Cameron Diaz
Before her Hollywood fame, Cameron Diaz was a cheerleader at Long Beach Polytechnic High School. Her blonde beauty got her a start as a fashion model at age 16. In 1994 at age 21, Diaz starred alongside Jim Carrey in The Mask, which launched her into the spotlight. Since then, she's made the ranks of top paid actresses many times.
Rachael Ray
Long before her days of becoming a well known culinary star, Rachael Ray was a cheerleader at Lake George High School, in Lake George, New York.
It almost doesn't even look like her here but you can always pick out that button nose of hers. Now, Rachael Ray can be found on any one of her shows on the Food Network.
Jessica Simpson
Married to an NFL free agent, it seems all but destined that Simpson was a cheerleader when she was young at Richardson North Junior High School in Texas. She dropped out of school when she was 15 to try her luck in the music industry, yet Texas fans will always remember her as a cheerleader.
Sandra Bullock
It seems fitting that the star of "Blind Side" has always been a fan of the sport, especially since she used to be a cheerleader herself. Sandra Bullock was a cheerleader leading pep rallies at Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, Virginia.
It was there that she began her performance career, acting in many school plays where she discovered her passion for the performing arts.
Paula Abdul
Paula Abdul was once a cheerleader, and with her bubbly personality, there's no surprise there. She was a cheerleader and an honors student at Van Nuys High School in Los Angeles, California. She even went on to become a Laker Girl.
Once there, she was nominated as the head choreographer for the squad. This was the platform that helped her break out into the music industry.
Katie Couric
Katie Couric jumped from high school to high school throughout Arlington, Virginia. It was there that she was a cheerleader on a few squads and also where she discovered her passion for journalism. The journalist and television host is now famous for being the Global Anchor of Yahoo!
News and 60 minutes. She clearly never had an issue performing in front of a camera and a crowd, which is why it comes as no surprise that she's so great as a reporter today.
Halle Berry
Halle Berry was destined for greatness as she was seemingly the perfect daughter and student. She did it all at Bedford High School in Cleveland, where she was a cheerleader, honor student, editor of the school newspaper, and was even prom queen.
Starting her acting career in 1989, she went on to become the first African-American to win an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Monsters Ball in 2001.
Kelly Ripa
You wouldn't know it by meeting her without the state accent and attitude, but she actually grew up in New Jersey where she was a cheerleader for Eastern Regional High School. Her drama teacher was the one who encouraged her to become an actress and pursue what she was really meant for.
After dropping out of college, Ripa moved to New York City to become an actress, and landed her first major role on the soap opera All My Children. Since then, she has been a talk show host for well over a decade.
Fergie
As we can see here, Fergie was always a knockout bombshell! Born Stacie Ann Ferguson, Fergie was a cheerleader and a straight-A student at Glen A. Wilson High School.
After graduating, she studied dance until 2003 when she replaced former Black Eyed Peas singer Kim Hill. Her first album in the group was Elephunk which was a huge success. Fergie’s cheerleading background has definitely helped with her flexibility while dancing on stage.
Eva Longoria
Eva Longoria was involved in many extracurricular activities, but of all of them, cheerleading was the one most responsible for launching her into an amazing acting career. Longoria was a cheerleader at Roy Miller High School, in Corpus Christi, Texas, and continued to cheer during her college years at Texas A&M.
Longoria is known best for her role as Gabrielle Solis in the ABC series Desperate Housewives, but has had major success outside of the show, unlike a few of her co-stars such as Terry Hatchet.
Ciara
Ciara was the captain of Riverdale High School’s cheerleading squad and admitted that's where her love for dancing stemmed from. That's where she learned about having the right amount of energy and excitement that would translate over into the music industry.
She said in an interview, “Unfortunately, I couldn’t be as involved as I wanted to be because it was a year when my music started to become even more important to me.”
Mandy Moore
Mandy Moore looks practically unrecognizable in her cheerleading uniform here, but she used to be a Pop Warner cheerleader which probably explains why she was able to master her role as Lana Thomas in The Princess Diaries.
Moore also starred in A Walk to Remember, and currently stars in TV show This Is Us.
Kirsten Dunst
With her performance in Bring It On, it’s no surprise that Kirsten Dunst was a cheerleader herself at Laurel Hall School and later Notre Dame High School.
She was actually a cheerleader until 2000, which is also the year Bring It On was released.
Kathie Lee Gifford
Kathie Lee Gifford first became a cheerleader when she was fourteen years old in Bowie, Maryland. Gifford won Maryland’s Junior Miss Pageant in 1970, which moved her out of Bowie and on her way to Hollywood.
She’s now best known for her 15-year run on the talk show Live! With Regis and Kathie Lee.
Madonna
Long before she was known as the Material Girl, Madonna grew up in Detroit as the child of blue-collar Italian-American immigrants. While Madonna attended Rochester Adams High School, she was a not only a straight-A student but also a member of the cheerleading squad.
Although she received a dance scholarship to the University of Michigan, Madonna dropped out and moved to New York City in 1978. It was there that the young artist began to develop into a pop music icon.
Nene Leakes
This popular E! reality series Real House Wives Of Atlanta, looked quite a bit different when she was younger, in her cheerleading uniform.
Her spirited personality must've gotten a jump-start back in high school where she was a stand-out in her squad.
Megan Fox
For the Transformers actress cheerleading did not necessarily translate into high school popularity, as Fox was born in Tennessee into a strict Pentecostal family. When the actress’ family moved to Florida, Fox attended Morningside Academy in Port St.
Lucie, where she was a member of the cheerleading squad, but was also bullied. After moving to California, Fox made her acting debut in 2001 and three years later starred alongside Lindsay Lohan as a cheerleader in Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen.
Denise Richards
Denise Richards went through many phases as she grew up in Illinois as an athletic tomboy. That was before she became a cheerleader for El Camino High School after moving to Oceanside California with her family.
After graduating, Richards spent the majority of the 1990s taking on roles in productions such as Saved By The Bell, and Married With Children until she met former husband, Charlie Sheen. Given her cheer background, she may have been the one who taught him to spell W-I-N-N-I-N-G.
Brooklyn Decker
Even at age 30, model-turned-actress Brooklyn Decker could probably still pass for a high school cheerleader. In 2005, Decker attended and cheered for Butler High School in Charlotte, North Carolina. Not only was Decker a member of the spirit squad but she was also her school’s senior class president.
We wonder if she’s responsible for planning her 10-year reunion? If so, we’re sure all of her classmates will be green with envy after one look at the successful actress and supermodel.
Olivia Wilde
While Olivia Wilde attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, she was on the step team. According to the Love The Coopers actress, stepping is another form of cheering. Wilde even commented on this photo saying, “This was a great squad.
The funny thing about this picture is that my high school happens to also be the school that George W. Bush went to. And one of the most famous photographs of him was as head cheerleader in almost this exact same outfit.”
Lindsay Lohan
The daughter of a former Wall Street trader, Lohan grew up on Long Island in New York, where she cheerlead for both Cold Spring Harbor High School and Sanford H. Calhoun high school, before opting for homeschooling.
Lohan began her career as a child model for brands like Abercrombie, Calvin Klein, Pizza Hut, Wendy’s, and Jell-O. In 1998 Lohan landed her first successful movie role in The Parent Trap, followed by Freaky Friday in 2003.
Olivia Munn
Although Munn was raised primarily in Japan, where her stepfather was stationed in the Air Force, her roots run deep in Oklahoma. It should come as no surprise that cheerleading is a part of the actress’ background.
When her mother and stepfather split, Munn moved back to Oklahoma City where she began cheering for Putnam City North High School. After graduating with a degree in journalism, Munn moved to Los Angeles and began working in show business ultimately landing the lead in Iron Man.
Meryl Streep
Who would have known that Streep was the type to rock a cheerleader uniform? Someone very sneaky managed to get ahold of Streep’s high school yearbook in 2012 and shared the photographic evidence of her cheer days with the world.
Apparently, before she was one of the world’s greatest living actresses, Streep was a varsity cheerleader at Bernards High School in New Jersey. We bet she was one of the fiercest gals on the squad.
Alicia Silverstone
This photo is living proof that Alicia Silverstone was and always will be an all-American beauty. With her luscious long blonde locks, baby blue eyes, and ruby red lips, Alicia looks even more patriotic in her red white and blue uniform.
Born to British parents in San Francisco, the Clueless actress honed her performance chops at San Mateo High School, by cheering on her fellow Bearcats. She probably never guessed that her cheerleading experience would lead to a career in Hollywood.
Blake Lively
When speaking about women who can do it all, Blake Lively is a name that often comes up. With an actor father and talent scout mother, Lively seemed destined for the limelight.
However, she was initially not interested in performing at all. After years of acting conditioning, when Lively made it to Burbank High School she needed to find time not only for homework and cheerleading but also to film her scenes for the movie The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.
Renee Zellweger
Believe it or not, Zellweger wasn’t always a cool and confident actress. During her time at Katy High School in Katy, Texas, Zellweger was a part of the cheerleading squad where she flipped, dipped, and did the occasional hand spring.
These talents have stuck with Zellweger because apparently, she’s still got the moves! The Bridget Jones’s Diary actress stopped by the Jimmy Fallon Show to show off her cheerleading moves, as well as her incredibly toned legs.
Amy Poehler
Before she started making America laugh on shows like Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock, and Parks and Recreation, Poehler was energizing crowds at her high school’s football games. As a teen, Poehler moved from Newton to Burlington, Massachusetts where she was a pom-pom wielding cheerleader for Burlington High School from 1986 to 10 1989.
After high school, she graduated from Boston College with a degree in communications and later Poehler moved to Chicago, where she continued to improve her comedic skills.
Diana Sawyer
Diane Sawyer revealed that as a teenager she often felt overshadowed by her older sister. It wasn’t until she became a cheerleader for Seneca High School in Louisville, Kentucky that Sawyer began to break out of that loner stage.
Cheerleading was just the first taste of fame for Sawyer as she spent three years on tour promoting the Coca-Cola Pavilion at the World’s Fair, and in 1978, she appeared on televisions throughout the country after joining ABC News, where she still remains today.
Jennifer Lawrence
Just when we thought fried chicken was the best thing to come out of Kentucky, there’s The Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence. Lawrence, who grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, had a very busy extracurricular schedule.
During J-Law’s high school years she played softball, basketball, field hockey, and was also a member of the cheer team during her high school years. Since graduating and moving up in the ranks of Hollywood, Lawrence has starred in big name films including Silver Linings Playbook, and X-Men: First Class.