Gallery: The Help Cast Before They Were Stars!

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Allison Janney as Ginger in Guiding Light (1994)

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Allison Janney as Charlotte Phelan in The Help

Like so many before her, Allison Janney got her start on daytime TV as Ginger on the hit soap Guiding Light. Allison plays the overbearing southern belle mother to Emma Stone’s Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan in The Help.

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Bryce Dallas Howard at the Opening of the Play Tartuffe (2003)

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Bryce Dallas Howard as Hilly Holbrook in The Help

Daughter of Oscar-winning director Ron Howard, Bryce Dallas Howard grew up away from the harsh lights of Hollywood, but that hasn’t stopped her from making a name for herself. She got her start in several New York plays, including Tartuffe and As You Like It, before garnering the attention of M. Night Shyamalan, who cast her without an audition in his movie The Villiage. In The Help, she portrays Hilly Holbrook, the overly snooty ringleader of their town’s segregation efforts.

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Emma Stone in Sixth Grade at Cocopah Middle School in Scottsdale, Arizona

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Emma Stone as Eugenia

Emma Stone began her acting career with a theater group in her hometown of Pheonix, Arizona. At the age of 15, she put together a PowerPoint presentation to convince her parents to move to L.A. so she could pursue acting. Small roles in Superbad and Zombieland led to her first starring role in Easy A. In The Help, she portrays Skeeter Phelan, an aspiring writer who questions the segregation and treatment of the help.

jessica chastain yearbook high school young 1995 photo

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Jessica Chastain as Essie in You Can’t Take It With You, Senior Yearbook Photo, 1995

She was A star was clearly born on the El Camino High School stage, when Jessica Chastain stepped out as Essie in You Can’t Take It With You. Post-Oscars, she made her triumphant return to the stage as the lead in the Broadway revival of The Heiress.

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Jessica Chastain, Drama Club Officer, Senior Yearbook Photo, 1995

In 2011, she tackled Shakespeare (Coriolanus) and Oscar Wilde (Wilde Salome), she made a thriller (The Debt), a horror film (Take Shelter), and a crime drama (Texas Killing Fields), and, of course, she starred in two Best Picture nominees (The Help and The Tree of Life), so you would think that it would be time for Jessica Chastain to take a break, maybe get some rest. No way! This woman cannot be stopped. She stars in no fewer than four films coming out in 2014!

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Jessica Chastain at a Party for Al Pacino’s Wilde Salome (2006)

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Jessica Chastain as Celia Foote in The Help

Jessica Chastain was handpicked by Al Pacino to star in his documentary Wilde Salome, and he later recommended her to the director of The Tree of Life. Jessica portrays society outsider and social misfit Celia Foote in The Help.

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Octavia Spencer as Cynthia in Never Been Kissed (1999)

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Octavia Spencer as Minny Jackson in The Help

Octavia Spencer’s second movie role was a small part opposite Drew Barrymore in Never Been Kissed. In 2005 Octavia was named one of Entertainment Weekly’s 25 Funniest Actresses in Hollywood. She flexed her comedic muscles in The Help as sharp-tongued maid Minny Jackson. She won an Oscar for her role.

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Sissy Spacek at the American Film Institute’s Tribute to Bette Davis (1977)

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Sissy Spacek as Mrs. Walters in The Help

Sissy Spacek, shown at the American Film Institute’s tribute to Bette Davis, won an Academy Award in 1980 for her portrayal of Loretta Lynn in Coal Miner’s Daughter. In The Help, Sissy portrays Mrs. Walters, mother of socialite bully Hilly Holbrook.

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Viola Davis at the Premiere of Solaris (2002)

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Viola Davis as Aibileen Clark in The Help

Viola Davis appeared as Dr. Gordon in the film Solaris opposite George Clooney. Her portrayal of maid and stand-in mother Aibileen Clark in The Help garnered several award nominations. She'll be starring in the new ABC show How to Get Away with Murder.