took off. Hill’s largest cameo in Levine’s life? Officiating his 2014 wedding to Behati Prinsloo.
6. Leonardo DiCaprio & Tobey Maguire
When DiCaprio saw Maguire at an audition during their pre-teen age, he more or less made up his mind then and there that they would be buddies. From hustling for work from their early years to co-starring in This Boy’s Life and afterward The Great Gatsby, they’ve established a relationship based on trust, loyalty, and a great deal of shared history.
5. Demi Lovato & Selena Gomez
Before they were Disney royalty, Demi and Selena shared the screen on Barney & Friends. Their relationship has been put to the test by fame, rehab, and coming of age in the spotlight, but they’ve always managed to make their way back to one another. It’s a testament that friendships made as kids can weather even the most brutal Hollywood storms.
4. Maya Rudolph & Gwyneth Paltrow
Rudolph and Paltrow started as buddies in Los Angeles grade school, where their fathers—college friends—brought their offspring together. From early childhood productions to Saturday Night Live hosting stints, their friendship has endured for decades. Being famous growing up can be difficult, but these two were there for each other from day one.
3. Kate Hudson & Liv Tyler
Hudson and Tyler were barely teenagers when they became close friends at Crossroads School in Santa Monica. Sleepovers, predawn breakfasts, and eventually, co-starring in Dr. T & the Women only strengthened their relationship. Their sister-like friendship is now Hollywood’s most lasting.
2. Nicole Richie & Paris Hilton
Even before reality television made them tabloid sensations, Richie and Hilton were constant toddlers. Raised together in LA, they were already best friends for life when The Simple Life catapulted them into household fame. Theirs is a relationship that has survived media melodrama, breakups, and rediscoveries—but never actually broke.
1. Matt Damon & Ben Affleck
The template for every celebrity bromance. Damon and Affleck were raised in the same Cambridge neighborhood and pursued the acting dream together. From penning Good Will Hunting to acting in movies side by side, they’ve been each other’s support group for more than three decades. Celebrity came and went—but never their friendship.
Red carpets and award shows may make these pairs seem bigger-than-life, but fundamentally, they’re simply friends who knew one another before Hollywood. Childhood friendships, school days, or small apartment complexes formed the foundation—and even with all the glory, fortune, and craziness of show business, those roots are what keep them grounded.