We're just 10 days away from the 87th annual Academy Awards, where this year's 20 nominated actors will dress to the nines, head to the Dolby Theater and cross their fingers that the outcome of their categories aren't as inevitable as they seem (well…16 of them will be doing that, anyway). But before they found themselves on the roller coaster that is a film awards season, how did they cut their teeth? What foundations did they lay to get here? Who were they before they were nominees?

That's about as self-explanatory as it gets, eh? We dug back through the closets of the 2015 Oscar acting class to dig up some skeletons, chew on some earlier works and basically just have a gander at the path they took to this place. Commercials, TV movies and series, blockbuster coming out parties, it's all here.

So click through the story gallery below and perhaps discover a few unexpected entries in their portfolios. And stay be sure to tune in Sunday, Feb. 22 to see which of them will add an (or another) Oscar to their mantle.