THEN & NOW: 11 A-list stars you didn't realize got their start on TV

Today, actors have become very proud of going back and forth between roles in movies and television. But that hasn't always been the case.

For most of Hollywood's history, there has been a pretty deep divide between television actors and movie stars. There was no shame in getting one's start in TV. But once one made the leap to movies, most never looked back.

As Oscar-winner and current star of FX's"The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story"Cuba Gooding, Jr. recently told Business Insider, "When I started in the business, you did television and then when you got lucky you got a prestige project of a film."

Many of today's biggest movie stars followed that same career path, so we decided to take a look at the early careers of several of this year's Oscar nominees – from Christian Bale and Leonardo DiCaprio to Jennifer Lawrence and Alicia Vikander – for their first TV gigs.

Here's a look at the small-screen roles that some of them may want to forget:

SEE ALSO: The best shows to binge-watch right now according to TV stars

SEE ALSO: See how the amazing cast of 'American Crime Story' transformed to bring the O.J. Simpson trial back to life

Matt Damon was in a 1990 TV movie, "Rising Son"

Before "The Martian," the "Bourne" franchise, and even "Good Will Hunting," Matt Damon's first lead role was in the 1990 TV movie, "Rising Son." Damon played the son to Brian Dennehy's character, an automobile factory foreman whose company is closing down due to Japanese competition.

Watch the "Rising Son" trailer below:

Cate Blanchett was on an Australian cop drama in the early 90's

Before she was Queen Elizabeth or starring in "Carol," Cate Blanchett was Mrs. Haines in the Australian cop drama, "Police Rescue." But this bit part in that TV series could've helped get her a role in the 1994 "Police Rescue" movie based on the series.

See her below on "Police Rescue" at around 27:06 in:

Leonardo DiCaprio was on "Growing Pains"

Even we thought that "The Revenant" star Leonardo DiCaprio's earliest TV role was on ABC's "Growing Pains," but we were wrong. He actually starred on a 1990 series called "Parenthood,"with David Arquette and Ed Begley, Jr. before that. This was NBC's first stab at a sequel to the 1989 Ron Howard movie. It only lasted a season. NBC tried "Parenthood" again with a totally different cast in 2010 and got six seasons out of it.