These icons have had to share a remarkable talent, so it’s not shocking that they can do just about anything any time they’re put in front of a lens. But did you also remember that it all started with cheerleading for those famous artists? You can be certain that the fans screamed out their lungs as they shouted and cheered for whoever they cheered, whether they were chanting and yelling at the bleachers, these are the familiar celebrities that shake poms!
Cameron Diaz
First of all, Cameron, before she was a movie star, was just a girl like anyone else. This blondie in her teens was an eccentric cheerleader at Long Beach Polytechnic High School. To represent the school’s colors, it used green and yellow, but later, these facial expressions proved useful for some auditions.
Cameron Diaz
Diane Sawyer
As a talented cheerleader, you can be certain that Diane Sawyer certainly had a spirit! Happy and blond Diane belonged in her home town of Kentucky, Louisville, to the Cheerleading Seneca High School team. After beginning and ultimately moving the character to TV journalism, she spent a few years at the World Fair advertising the Coca-Cola Pavilion.
Diane Sawyer
Olivia Munn
Olivia Munn and her family were stationed in Japan when her father joined the Air Force. After the pair split up, Olivia and her mother relocated to Oklahoma. Munn worked as a cheerleader for the Putnam City North High School team. She then studied journalism in college, and she found her true niche in acting.
Olivia Munn
Ciara
Ciara Princess Wilson was not yet another cheerleading team at Riverdale High School. She had been a captain! Ciara is also a huge promoter of sport and its advantages. “Unfortunately, since it was the year that my music began to become much more important to me, I could not be as involved as I wanted to be,” said Ciara, explaining why she had to give up as she pursued music.
Ciara
Kirsten Dunst
Sure, she played the girl character called Torrance Shipman in the film Bring It On but this actress had knowledge of the true experience of cheerleading. She was a pom-girl while attending Laurel High School and Notre Dame High School. She was in her own high school squad before the hit film came out.
Kirsten Dunst
George W. Bush
President George W. Bush was both a joyful captain and a basketball player at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. Armed with a megaphone and plenty of enthusiasm, the political figure roused the crowds with chants. Later on, he went to Harvard Business School and Yale University, but this is where it all started.
George W. Bush
Eva Longoria
The Mexican-American sensation, Eva Longoria, was her major cheerleading breakthrough at the moment. While performing at Roy Miller High School in Corpus Cristi, TX, as well as at Texas A&M-Kingsville, Longoria fell in love with being before an audience. She had found a visiting LA agent who thought she had something extraordinary.
Eva Longoria
Kathie Lee Gifford
At the age of fourteen, Kathie Lee became a cheerleader at heart. Apart from cheerleading, she also entered pageants and even won the Junior Miss Pageant of Maryland in 1970. She graduated in sports and went to Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma. There, she studied drama and music.
Kathie Lee Gifford
Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep is among Hollywood’s favorite actresses. She is remembered for her on-screen prowess and lovely personality, the latter of which she learned by cheering at New Jersey’s Bernards High School. She was a varsity participant during her senior year, pictorialized here to be very proud of her achievement.
Meryl Streep
Sandra Bullock
Did you guys know that the star was initially a cheerleader at Washington-Lee High School in her birthplace in Arlington, Virginia, before she was the cool spy of Miss Congeniality? Prior to graduating in 1982, she took part in athletics and several of the school’s theater play. She kept her attention on the award!
Sandra Bullock
Steve Martin
This silver-haired comedian once had a head of brown locks hanging in the wardrobe and a cheerleader costume. The squad of California Garden Grove had some of the best cheers and was peppy and hilarious. That may be because Steve himself, the comedy legend, wrote a lot of them!
Steve Martin
Denise Richards
Back in her youth in Illinois, Denise was an athletic Tomboy. When she moved to Oceanside, California, she decided to change her look and join the cheering squad at El Camino High School. She starred in shows such as Saved By The Bell and Married With Children, eventually courting her now-ex-husband, Charlie Sheen.
Denise Richards
Kelly Ripa
Kelly Ripa grew up as a dancer in southern New Jersey. The future soap opera star joined the cheerleading squad while attending Eastern Regional High School, yelling spirited sayings to the fans. She also took drama classes at college. She was told by her teacher, Jim Beckley, to continue acting, and she is certainly happy to have followed that advice.
Kelly Ripa
Halle Berry
Before becoming the first African-American to win an Academy Award for Best Actress, she was just Halle, from Bedford High School in Cleveland, OH. Berry was a student role model, taking part in cheerleading, honors classes, and the school newspaper. She also won the Prom Queen, and somehow at high school she didn’t peak.
Halle Berry
Jenna Dewan
Jenna Dewan is a dancing celebrity thanks to her film, Step Up, starring herself and Channing Tatum. Before she was in the franchise, however, she was a happy queen in Texas. She fell in love with the physicality of the dance parts and decided to try it. She eventually got her big break when dancing backup for Janet Jackson in 2001.
Jenna Dewan
Lindsay Lohan
Following her childhood celebrity status, Lindsay went to a normal high school in Long Island, NY. Before moving to strictly homeschooling, she attended both Cold Spring Harbor High School and Sanford H. Calhoun High School, trying on a cheering squad at both schools.
Lindsay Lohan
Sally Field
From her involvement with Forrest Gump or Mrs. Doubtfire, you might know this actress, however she was posing long before that This star was part of the cheering squad of Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, California. Nevertheless, she would be a phenomenon further on, known for shows such as The Flying Nun and Gidget.
Sally Field
Fergie
Born as Stacie Ann Ferguson, because of her cheerful personality and pretty face, Fergie was a favorite star of her high school cheering squad. She also questioned the myth that cheerleaders are dumb, given that she was a straight-A student at Glen A. Wilson High School. Later on, she went on to join the Black Eyed Peas.
Fergie
Cynthia Bailey
Before she left the state at 18 for a job in NYC, this actress worked on a football field. At Deshler High School, the reality television star and actress cheered for the local team in her home state of Alabama. The rest is history for this starlet.
Cynthia Bailey
Gabrielle Union
Gabrielle Union captivated fans as a cheerleader in Bring It On, but she had a wonderful year of experience in the role. In Pleasanton, California, the queen was a cheerleading superstar. According to her, the family was very interested in sports, as she also said “In my family, if you couldn’t talk Cornhusker football, then you don’t get to have an opinion.”
Gabrielle Union
Renee Zellweger
While attending Katy High School in Katy, Texas, Zellweger was part of a team of cheerleaders. She’s also really interested with the gymnastics aspect of the sport, once even appearing on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon to show off her flips and tumbles. You can’t keep this girl back!
Renee Zellweger
Stacy Keibler
This WWE athlete did not always have the spirit of a warrior. When she was the Baltimore Ravens’ professional cheerleader, it was more like a dancer’s heart. She switched to WCW in 1999 and up to 2001. LThe girl became a wwe wrestler from there and worked solely with WWE.
Stacy Keibler
Jesse James Decker
Artist or cheerleader… All right, why not both? At fifteen, the country singer-songwriter was writing hit singles and performing interviews with Nashville labels, but on weekends she also shouted for the home team. Now she’s got a lot of hit albums, and she’s ventured out into the fashion industry as well. She may have changed some uniforms.
Jesse James Decker
Mandy Moore
Before depicting Pom in The Princess Diaries of 2001, holding Lana Thomas, Mandy Moore wore her own cheering outfit. However, her interpretation was a little different, as she cheered for the Pop Warner Football Team. After this brush with the cheery world and later, This Is Us, she went on to star in A Walk to Remember.
Mandy Moore
Miley Cyrus
Even though most cheerleaders-turned-actors start performing on the field, Miley has been performing since she was born. As the child of Billy Ray Cyrus, she always had a knack for being on stage. The Cyrus star, however, had once been a seven-year-old cheerleader for her hometown’s Tennessee Premiere soccer team before she became Hannah Montana.
Miley Cyrus
Blake Lively
It seems crazy now but Blake just got into acting because she figured it would be nice for her father and mother. They were right. She left some extra time for friends, homework, and the cheering squad on her calendar while attending Burbank High School, however. She did all of it by shooting her first big movie, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.
Blake Lively
Amy Poehler
Amy Poehler might be a top-tier comic, but once again she was on top of the cheer pyramid! In Massachusetts, the legend of SNL cheered and sang for Burlington High School. Then she went to Boston College and eventually went to Chicago, where she learned not only to cheer, but to laugh as well.
Amy Poehler
Danielle Brooks
Danielle Brooks is known for her lead role in Orange Is the New Black, but back in high school, she was also a member of her high school cheer squad. Eventually, because the short skirts made her feel uncomfortable, she left the squad. She later wrote on her blog about her experience by saying, “Never quit anything again because you’re scared of what others might think of you – unless you become an exotic dancer, the only exception. But even then only quit because you want to.”
Danielle Brooks
Paul Rudd
That Clueless heartthrob at Overland Park High School in Kansas was one of the school’s “yell leaders” Not only was he adept at hyping up a crowd, but he was also president of the Student Body. The actor learned how to cartwheel, flip, tumble, and lift a stunt while in high school, even though he doesn’t use film skills.
Paul Rudd
Reese Witherspoon
At the top of the world back in the day and on top of the pyramid was this Legally Blonde Star. Long before celebrity entered her life, the star of Walk the Line was part of the cheerleading squad at her school. Here she is in a throwback image posted by Reese herself, cheering upon the Generals.
Reese Witherspoon
Ann Margret
Ann was an accomplished singer, spry dancer, and peppy cheerleader at Winnetka, Illinois’ New Trier High School, and was born in 1941 in Sweden. She happily smiled at the cameras and the fans even before she was famous. In photos such as Bye Bye Birdie, Carnal Intellect, Grumpy Old Men, and The Cheap Detective, the starlet went on to act.
Ann Margret
Sela Ward
The beautiful Sela Ward may be known for her acting career today, but the University of Alabama knows her as one of their cheering squad’s prestigious alumni. The actress had been cheering for the Crimson Tide football team years before she was even on screen. She graduated in 1977, having studied fine art and advertising.
Sela Ward
Alicia Silverstone
Alicia Silverstone was a cheerleader formerly? As if! Just as if! In the cult classic comedy Clueless, for her iconic role as Cher Horowitz, this blond beauty became recognizable to humans, but her teammates knew her as a basic stunter. She cheered for San Mateo High School, home of the fighting Bearcats! Oh! Oh! Go, team!
Alicia Silverstone
Jayma Mays
Back in the day, Jayma was actually a high school cheerleader, although she is Emma Pillsbury, a Glee guidance counselor for high school. While gladly welcoming their Wolves, their school mascot, she and her team mates are seen wearing blue and yellow here. That smile will make it brighter for a crowd!
Jayma Mays
Brooke Shields
Brooke Shields is famous for being one of the world’s prettiest women. If she was posing for the camera or performing in The Blue Lagoon at Emmeline in the 1980s, she did it all with a smile. The career-defining smile was one she learned from her spirited cheer squad at her private high school in New Jersey.
Brooke Shields
Nene Leakes
Nene Leakes has had a long and fruitful career as a reality television star in the past decade, but before that she was throwing her pom-poms into the air for the home team. Her spunky personality on and off the field no doubt helped her in both cheering and her career, seen here wearing a mixture of red and gold colors.
Nene Leakes
Jennifer Lawrence
In a variety of media, such as modeling and acting, Jennifer Lawrence tried her hand, but did you know she was once a high school student too? Apart from cheering sessions, Lawrence packed her days with softball tournaments, basketball warm-ups, field hockey scrimmages, and more. She is deserving of all!
Jennifer Lawrence
Kirk Douglas
Amsterdam High School in Amsterdam, New York, should rightly announce that the renowned actor, Kirk Douglas, once cheered for the winning teams. He has shot over 100 films throughout his long life. Generally, these consist of genres such as serious dramas, old school westerns, and war movies.
Kirk Douglas
Paula Abdul
As a cheerleader, Paula brought it to the next level. Not only was she willing to excel in the cheering squad at Van Nuys High School in Los Angeles, but she was also an honor student. By becoming a Laker Girl, then becoming a head choreographer, and supporting stars on the court, such as Jamaal Wilkes, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Magic Johnson, she devoted herself to dance after graduation.
Paula Abdul
Jessica Simpson
The cool-girl spirit of Jessica Simpson is incomparable, thanks to her cheering days. She got into the sport while attending Richardson North Junior High School in their home state of Texas. She was not there for long when she dropped out of college at the age of 15 to pursue music, but she eventually became a cheerleader for the Dallas Cowboys.
Jessica Simpson
Snooki
Jersey Shore’s favorite cast member was once a teen on a regular basis. A star started cheering for her school in Marlboro, New York, but it cost her her mental health. “Cheerleading was my life in high school, but it wasn’t always easy for me. I started to be anorexic. There were freshmen who were seventy pounds and I was like, my spot as a flier is going to get taken away. So I ended up starving myself.” Snooki remembered.
Snooki
Phaedra Parks
Clarke Central High School was in Athens, Georgia, where this Real Housewives star and lawyer started her career. In a red, white and gold uniform, she had all the spunk a cheerleader wants, noticed here. Later on in her adulthood, as she studied law, this fiery spirit was particularly beneficial.
Phaedra Parks
Olivia Wilde
Technically, for The Andover, Massachusetts Phillips Academy, there was no cheering group, but it had a step-team. It seems like almost the same look and type of cheering happens, but with a new name and less stunting. It’s just another form of cheering,”It is just another form of cheering.”
Olivia Wilde
Kirstie Alley
Alley cheered for Wichita Southeast High School in Kansas before catching her big break. She had much shorter hair at the time, too which was unusual for a cheerleader. It must have improved her personality, however, because she was cast shortly after high school on the Cheers show.
Kirstie Alley
Kendall Jenner
Today, she may be the world’s most famous woman, but just a few years ago, she was an insecure teen. Some relief from the school limelight was given to the Kardashian sister, Kendall Jenner. In a blue and white uniform here you can see her as a cheering squad member for her high school.
Kendall Jenner
Kathy Griffin
Kathy is a comedian these days, but she used to be a young and funny seventeen-year-old cheerleader. She got her kicks at Oak Park, Illinois, Oak Park, and River Forest High School…literally! And though she later turned to comedy, she was still charmed by the spotlight.
Kathy Griffin
Dakota Fanning
On this list, Dakota was unlike many because, years after she was an established actress, she started cheering. She’s also been part of shows like ER, CSI: Investigation of the Crime Scene, The Practice, Spin City, Ally McBeal, and more. Campbell Hall School had her on their varsity cheering team. Whoo, go the Vikings!
Dakota Fanning
Calista Flockhart
Remember the star of Ally McBeal? And Calista Flockhart was already thriving as soon as she cheered for Shawnee High School in her New Jersey homestate. Then, she graduated and attended the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, where her career really started to gain momentum.
Calista Flockhart
Michael Douglas
Up until the 1950s, cheerleading was still a predominantly male sport. Choate Preparatory School was where Douglas learned to cheer, chant, tumble, and stunt, as with the rest of them. As scientist Hank Pym, he preceded another former male cheerleader (Paul Rudd) when he was cast in the Marvel movies.
Michael Douglas
Megan Fox
In Transformers, Megan attended Morningside Academy in Port St. Lucie, Florida, until she lost her heart. The bombshell had been ridiculed at her school, turning to athletics for security. In movies like Teenage Drama Queen Confessions, where she played a cheerleader, she started acting!
Megan Fox