What 10 Famous People Looked Like in their 20s

We love celebrities because of their charisma, talents and ability to capture our imaginations. When you look at the ones who’ve firmly established themselves as tops in their fields for decades, it’s easy to forget that they were once young, ambitious folks who were simply pursuing a dream. Here is a look at 10 notables now and how they looked when they were spring chickens.

President Joe Biden

Whether you like President Biden’s political positions or not, there’s one thing we can all agree on: he’s plenty old. To put things in perspective, when 40th U.S. President Ronald Reagan left office at the age of 77, he was the oldest president to do so. By the time Biden began his presidency, he was already a year older than that. Biden has had a lengthy political career that goes all the way back to 1970. First, he was elected to the New Castle, Delaware County Council at the age of 26, and then three years later became the 6th youngest senator ever elected at 29.

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Ricky Gervais

Gervais is a popular — if not controversial — actor/comedian, best known for co-creating and starring in The Office, which spawned the extremely popular American version of the series. Before he found success on television, he had dreamed of becoming a musician. In fact, in the early 80s he was one half of a new wave pop duo called Seona Dancing. While they never caught on, their single “More to Lose” was a modest hit in the Philippines of all places.

Meryl Streep

With a record 21 Oscar nominations (winning 3 of them), Streep is regarded as the greatest actress of her generation. Although she grew up in a household in which her mom installed confidence in her, Streep never seriously considered a career in film acting until Robert De Niro’s performance in Taxi Driver inspired her. In just her second movie — The Deer Hunter — she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

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Sean Connery

Although the late Scottish actor was the original James Bond, he never allowed himself to be typecast as a result of his success as the secret agent. He starred in a lot of action movies and often played the wise, older mentor to a younger hero. In 1989, he was voted People magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive at the ripe age of 59, and in 2000 was knighted by Queen Elizabeth.

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