This year's Academy Awards nominees weren't always red carpet stars.
Before they were chasing Oscar gold, Naomi Watts starred in '80s commercials, Bradley Cooper appeared on a hit HBO series, and Christoph Waltz strongly resembled Ryan Gosling while starring in German television shows and films.
From "Law and Order" to "Fruit of the Looms" commercials, see where this year's top stars in Hollywood started out.
Before Bradley Cooper was playing a mental outpatient in "Silver Linings Playbook" ...
... his first role was on a season 2 episode of "Sex in the City" at 24.
Before Jessica Chastain was hunting down Osama bin Laden in "Zero Dark Thirty" ...
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