The 2014 Emmy Awards are upon us! Will your favorite TV stars win? Will you yell at the TV when they don’t? All bets are off. See the nominees before they were dressed to the nines to pick up that Emmy statuette.

While many of us spent summers at camps swimming in lakes and decoupaging ceramic mugs, these future celebrities spent their time honing their craft and practicing for their close-ups. From Natalie Portman to Robert Downey Jr., some of Hollywood’s brightest and biggest future stars spent time in upstate New York at Stagedoor Manor, an exclusive performing arts camp to future thespians. Get ready to roast up some marshmallows and macramé some picture frames—here are seven celebrities who went from kumbaya to celebrity stardom.

This brilliantly acted drama is riding high following Julianna Margulies’s Emmy and Golden Globe wins for her role as scorned wife Alicia Florrick. But Margulies is only one of many fantastic actors on this show, all of whom were making their mark long before the show premiered on CBS. Take a look back at these actors before they were stars.