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You might have dreamed about what it would be like to live a life of fame, but many celebrities have imagined the opposite — what it would feel like to live without the spotlight. Some have even taken it a step further, living out these fantasies for various reasons, be it for an acting role or simply for personal exploration.
Here are 15 occasions when celebrities went incognito as regular people:
1. To prepare for her role as the title character in Bridget Jones's Diary, Renée Zellweger went undercover at the publishing house Picador, working there for 'a month or two.'
In 2025, she revealed to British Vogue, 'I was 'Bridget Cavendish' because Jonathan Cavendish, the film's producer, was close friends with the editor of Picador. My task involved collecting daily newspaper clippings and filing them under Helen Fielding’s name, as they represented her. I ended up clipping articles about this 'crap American actor' who was cast as Bridget Jones.' She added, 'Nobody knew it was me.' She went on to say, 'Maybe it was because I was out of context, or perhaps it was my fuller cheeks. It felt strange. One of the women in the office was reading Anna Quindlen's One True Thing, which was made into a film I starred in, and I was on the cover. She told me how wonderful the book was, all while riding the Tube to work.'
2. In 2015, Aubrey Plaza played on the women's recreational basketball team, the Pistol Shrimps (which has a documentary of the same name). However, after trying to join her sister Natalie's team, the Spice Sqirls, and being rejected, she 'decided to play under a disguise' by wearing a blonde wig and goggles.
In 2024, Aubrey shared on the podcast A Touch More with Sue Bird & Megan Rapinoe, 'I thought, 'No one will recognize me, it’ll be perfect.' Then, in the middle of the game, I went up for a shot and tore my ACL while wearing a wig. It was the worst-case scenario – I was trying to stay incognito, but then I snapped my knee in half. I had to be carried off the court. Suddenly, all eyes were on me. People started to wonder, 'Is that a wig? What’s going on there?' But then I traded myself to the Spice Sqirls, live on ESPN.'
3. To prepare for her role as the stripper Destiny in Hustlers, Constance Wu went undercover at a real strip club, wearing fake tattoos on her neck and using hairpieces.
In 2020, she told The Kelly Clarkson Show, 'I gave lap dances to strangers. I'm not lying. I made $600 on my first night.'
4. To prepare for his role as Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Homecoming, Tom Holland went undercover as a student at The Bronx High School of Science in 2016. He shadowed Arun Bishop, a real student who was a senior at the time, and pretended to be his cousin Ben.
Arun shared with Business Insider, 'What Marvel wanted was just to get the experience of a typical STEM high schooler's life. They didn’t want me to do anything special — just walk through the day as I would any other day.' In 2017, Tom told Jimmy Kimmel Live, 'As a joke, I suggested to Marvel that I should go to a high school undercover. It was completely a joke, but Marvel took it completely seriously. I guess they didn’t get my British sarcasm... The Bronx School of Science is for genius kids, and I’m no genius.' He also mentioned that the teachers didn’t know he wasn’t a real student, which made it 'very embarrassing' when they'd call him up in front of the class to ask questions. Eventually, he tried to reveal his cover. He explained, 'I was sitting in the back of a classroom next to this pretty girl, and eventually, she asked me, 'So, dude, what’s your deal?' I said, 'Well, do you wanna know my secret?' She said, 'Okay.' I told her, 'I’m actually Spider-Man.' She responded, 'Dude, you’re nuts. You’re nuts.' I said, 'No, seriously. I’m an actor. I’m British. I’m playing Spider-Man.' And she didn’t believe me.'
5. In 2024, Kevin Bacon revealed to Vanity Fair that he once 'visited a special effects makeup artist, had consultations, and asked him to create a prosthetic disguise for me.' Sporting glasses, a fake nose, and artificial teeth, he went to The Grove, a popular shopping center in Los Angeles, where he successfully went unrecognized.
He shared, 'People were sort of brushing past me, not being particularly friendly. Nobody said, 'I love you.' I had to wait in line to, I don’t know, get a coffee or something. I was like, 'This sucks. I want to go back to being famous.''
6. But this wasn’t Kevin Bacon’s first time going undercover! To get ready for his role as Ren McCormack, a teenager who relocates to a small town in Footloose, he ‘had that same experience for a day’ at a real high school. Only the principal and guidance counselor knew his true identity.
In 2017, he shared with Variety's Actors on Actors, 'It was terrifying. I got a real insight into literally how to play this part. It was exactly like the movie because some kids gave me a hard time, mocked me, ridiculed my hair, and made fun of my clothes. I was dressed and looked like the character. Some girls giggled, formed little groups, and whispered about me.'
7. Early in her relationship with Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce, Taylor Swift was reportedly attending games 'privately' without the public knowing.
In 2024, Coach Dave Merritt told the podcast The Best of Sports Shop, 'When she started to show up, it was privately. She came into the stadiums without people knowing until the camera spotlighted her.' He also discussed the positive impact Taylor had on the team. He continued, 'But when I met her, I felt like she really added to what we were trying to do. So many people hated that she was shown on TV, but you know what? You're part of our family now because you're with Travis, so you're our little sister, or whatever it may be. You’re part of the family. It had a positive effect on the team. It wasn’t negative. Everyone was happy that Travis was happy.'
8. Robert De Niro fully committed to his preparation for the role of Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver by getting a real taxicab driver’s license and working as a New York City cabbie for about a week.
In 2022, he told The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, 'I’m a New York driver, so, you know, I got along.' During a 2016 cast reunion on Today, director Martin Scorsese recalled, 'A young actor got in the car one night, and he saw that it was [Robert] driving the car. And he said, 'You just won an Oscar.' He said, 'By God, is it that hard to get work?' You can see a picture of Robert's license here.
9. To portray the hitman Vincent in Collateral, Tom Cruise had to master the art of blending in. Director Michael Mann challenged him to pose as a FedEx driver and deliver a package in a crowded Central Station without being recognized.
In a special feature for the movie, the director shared, 'So, we walk through Central Market, and Tom delivered a package, sat down, and had a cup of coffee with someone. They struck up a whole conversation as if Tom were a FedEx man. And nobody recognized Tom as Tom Cruise.'
Watch the hidden camera footage of Tom going undercover in the clip below:
You can view this video on YouTube.DreamWorks Pictures / Via youtube.com10. Hayden Christensen took on the role of a pizza delivery driver in Toronto to prepare for his character, Leo Campoli, in Little Italy.
In 2022, he shared with Toronto Life, "I play a character who works at a pizza shop, so I spent some time working at a pizza shop in the city — I forget the name of it now, but I did a few deliveries."
11. Before filming The Bear, where they portray chefs Sydney Adamu and Carmy Berzatto, Ayo Edebiri and Jeremy Allen White underwent kitchen training and worked in restaurants for several months.
In 2022, Ayo told Deadline, "People recognized Jeremy, but nobody knew who I was at all, which was good for research. It was kind of annoying when I was like 'Yeah, I stayed up late to clean until 12, and Jeremy was like 'I got to go home!'"
12. In 2015, Mark Ruffalo "got to hide out and enjoy" New York Comic-Con with his child by wearing a mask and baseball cap.
13. Drew Barrymore, in her dual roles as Candy Black and her stand-in Paula in The Stand In, tested her prosthetic nose and teeth in Times Square. She and director Jamie Babbit "actually went to Central Casting, and Drew auditioned in an open call for a random project."
In 2020, Jamie shared with Entertainment Weekly, "She got into the building with my driver's license, and she went in and interviewed. We wanted to experience the life of a stand-in, someone who feels overlooked and just wants to blend in with the theater crowd, though they're not really welcomed. I believe it's been years since Drew has been treated like that in the industry, so it turned into a fun acting rehearsal." A fan later recognized Drew's costar, Michael Zegen, from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and asked Drew to take a picture with him.
14. To embody John Bender in The Breakfast Club, Judd Nelson posed as a student at a nearby Chicago high school. Though 24, he managed to convince several teens he was one of them. Pretending his real ID was fake, he bought them beer and then asked them to drop him off at his hotel.
In 2010, Judd shared with the Wall Street Journal, "They would ask me why I was staying there, and I told them my dad was in jail. I'm staying at the Westin O'Hare while my dad's incarcerated."
15. Two months before the filming of Good Time, Robert Pattinson visited Queens to immerse himself in his role as Connie Nikas. It was reported that he visited Manhattan prisons in character to engage with corrections officers and form friendships with ex-convicts. Additionally, he staged fights with his costar Benny Safdie at locations like a Dunkin Donuts and a car wash as part of his method acting.
In 2017, Robert confided to USA Today, "If someone sees two grown adults having a strange interaction with each other, people avoid it. There wasn't a single cellphone picture of me the whole time. I was so concerned about that happening because I loved [the idea] of the film world being blurred with reality and having people on the street react to you."
