7 Celebrity Duos Who Were Friends Before They Became Famous

When a person looks up on the internet the definition of the word “Friends”, he or she will find out that the meaning of this term is people whom one knows and with whom one has a close bond of mutual affection with. Friends have many similar things in common such as likes, interests, ideals, and life goals. The special bonds between close friends can be so tight that friendships last a lifetime.

Friendships in Hollywood are either for show or are for real. In the case of the latter type, many celebrities’ friendships with each other have formed from working together on the set of a movie or TV project. This bond can translate into a friendship that lasts beyond the project. How some celebrities become fast friends isn’t just from working together, but also via meeting at events, award shows, parties, etc. One of the most endearing ways certain celebrities become friends is by having an already established friendship before both achieved fame and other great heights!

Some of Hollywood’s most favorite pairs of friends formed that special rapport between the both of them either by knowing each other since childhood, being each other’s roommates in the early days of their careers, or meeting each other at auditions for roles, to name a couple of ways.

Although friendships come and go as the years pass by, each of these pairs of famous friends knew each other before becoming big stars. Both people in these pairs have watched and been with each other through the good and the bad times at the start of each other’s careers. As a result, their friendship grows stronger, links them for life, and carries on when both people reach great heights.

From the public’s perspective, it is amazing and surprising to see two celebrities who you believe have nothing in common turned out to be friends with one another before both of them became big stars. With that being said, here are 7 Celebrity Duos Who Were Friends Before They Became Famous:

1. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck:

In terms of Famous Celebrity Duos and/or Friends, one cannot forget to include Ben Affleck (on the left) and Matt Damon (on the right) on both lists! Both actors have been best friends since childhood. They lived near each other and attended the same high school in Boston. It is was their mutual interest and passion for acting and filmmaking which bonded the two for life.

As many know, Damon and Affleck achieved great fame and successful movie careers with their screenplay for the critically acclaimed 1997 film Good Will Hunting, which both also stared in. The film was nominated for nine Oscars and won two, including Best Original Screenplay for both Damon (who also earned a nomination for Best Actor) and Affleck. The friendship between Damon and Affleck ranks at the top for the most notable celebrity friendships in all of Hollywood. They have each other’s backs no matter what, even though Affleck plays more of a mediator role in Damon’s famous ‘rivalry/feud’ with Late Night Talk Show Host Jimmy Kimmel.

2. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler:

The two comedians and actresses are also another celebrity duo who were friends before becoming famous. Fey (on the left) and Poehler (on the right) first met at ImprovOlympic in Chicago in the 1990s. Both women would end up working together for a couple of seasons on Saturday Night Live and in the 2004 film Mean Girls. Both would do great things after departing Saturday Night Live. Fey and Poehler are one of the most dynamic duos in Hollywood and comedy as they have co-hosted the Golden Globes three times together and one episode of Saturday Night Live (for which they won an Emmy together).

3. Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire:

DiCaprio (on the left) and Maguire (on the right) have been friends for more than 30 years after first meeting each other at an audition. Both actors were 12 years old and at the beginning of their acting careers when they first met.

They have maintained their strong friendship as both became big Hollywood Stars with some of their most notable film credits including Titanic (DiCaprio), The Wolf on Wall Street (DiCaprio), The Spider-Man Trilogy (Maguire), and Brothers (Maguire), to name a few. As of August 2019, the two friends have co-starred in only three films together: This Boy’s Life (1993), Don’s Plum (2001), and The Great Gatsby (2013).

4. Maya Rudolph and Gwyneth Paltrow:

Both actresses‘ famous fathers met and became friends while studying at Tulane University in New Orleans. Both eventually made a name for themselves when they moved to Hollywood. As a result, it is almost like Maya Rudolph (on the left) and Gwyneth Paltrow (on the right) were destined to become friends before they were even born!

When Paltrow hosted Saturday Night Live for the second time in November 2001, the Oscar-winning Actress used her opening monologue to address how excited she was to host the show again and how happy she was that her childhood friend Maya Rudolph was now a cast member of the hit show. Rudolph then came out and joined Paltrow on the stage.

Both explained to the live studio audience and viewers their long friendship and that they went to Crossroads School together during elementary school. They even showed a photo of the two of them from the fifth grade! While the two became close friends, they didn’t get to go to middle and high school together as Paltrow’s family moved to Brooklyn when she was 11 years old.

5. Adam Levine and Jonah Hill:

Before the Maroon 5 Front Man (on the left) and the Oscar-nominated Actor (on the right) became famous, the duo were childhood friends and have known each other since middle school! The two even carpooled to and from school together. Both are still close friends to this very day.

Their friendship is so strong that Hill officiated his childhood friend’s wedding to Model Behati Prinsloo in 2014. Besides Levine’s and Hill’s tight friendship, both of their families are close to each other as well! Jonah’s older brother Jordan was Maroon 5’s manager until his untimely death at the age of 40 due to a DVT/pulmonary embolism in 2017. Levine stated in interviews that the day Jordan died was one of the saddest days of his life.

6. Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts:

The friendship between Australian actress Nicole Kidman (on the left) and British actress Naomi Watts (on the right) goes way back to when both were in the 1991 film Flirting. Although this is where their friendship began, both were in the same theater company and attended the same high school (Watts moved to Australia when she was 14) together in Australia. Upon discovering this, both Kidman and Watts were shocked that they hadn’t connected prior to the production of Flirting.

Ever since the two friends each made a name for themselves in Hollywood, their bond is still as strong as ever. Both women gush about the other in interviews and tag each other in many Instagram posts.

7. Kate Hudson and Liv Tyler:

The friendship between Hudson (on the left) and Tyler (on the right) is deeper than that they were both born into fame before both girls made a name for themselves as actresses. Hudson is the daughter of Oscar-winning Actress Goldie Hawn while Tyler is the daughter of Aerosmith Front Man Steven Tyler. The two became fast friends while attending Crossroads School and later co-starred in the film Dr. T. & the Women. The friendship between Hudson and Tyler is full of humor and on display on each of their Instagram accounts.

From this list of 7 Celebrity Duos Who Were Friends Before They Became Famous, which pair’s friendship did you enjoy learning about the most? Which duo surprised you the most that both persons were friends before they each achieved fame? Please sure to let us know which pair of friends for each question down below in the comments section!