Considering just how hard it is to make in show business, it’s remarkable how many celebrities have been good friends with other successful celebrities since before either was famous. Some going back to childhood. Here’s our list of celebrities that have been friends for longer than they’ve been famous.
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck
It’s probably the most famous friendship in Hollywood. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon grew up together in Cambridge, MA, and they’ve pretty much been besties ever since. They were even uncredited extras together in Field Of Dreams and both found early roles in School Ties together. Of course, in 1997 when they wrote and starred in Good Will Hunting together, their collective fame blew up.
Al Gore and Tommy Lee Jones
Another set of long-time friends are former Vice President Al Gore and Tommy Lee Jones. They were roommates when they attended Harvard together. At the 2000 Democratic National Convention when the party nominated Gore to be its candidate for President, Jones said in a speech,
Al Gore has been one of my closest friends since the day we met on the first day of college 35 years ago.
Christopher Reeve and Robin Williams were both taken from the world when they were too young. The two have more in common than tragedy though. Reeve and Williams forged a lifelong friendship after meeting as graduate students at Juilliard and rooming together while in school. Reeve even credited Williams with showing him that life would go on after a horse riding accident left him paralyzed.
Madonna and Debi Mazar
Entourage star Debi Mazar and global superstar Madonna have been friends since the early ‘80s when they met in the hipster scene of the East Village and the dance clubs of New York City. They stayed friends since that time and Mazar has had Madonna’s back when internet trolls take shots at the pop music legend. Mazar also appeared in a number of Madonna’s early videos, like “Papa Don’t Preach.”
Ving Rhames and Stanley Tucci
Stanley Tucci and Ving Rhames were roommates as undergrads at SUNY Purchase. Tucci even gave Rhames his nickname, Ving, which is short for Erving. Rhames let the world in on that tidbit when he presented Tucci with a Golden Globe in 1998 for Tucci’s role in Winchell. The two have only worked on the same project together once though, 1995’s Kiss of Death.
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler
Amy Poehler and Tiny Fey first met at the improv school Improv Olympic (now known as iO Theater) in the early ‘90s when they were both just starting out. In the years since, they’ve stayed friends and worked together a lot, including on SNL and hosting the Golden Globe Awards together.
Brad Pitt and Sheryl Crow
Brad Pitt and Sheryl Crow have known each other since college. Pitt was a year behind Crow at the University of Missouri and according to Crow, they didn’t know each other well, but they did cross paths a lot, She worked with his fraternity during Greek Week and she was friends with his college girlfriend. She also jokes on the podcast that she dreamed she would marry Brad Pitt.
Rick Moranis and Geddy Lee
Geddy Lee was the bass player and lead singer of Rush, one of the most popular bands of the last 50 years. Weirdly, his biggest hit wasn’t with Rush but was a song called “Take Off” that appeared on a Doug and Bob McKenzie album. He sang on the track because he’s been lifelong friends with Rick Moranis, who played Doug McKenzie. The two went to grade school together.
Lauryn Hill and Zach Braff
Lauryn Hill attended Zach Braff’s bar mitzvah. You read that right. Braff told a story to Seth Meyers (whom Braff has known since college) about his bar mitzvah being “musical theater themed” and his partner in the games the kids played was none other than Ms. Lauryn Hill, who went to high school with Braff.
Holly Hunter and Frances McDormand
Holly Hunter and Frances McDormand first met years before they both found success in Hollywood. They even roomed together in the Bronx. While they were roommates, McDormand met Joel Coen, of the Coen Brothers, and they started dating. Eventually, they would marry and Joel and Ethan Coen would cast both McDormand and Hunter in Raising Arizona, one of many roles the Coens have cast McDormand in.
B.J. Novak and John Krasinski
B.J. Novak and John Krasinski were in the same class in high school at Newtown South High outside Boston. They were friends long before they both starred in The Office, though in high school, according to Novak, Krasinski was more of a jock, while Novak was a theater kid. Obviously, both ended up wildly successful as actors.
Gwyneth Paltrow and Maya Rudolph
Maya Rudolph and Gwyneth Paltrow have been friends for years. Rudolph’s father, Richard, was best friends with Paltrow’s father, Bruce, and Maya and Gwyneth attended the same school, St. Augustine by the Sea School in Santa Monica.
Adam Sandler and director Judd Apatow famously shared an apartment in Los Angeles when they were both just starting out in the industry. When Sandler landed his gig with SNL and moved to New York, he continued to pay rent on the place because he was worried he’d immediately get fired from the show. He didn’t and the rest is history.
Lisa Kudrow and Conan O’Brien
Conan O’Brien met Lisa Kudrow in 1985 when he moved to LA out of college and decided to take an improv class. According to O’Brien, he walked into the class on his first day and immediately identified Kudrow as someone that was going somewhere.
Owen Wilson and Wes Anderson
Owen Wilson and Wes Anderson first met in their sophomore year at the University of Texas. Both were in a playwriting seminar and Anderson immediately was intrigued by Wilson. They have stayed close over the years and Wilson is a regular player in Anderson’s films, starring in eight of them.
Danny DeVito and Micheal Douglas
Starting way back in 1975 Danny DeVito and Micheal Douglas have been working together. Douglas produced One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest which DeVito had a supporting role in. The two have been friends for much longer, going all the way back to 1967 when they met on beach and immediately bonded.
Cameron Diaz and Snoop Dogg
This might be the most surprising on the list. Cameron Diaz and Snoop Dogg went to Long Beach High School together. They’ve known each other since they were teenagers and, according to Diaz.
Brad Pitt and Jason Priestley
Before they were stars, Brad Pitt and Jason Priestley, as roommates, apparently would have contests to see who could go the longest without showering or shaving. Somehow, they were both still really, really good looking despite this.
Laura Linney and Brooke Shields
Star of The Blue Lagoon, Brooke Shields, and star of You Can Count on Me, Laura Linney, have been counting on each other since they were children. Brooke Shields celebrated Laura Linney’s 56th birthday in 2020 by posting a throwback of the two when they were just kids.
Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance
Courtney B. Vance and Angela Bassett got married in 1997, which was well after both had become successful. Their friendship, however, goes much further back. They met at Yale Drama School in the ’80s, though both were dating other people at the time. They would reconnect years later and they’ve been together ever since.
Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton
Way before they found fame together on The Simple Life, Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton were friends. According to Hilton on the show, they’ve been best friends since they were two years old. In September 2023, Hilton celebrated Richie’s birthday by posting a bunch of photos of them through the years, from childhood to the present.
The Great Gatsby was not the first time Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire worked together. They appeared together in This Boy’s Life back in 1993. Their friendship, however, goes back even further having met early on when they were both struggling to land their first roles and auditioning for the same parts. They are still close friends.
Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts
Technically Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts were already working actors when they met on the set of Flirting back in 1991. Neither were famous yet, and the fellow Aussies became fast friends, and have stayed very close ever since.
Adam Levine and Jonah Hill
Adam Levine and Jonah Hill have been friends since childhood. They’ve often joked about each other in interviews and really seem to have a close bond. They are so close that Jonah Hill even officiated Levine’s wedding in 2016.
Kate Hudson and Liv Tyler
Liv Tyler and Kate Hudson have a lot in common, starting with all of their parents being famous themselves. They also both grew up in Los Angeles and attended the same high school together, Crossroads School for Arts & Science, where they first became buddies. They starred in Dr. T & the Women together in 2000 and are still very close friends
Jamie Dornan And Andrew Garfield
Jamie Dornan And Andrew Garfield have been mates for almost 20 years. The two were roommates in the early days of their careers, running in a pack with the likes of Charlie Cox, Robert Pattinson, and Eddie Redmayne as they struggled to land auditions. It’s safe to say they’ve all done pretty well since then.
Timothée Chalamet and Ansel Elgort
Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York City is one of the most prestigious arts high schools in the country. It’s no surprise that it has its fair share of famous former students. Two of those are Timothée Chalamet and Ansel Elgort, who were in the same class and have been best friends since attending.
Scarlett Johansson and Jack Antonoff
Like so many others on this list, actor Scarlett Johansson and musician Jack Antonoff attended high school together. What makes them different is that they even briefly dated and went to the prom together at New York City’s Professional Children’s School. They broke up after graduation, but they’ll always have prom!
Mel Gibson and Geoffrey Rush
The country of Australia is not all Mel Gibson and Geoffrey Rush have in common, When both were starving artists trying to make it early on, they shared an apartment that, according to Gibson, didn’t have any furniture. A few decades later it’s safe to assume both have plenty of places to sleep and sit down after all their success.
Kristen Bell and Matthew Morrison
Kristen Bell attended the prestigious New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts alongside Glee star Matthew Morrison. They were friends in college, and as Bell told Us Weekly in 2010, the two briefly dated. She told the magazine,
I actually went to college with Matty Morrison. We actually dated very briefly, so I’ll have to say maybe Matt Morrison is my favorite part of Glee for various reasons.
David Lynch and Peter Wolf
In what might be the oddest pairing on this list, director David Lynch and musician Peter Wolf were once roommates at School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in the 1960s. Wolf, who is famous for being the lead singer of the great J. Geils Band told The New York Times that the living situation didn’t last long, as he was way too messy for Lynch.
Kirsten Gillibrand and Connie Britton
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of Massachusetts and actor Connie Britton first met on a study-abroad trip to China while both were in college at Dartmouth. The pair have remained friends in the decades since and often post about each other on social media and of course, Britton endorsed Gillibrand when she first ran for the senate.
Actors, musicians, politicians, roommates, childhood friends, and starving artists. Each pair on this list have unique stories, that are somehow also very similar. They say birds of a feather flock together and this list of celebrities who were friends before they were famous seems to prove that point over and over.