FLASHBACK: See Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Julia Roberts & More Before They Were Famous

ET has poured through its first interviews with many of today's superstars for the new commemorative magazine ET: Before They Were Famous, recalling what they were like prior to hitting it big. From Tom Cruise to Angelina Jolie, watch the video to see whether they changed after fame.

Cruise was just 21 when he showed us his Risky Business billboard in 1983. At the time, the unguarded New York native opened up about his struggle with dyslexia.

MORE: ET's Entire Vault of Celeb Flashbacks

"Sometimes I have a hard time reading," Cruise told us. "That's why I really didn't want to go to college. Structured education for four or five more years wasn't something that I was looking forward to."

Cruise, who actually attended seminary briefly as an aspiring Catholic priest before pursuing an acting career, booked his first role in 1981, playing a bit part in the film Endless Love.

George Clooney spoke with us in 1985 when he was just 24 and newly cast on The Facts of Life.

"I think I might be in some way a small part of keeping things fresh," said Clooney, sporting a mullet. "I'm not there for ratings."

He had to wait another nine years before booking his breakout role in the NBC medical procedural ER and another 12 years after that before taking home his first Oscar for his supporting role in Syriana.

Clooney's good friend Sandra Bullock was just giving acting a try when she auditioned for a part on the 1990 sitcom Working Girl.

PICS: Celebrity Flashback Shots!

"I was here for three months just sort of vacationing and seeing what L.A. was like, because I'd never been here before," the Virginia native told ET in 1989. "I was getting ready to leave and this came out of the blue. I read it. I said, 'This is great, but I'll never get it, because there's a thousand other women out there who could do it just as well as I could."

Working Girl only lasted one season, but Bullock hasn't stopped working since. All her hard work culminated in a Best Actress Oscar win for her performance in 2009's The Blind Side.

Brad Pitt left the University of Missouri just weeks shy of earning his degree in order to pursue a career in Hollywood. When we met him in 1990, he was 26 and still pretty raw.

"My real name is Brad Pitt. I was born with it," he said with a smirk.

While Pitt had to pick up and move across country to go to where films were made, his future bride, Angelina Jolie, was born right in the thick of things, as the daughter of Oscar winner Jon Voight.

We met her at age 10 on the red carpet of the 1986 Academy Awards, where Voight was hoping to win his second Oscar for his leading role in Runaway Train. That year, the statuette went to William Hurt for Kiss of the Spider Woman.

WATCH: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Make a Subway Run

Before becoming the confident Oscar winner with the million-dollar smile that we all fell in love with, Julia Roberts was just a small town girl from Georgia, as she showed us in our 1988 interview when she was just 21.

"A friend of mine said, 'I saw the poster and you have a mustache,'" Roberts said while promoting Mystic Pizza. "I was like, 'Oh God!' And then he said, 'But that means New York likes you.'"

It's easy to see how Reese Witherspoon became America's Sweetheart by watching her in 1990. The then-15-year-old already had the winning personality that she has now.

"I had a boyfriend whose name was Graham and he was a pretty good kisser," she said. "Pretty good, Graham!"

Even at 24, Johnny Depp was all about the work. In 1988, the 21 Jump Street star was already refusing to be pigeonholed.

"I don't want to be Mr. Teen Idol ... that's not what I'm about," Depp said.

And despite Chris Evans' current superhero status, he was far less macho when we took him bowling in 2001 at age 20.

WATCH: Chris Evans on Saying Goodbye to Marvel

"I hung out with the jocks, but it doesn't mean I necessarily was one," Evans said, before knocking down seven pins.

"That's a strike in my book," Evans joked, turning his back on the three pins left standing.

Check out more of our interviews inET: Before They Were Famous, available at OnNewsstandsNow.com today and hitting newsstands Wednesday.

FLASHBACK! 23-Year-Old Tom Cruise Coyly Addresses Being a Sex-Symbol on 'Top Gun' Set!

This video is unavailable because we were unable to load a message from our sponsors.

If you are using ad-blocking software, please disable it and reload the page.

Up Next