For some actors, success just seems to come naturally. In the case of talented stage and screen beauty Kristen Bell, it wasn’t so much a matter of if she was going to be a star after realizing her dream during an early performance as a banana in Raggedy Ann and Andy at the tender age of 12.
Kristen Bell grew up in the Detroit suburb of Huntington Woods. Her husband, Dax Shepard, also grew up in Michigan. Her early-stage experiences eventually led her to study at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, and Bell saw early success when she was chosen to portray Becky Thatcher in a Broadway production of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
Anna Faris - Maryland
Anna Faris made her acting debut at the tender age of nine at Washington's Seattle Repertory Theater. She refined her skills in improvisational theater; Anna Faris would later find roles in commercials and small local productions, though her future as an actress came into question as she pursued education further.
She spent her younger years in Baltimore when her dad was teaching at Towson University. The family moved to Seattle when she was six. Faris studied English Literature at the University of Washington after high school, later moving to London to begin working and writing and eventually moving to Los Angeles in order to pursue an acting career full time.
Edward Norton - Maryland
Edward Norton is not only considered one of the best actors of the 21st century, but he is also incredibly smart. The three-time Academy Award-nominated actor graduated with a Bachelor's degree in history from Yale University. After an injury, he started to get interested in theater, and the rest, as they say, is history.
This actor of unusual talent has graced our screens in masterpieces like Primal Fear, American History X, Birdman. Norton was born in Boston and was raised in the planned community of Columbia, Maryland, and from an early age was known as an extremely bright and somewhat serious person.
Oprah Winfrey - Mississippi
Oprah Winfrey was born in Kosciusko to her teenage mother. The media mogul had humble beginnings on a small farm in Kosciusko, Mississippi. Since her mother was a teen when she had her, young Oprah Winfrey was raised mainly by her grandmother. Now she has become the most powerful and influential woman on television.
Though Oprah is primarily recognized as a talk show hostess, she also produces and occasionally acts in television movies and feature films. When she was 19, Oprah first became a part-time radio reporter in Nashville, and also began studying speech and performing arts at Tennessee State University.
Matt Damon - Massachusetts
Damon was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and went on to attend Harvard University but forsook his studies before receiving his degree to take a lead role in the film Geronimo: An American Legend. While at Harvard, he wrote an early draft of the screenplay for 'Good Will Hunting' for an English class.
Matt went on to receive an Academy Award for the screenplay of 'Good Will Hunting.' Since then, he's been in blockbuster movies, and who knows where his talent will take him next? Whether he continues to perform onscreen or changes careers and becomes something else, we can only be sure of one thing: he'll probably be successful.