Skip to main contentSkip to footer
Angelina Jolie, Charlize Theron, and Sofia Vergara with dyed hair© Getty Images

Can you guess the natural hair color of these 20 celebrities?

Sofia Vergara is a natural blonde and more celebrity hair color secrets!


MARCH 30, 2020 8:48 AM EDT

Celebrities are constantly updating their image, which of course includes new haircuts, extensions, and hair coloring to embody a new character, or even just for fun. Seeing a star with bright red hair one day and platinum blond the next is something that we’re used to.

Others have been associated with a certain hair color for so long that we’ve actually forgotten their original looks! For example,  Sofia Vergara  is known for her chestnut mane but she grew up as a blonde, and  Jennifer Lopez ’s golden balayage mane actually started out as equally gorgeous shades of dark brown.

So you might be surprised that some of the world’s most iconic stars that we thought were brunette beauties are actually blonde bombshells, and many who have embraced lighter shades for years originally had darker hair. Can you guess which celebrities have changed their natural looks? Take a peek at this gallery of stars who’ve changed their natural hair color.

Celine Dion currently has blond hair, but it used to be dark brown© GettyImages

Celine Dion

It’s been a long time since Canadian chanteuse Celine Dion embraced her chestnut-colored roots, but back when she was still a promising young vocalist, the brand ambassador for L’Oréal Paris used to rock her natural wavy brown curls for all to see.

Amy Adams, who's currently a redhead, is actually naturally blond© GettyImages

Amy Adams

While Amy Adams is one of the most famous redheads in Hollywood, she was actually born a blonde. In TimesTalks from the New York Times, she said, “Based on the roles I was getting called in for, people were responding to certain types of characters with me as a blonde and the minute I went red, it was quirky and fun instead of flirtatious and dumb.”

Angelina Jolie currently has a darker hair color; she had light brown hair as a child© GettyImages

Angelina Jolie

That's right, Angie wasn't born with the hair color we're all accustomed to seeing, nor is her hair the same shade of blond she had in films like Girl Interrupted or Gone in 60 Seconds. Her natural hair color is more of light chestnut brown with dirty blonde highlights.

Ariana Grande with the blond hair and dark roots that she currently wears on the left; she used to have much darker brown hair (right)© GettyImages

Ariana Grande

A high ponytail, and very straight locks. That’s what comes to mind when we think of the Thank U, Next singer. We also think of all the times she’s dyed her hair light brown, silver, and even lavender. But all those shades are far from the original: a very dark mane of hair full of cascading curls.

Bella Thorne is currently a brunette, but she was blond as a little girl© Getty Images / @bellathorne

Bella Thorne

Bella Thorne has dyed her hair every color of the rainbow. Even before Disney's Shake It Up we would've assumed she was a natural redhead. But the childhood photo on the right shows us that her real hair color is in fact blond.

Charlize Theron currently wearing short blond hair; she used to wear her natural light brown color© GettyImages

Charlize Theron

Charlize Theron looks fabulous as a platinum blonde, but that’s not her natural hue. The South African actress has a much darker color with ash brown streaks and some natural highlights.

Chrissy Teigen has shoulder-length hair with blond highlights on the left, and long dark hair on the right© Getty Images / @chrissyteigen

Chrissy Teigen

We're used to seeing Chrissy Teigen with warm sand-colored blond highlights in her hair, light chestnut brown, or other summery colors. But her real hair color is actually much darker, as you can see in one of the photos that she posted online from her early days as a cheerleader.

Emma Roberts as a blond on the left and as a natural brunette on the right© GettyImages

Emma Roberts

Emma Roberts has also experimented with different hair colors, like her aunt Julia, but her natural color is brown. As you can see in the photo on the right, as a child she used to have darker hair with sun-kissed golden highlights.

Jennifer Aniston with dirty blond hair on the left and dark brown hair on the right© GettyImages

Jennifer Aniston

A California dirty blond shade has characterized Jennifer Aniston for so long, but if we look back to the first seasons of Friends we'll see her showing off light brown tresses with golden highlights.

Jennifer Lopez with shoulder-length blond hair on the left, and a full head of dark brown curls on the right© GettyImages

Jennifer Lopez

We've seen Jennifer Lopez with honey highlights, and we’ve even seen her in very blond shades before. But do you remember back when she starred in Selena? With so many hair color changes over the course of her career, we’ve forgotten that Jenny from the Block’s hair is naturally dark brown.

Jessica Alba with a caramel-colored brown color on the left and a dark chocolate brown on the right© GettyImages

Jessica Alba

Jessica Alba's long tresses have a caramel-colored brown shade now, and in the past we've also seen her showing off a dirty or ombré blond color. Her real hair color, however, is a dark chocolate brown.

Julia Roberts as a blond with loose wavy curls and dark roots on the left and a mass of chestnut curls on the right© GettyImages

Julia Roberts

We all remember Julia Roberts with long red hair from My Best Friend’s Wedding and Pretty Woman, and in recent years we’ve seen her with dark-rooted loose blond curls; the truth is, though, that her natural color is chestnut brown.

Karlie Kloss with short blond hair on the left and light brown tresses on the right© GettyImages

Karlie Kloss

Can you remember Karlie Kloss having any other hair color than blond? If you have a look through some of her photos from the distant past, you'll see that she’s a natural brunette.

Kristen Stewart with cropped hair featuring blond highlights on the left and short strawberry blond hair on the right© GettyImages

Kristen Stewart

Actress Kristen Stewart has gone from wearing her hair long to cropped short just as easily as she's gone from blond to brunette. Her natural hair is actually strawberry blond, as you can see during her child star days.

Leighton Meester wears her hair shoulder-length with blond highlights on the left and curly blond on the right© GettyImages

Leighton Meester

Ever since Leighton Meester starred as Blair in Gossip Girl she's slowly started to lighten the color of her hair, which is allowing her to get closer to her natural color, which is actually blond! The co-creator of the TV series, Josh Schwartz, told The Hollywood Reporter that they required her to dye her hair light brown when she had the audition.

Miley Cyrus with short blond hair on the left and long brown caramel-colored hair on the right© GettyImages

Miley Cyrus

Throughout her career, Miley Cyrus has run the gamut on hair styles and colors; while her days of sporting blond and ombré tones are her most memorable to date, these colors are far from the caramel-colored brown that she was born with.

Nicole Kidman as a blond with slightly curly hair on the left and as a natural curly redhead on the right© GettyImages

Nicole Kidman

Perhaps today we're used to seeing Nicole Kidman as a platinum or strawberry blond, but that wasn't always the case. When she began her Hollywood career, the Australian actress had a red head full of curls. “My hair isn't easy to manage,” she told People in 1989.

Reese Witherspoon with straight shoulder-length blond hair on the left and light brown hair pulled back on the right© GettyImages

Reese Witherspoon

We'll always think of Reese Witherspoon as legally blonde —although she has been known to use darker brown shades before— but the fact is that her natural color is dark blond with golden highlights.

Scarlett Johansson with shoulder-length blond hair on the left and her natural light brown color on the right© GettyImages

Scarlett Johansson

Over the course of her career, Scarlett Johansson has had hair colors ranging from the shade of red worn by the Black Widow to the golden blond that we’ve come to associate her with. However, as she grew up in the spotlight, we can remember back when her hair was naturally light brown with beachy natural highlights.

Sofia Vergara as a little girl© Getty / @sofiavergara

Sofía Vergara

No, Sofía Vergara’s natural color is not what you've gotten used to seeing over the years. “I'm a natural blonde. But when I started acting, I would go to auditions and they didn't know where to put me because I was voluptuous and had an accent - but I had blonde hair,” she told Self in 2010.