16 Celebrities Who Were Roommates Before Making It Big In Hollywood

Margot Nolan
Apr 19, 2022
Apr 19, 2022

Given how rich most celebrities are, most of us would think that they would never have a need for roommates. If they could buy a penthouse that has room for dozens of people, why would they need to share a room with anyone else? However, it turns out that at the beginning of their career, many stars, just like normal people, struggled to make ends meet. Living in expensive city centers like New York or Los Angeles with low salaries, they hardly paid all the bills and rented a house for themselves. Eventually, they turned to their friends for support. Although those days were hard, living under the same roof certainly gave them many good memories….Because you know, “A friend in need is a friend indeed!” Right? Now, let’s look at these 16 celebrities who used to be roommates below!

#1. Nikki Reed and Kristen Stewart

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Nikki Reed lived with Kristen Stewart when they were filming “New Moon” in Vancouver. According to Reed, the two didn’t go out much. Instead, the cast would head over to Peter Facinelli’s. He would make them all pasta. It sounds like they all had a good time together.

#2. Jamie Dornan, Andrew Garfield, Eddie Redmayne, Robert Pattinson, and Charlie Cox

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Jamie Dornan shared in an interview with Kelly and Ryan: " We shared an apartment. It was in 2008, I would say? There was me, Eddie, but also Andrew Garfield, Rob Pattinson, and Charlie Cox. A handful of lucky guys will end up doing well a few years later. But to be honest, at the time, everything was not so rosy. We kept going to the same auditions, studying together and helping each other, when we knew we were going to end up fighting for the same role! Well, we screwed up every time. Fortunately, over time, we have all managed to realize our dream. Looking back, we had a great time, we were a fun band and still today we are good friends. But at the time, we ate frozen pizzas that we stored in the freezer and there were only beers in the fridge. With a few pieces of meat occasionally.”

#3. Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling

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Gosling and Williams lived together for one whole entire month, in preparation for the 2020 movie Blue Valentine. Faith Wladyka, the young actor cast as the couple’s daughter, even joined them in this endeavor. This was Cianfrance’s decision, and it seemed to pay off. Gosling explained that this was invaluable since it allowed them to be able to pull from real-life memories while they were filming. It is clear that both Gosling and Williams take their craft very seriously.

#4. Brad Pitt and Jason Priestley

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Brad Pitt and Jason Priestley used to be roommates in North Hollywood and often competed for the same roles. Jason Priestley shared how the two guys used to have contests to see which of them could go the longest without shaving or showering. They lived on Ramen noodles and generic beer. Although those days were hard, they actually had a great time living together.

#5. Robert Downey Jr. and Kiefer Sutherland

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They're two of the biggest stars in the world, but Robert Downey Jr. and Kiefer Sutherland were once struggling to make ends meet just like everybody else. They shared a Los Angeles apartment for three years back in the 80s, while attempting to make names for themselves in the industry. Downey Jr. admitted that his roommate was definitely more career-oriented, noting, "He is, and remains, a very disciplined guy despite whatever habits either of us had," (via Cheat Sheet). The Marvel icon recalled being dragged out of bed at 6.15 a.m. to head to set and, "I'd be like 'Oh my God, already?'" Despite all these facts, they are still good friends and achieve great success in Hollywood.

#6. Jude Law and Ewan McGregor

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Ewan McGregor and English actor Jude Law first met in L.A. before sharing an apartment in London, England, during the ’90s. They had some drinks together at the nearby bar. And they’d later co-found Natural Nylon, a film, and theatre company that would last a few years.

#7. Winona Ryder and Gwyneth Paltrow

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Before there was Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid, or Selena Gomez and Taylor Swift, there was Gwyneth Paltrow and Winona Ryder. The besties – who were also roomies – were often seen palling around and holding hands at parties and film premieres. It's easy to imagine that while Ryder and Paltrow were living together, there were various scripts – of various quality – floating around their house. Even though they are not besties now, those old days had set a fundamental for them to succeed in Hollywood.

#8. Madelaine Petsch and Lili Reinhart

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The cast of the show: “Riverdale” is admittedly super close, but Petsch and Reinhart take it one step further — they've been roommates. In 2017, Petsch said that she and Reinhart met at the airport prior to filming "Riverdale." They lived together so they could talk about their relationships or personal lives and support each other during the filming.

#9. Nina Dobrev and Sara Canning

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"The Vampire Diaries" ran for eight seasons, earning itself legions of devoted fans in the process. At the start of "The Vampire Diaries", Nina Dobrev (Elena) and Sara Canning (Jenna) were roommates. Speaking with MTV, Canning described her living situation with Dobrev, and it sounds downright idyllic. "Nina is such a great roommate," she gushed. "We have our own bathrooms, so it's never an issue if one of us wants to take a long shower. And we both make grocery trips whenever we have time, and just share everything."
Talking about the dynamic, Canning explained "we're both really easy-going. We try to help each other stay healthy, but I usually cave and bring chocolate into the apartment." In fact, according to their co-stars, the entire cast of "The Vampire Diaries" was quite close when they were filming.

#10. Lauren Graham and Connie Britton

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Before they played two of our favorite TV moms, Connie Britton and Lauren Graham were trying to make it in the Entertainment business together. “We were in the same acting class in New York City,” Connie Britton told the audience during her panel at New York Magazine’s Vulture Festival on Saturday, “We were in class together, became friends, and then we both decided to make the big move and give Los Angles a shot.”
Connie Britton explained that their friend was going through a divorce, so they moved into her empty home. “Thankfully there were a couple of bedrooms with a couple of beds in them!” she said, adding that living with Lauren Graham was really fun. “Those are actually really fond memories,” Britton said, “You know, it’s that time when everything’s a possibility and we were just trying to live our dream.”

#11. Brian Atwood and Melissa McCarthy

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McCarthy and Atwood went to high school together in Boulder, Colorado. The shoe designer knew McCarthy was destined for fame and convinced her to live in New York with him to pursue her dreams. "We lived in Hell's Kitchen and we were so broke,” he told Popsugar. “I gave her a free subway map for her 21st birthday. It was just a special time.”

#12. Dianna Agron and Lea Michele

The Glee co-stars were roommates back in 2009 while filming the show. Michele opened up about their living arrangements, saying they removed themselves from their characters and work quite easily. “We have these smackdowns at work and come home and are like, ‘Wasn’t it so funny when we were fighting today? Let’s make cookies,’” she said in an interview with Vulture.

#13. Penn Badgley and Milo Ventimiglia

For Badgley, the 10-year age difference between him and Ventimiglia paid off. In an interview with Bullet magazine, the "Gossip Girl" star admitted that his similar looks to Ventimiglia helped him sneak into bars while using his older roomie's ID.
"When I was 18, my roommate was Milo Ventimiglia, who was 28 at the time," he said. "I used to borrow his ID to get into bars. I've still got it somewhere."

#14. Holly Hunter and Frances McDormand

Holly Hunter and Frances McDormand lived together as young aspiring actresses before their careers took off. The veteran stars met through their ex-boyfriends and shared an apartment in the early 1980s, while Frances attended the Yale School of Drama as a graduate student earning her Master of Fine Arts degree.

#15. Raven-Symoné and Lindsay Lohan

Symoné and Lohan split the rent for an apartment and pretty much never saw each other despite being roommates. "She paid rent, and she was there probably three times," Raven told Us Weekly. "She had her clothes in the apartment we were supposed to live in together." The arrangement didn’t last very long.

#16. Ed Westwick and Chace Crawford

The Gossip Girl co-stars began living together in New York City in the 2000s while shooting the hit drama TV series. "Initially Ed and I became roommates here in New York because we didn't know if the show was going to last or not,” Crawford told Interview. "Ed had never lived away from home, let alone in a different country. We got along and figured it would be a smart move financially. And really, it was also just kind of out of laziness."

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