# Famous People You Knew Before They Were Famous **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 4, 1999, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-you-knew-before-they-were-famous/7557 "1999-09-04T15:51:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Persephone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@Persephone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Persephone)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 1999, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-you-knew-before-they-were-famous/7557/1 "1999-09-04T15:51:00Z")
Anyone out there go to school with, work in a menial job with, etc. anyone who’s famous now? I graduated with Anita Cochran, who is now a pretty darn hot country star. But I won’t tell you what her real last name is. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 1999, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-you-knew-before-they-were-famous/7557/2 "1999-09-05T05:07:00Z")
If we’re ruling out sports stars, since those are fairly common, I’ve only got one _big_ star that comes to mind. That’s Niki Taylor the supermodel, who I didn’t “know” personally but definitely had friends in common in high school (I believe she was one grade behind me). And she’s a damn sight hotter than Anita Cockring. 😉 (sorry couldn’t resist) ---
**Author:** ![Pete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ab097/32.png) [@Pete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pete)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 1999, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-you-knew-before-they-were-famous/7557/3 "1999-09-05T05:16:00Z")
I went to high school with Albert Einstein. I hated him cuz he really fucked up the grade curve. * * * I don’t know who first said “everyone’s a critic,” but I think it’s a really stupid saying. ---
**Author:** ![ChrisCTP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@ChrisCTP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisCTP)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 1999, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-you-knew-before-they-were-famous/7557/4 "1999-09-05T05:32:00Z")
I used to be close with Corey Taylor of the stupid junk metal band Slipknot. Of course, that was before he was getting record deals and touring with Ozzfest… We always knew he’d make it, problem was, we always believed him when he said that he wouldn’t forget us… silly us. * * * Veni, Vidi, Visa … I came, I saw, I bought. ---
**Author:** ![jane\_says](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/47e85d/32.png) [@jane\_says](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jane_says)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 1999, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-you-knew-before-they-were-famous/7557/5 "1999-09-05T05:48:00Z")
My husband used to live a few doors down from Marilyn Manson in an apartment complex in Florida, back when he was playing clubs and the band was still called something like “Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids”. I think they’re atrocious. And my next door neighbor told me years ago that he attended high school with Kenny Loggins. I don’t remember the whole story but it seems like he said he was living in California. He said they always assumed he was gay. I didn’t actually know these people, but m mom’s side of the family swears that the old folk song “Frankie and Johnnie” was written about a cousin of ours and her husband. ---
**Author:** ![Sylence](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b19c9b/32.png) [@Sylence](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylence)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 1999, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-you-knew-before-they-were-famous/7557/6 "1999-09-05T00:35:00Z")
I haven’t met any myself. . . but my mother met a young boxer by the name of Cassius Clay. – Sylence * * * “The problem with reality is the lack of background music.” – Anon ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 1999, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-you-knew-before-they-were-famous/7557/7 "1999-09-05T00:57:00Z")
I went to high schpool with someone who turned out to be mighty damned _in_famous–Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, who tried to shoot President Ford in 1976, ten years after she grafduated from Redondo Union High School in Redondo Beach, CA. I graduated a year later. Twenty years after that, I met another alumnus from that class, an old friend, after the class had a reunion. He said everyone knew why “Squeaky” didn’t attend. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 1999, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-you-knew-before-they-were-famous/7557/8 "1999-09-05T01:26:00Z")
> [@](#): > > I went to high school with Albert Einstein. > I hated him cuz he really fucked up the grade curve. I’m sure he did, considering he flunked mathematics. ---
**Author:** ![Pete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ab097/32.png) [@Pete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pete)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 1999, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-you-knew-before-they-were-famous/7557/9 "1999-09-05T03:13:00Z")
LauraRae–he flunked math when he was 8 years old. When we were in high school, it was after he had matured and learned how to use his noggin. ---
**Author:** ![MrKnowItAll](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrknowitall/32/87_2.png) [@MrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrKnowItAll)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 1999, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-you-knew-before-they-were-famous/7557/10 "1999-09-05T03:24:00Z")
I hate to admit this… I knew Billy Ray Cyrus when he was just a local bar musician. This was from my misspent days as a country music DJ. ---
**Author:** ![Jorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@Jorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jorge)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 1999, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-you-knew-before-they-were-famous/7557/11 "1999-09-05T05:33:00Z")
Bruce Willis, a bartender at Cartoon Alley, NYC, during my collegiate years. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 1999, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-you-knew-before-they-were-famous/7557/12 "1999-09-05T06:22:00Z")
Jodie Foster, kinda Rita Wilson, Tom Hanks’ wife Lisa Coleman of Lisa and Wendy Charlene Tilton of Dallas Kelly McGillis, very good friend since she was in jr. college Mare Winningham kicked my school’s butt in a shakespeare competition. She blew away the competition. Friend of mine was friends with Micheal Stipe long before R.E.M. was anything at all. * * * * * * I am #1. Everyone else is #2 or lower. ---
**Author:** ![Temujin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Temujin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Temujin)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 1999, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-you-knew-before-they-were-famous/7557/13 "1999-09-05T06:32:00Z")
Interviewed Barry Scheck back in 1994. After OJ, though, he stopped returning calls. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 1999, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-you-knew-before-they-were-famous/7557/14 "1999-09-05T14:32:00Z")
I knew the drummer of Green Day when he was 13. He was playing in another local band called The Lookouts, whose singer was a friend of mine. On their first album, which I still have, you can hear him doing the “female” backing vocals. Now he’s a multi-millionaire. * * * Never regret what seemed like a good idea at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Gail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Gail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gail)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 1999, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-you-knew-before-they-were-famous/7557/15 "1999-09-05T16:27:00Z")
I never knew any celebs but my mom went to high school in Toledo, Ohio with Jamie Farr. (Klinger on M_A_S\*H) * * * Gail “Any major dude with half a heart surely will tell you, my friend– Any minor world that breaks apart falls together again…” -Steely Dan ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 1999, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-you-knew-before-they-were-famous/7557/16 "1999-09-06T05:09:00Z")
If they had let me skip kindergarten like my mom wanted, I would have gone to high school with Grant Hill. Oh well. ---
**Author:** ![Stevie\_Rave\_On](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@Stevie\_Rave\_On](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stevie_Rave_On)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 1999, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-you-knew-before-they-were-famous/7557/17 "1999-09-07T16:54:00Z")
Jenny McCarthy of Playboy fame was a cheerleader for my high school. ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 1999, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-you-knew-before-they-were-famous/7557/18 "1999-09-08T05:45:00Z")
A friend and neighbor of my wife’s family had an idea for a board game and asked them if they would like to invest in it. They declined. The game was Pictionary. He never became actually famous but he made a lot of money. * * * “non sunt multiplicanda entia praeter necessitatem” – William of Ockham ---
**Author:** ![Imthecowgodmoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Imthecowgodmoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imthecowgodmoo)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 1999, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-you-knew-before-they-were-famous/7557/19 "1999-09-08T01:40:00Z")
My sister’s friend’s mother-in-law, who’s cousin’s second uncle… ahh nevermind that. My sister went to school with Katie Holmes. I know where she lives…_ **bwah ha ha ha** _ The company I work for put in a patio at her house last year. * * * “I’m not dumb. I just have a command of thoroughly useless information.”-- Calvin and Hobbes (\_\_) `\/-------\ `| |-----| | …c.c…c.c… ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 1999, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-you-knew-before-they-were-famous/7557/20 "1999-09-08T02:17:00Z")
Speaking of working on homes… I worked on the hardwood floor at Tom Selleck’s place. What an incredible home! Gorgeous old Spanish style on a jillion acres with every amenity, including helicopter pad. Just a gorgeous place. Funny thing was, I was cautioned that Tom wanted to retain the “patina” of his “wax” hardwood floors. I had the entertaining duty of informing his designer that the “patina” was polyurethane. I don’t think she told him. H * * * * * * I am #1. Everyone else is #2 or lower. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-you-knew-before-they-were-famous/7557.md?page=2)