If you're the kind of person who is avidly interested in celebrities, then the one question you always come back to is this: what are they really like? Oh sure, they might have a profile in Vanity Fair, and have clocked up hours and hours of interview time on YouTube. Maybe they can even appear humble, friendly and down-to-earth on their various social media accounts. But with an army of agents, publicists and yes-men surrounding our stars like flies swarming around a pot of jam, who's to say that they're not totally fake? Their Twitter feed has been carefully cultivated to present their best side to the general public. In fact, their whole persona could be wholly manufactured, as homogenised and soulless as any other big brand. You never know.

The only way to determine for certain what celebrities are actually like in person is to do a bit of digging and find out what they were like before they were famous. Maybe the people who used to know them when the spotlight didn't shine so brightly on them can reveal who's nice and who's nasty. This week, a thread on Quora gained a hell of a lot of attention, after a number of people came out of the woodwork to describe their own personal celebrity encounters.

The thread began when a Quora user asked: "Have you ever met someone before they became famous, and now they are really famous?" The replies were immediate and lengthy. Firstly, a Quora user named John Santora wrote that: "My brother and I irritated the hell out of Kanye West on a flight to New York from Orlando in July 2004 ...  My mother apologised to Kanye, and Kanye was very kind and understanding, he went on to further explain how he loved kids. He took this like a champ, if some kid tried to throw pizza at me on a plane, I would be pretty angry."

Then a user named Judith Ackerson chimed in about how she used to know Mark Hamill, stating: "I was one year behind him, but we were in the same drama class and were in one play together (he was the star and I was a walk-on). He was a really nice kid, and very popular for all of the right reasons. He was voted to several honorary positions in his senior year, including Most Likely to Succeed ...I'm absolutely delighted that he's done so well, and not at all surprised that fame doesn't seem to have corrupted him in the least."

Another user talked about knowing Chris Pratt as a teenager, when the Jurassic World star was homeless in Hawaii. They stated that Pratt had always been ambitious, and dreamed about making a "sh*tload of money." Then another user, who claimed to have been a former actress, stated that she had worked alongside Alec Baldwin 30 years previously, and added that "He's the nicest guy. I think he unfairly gets a lot of flak."

So there you have it: I guess it just goes to show that you never can tell who's going to end up famous. So if you know someone in your life who's nurturing a special talent, then stick close to them: they'll help you out once they get their big break.

If you're the kind of person who is avidly interested in celebrities, then the one question you always come back to is this: what are they really like? Oh sure, they might have a profile in Vanity Fair, and have clocked up hours and hours of interview time on YouTube. Maybe they can even appear humble, friendly and down-to-earth on their various social media accounts. But with an army of agents, publicists and yes-men surrounding our stars like flies swarming around a pot of jam, who's to say that they're not totally fake? Their Twitter feed has been carefully cultivated to present their best side to the general public. In fact, their whole persona could be wholly manufactured, as homogenised and soulless as any other big brand. You never know.

The only way to determine for certain what celebrities are actually like in person is to do a bit of digging and find out what they were like before they were famous. Maybe the people who used to know them when the spotlight didn't shine so brightly on them can reveal who's nice and who's nasty. This week, a thread on Quora gained a hell of a lot of attention, after a number of people came out of the woodwork to describe their own personal celebrity encounters.

The thread began when a Quora user asked: "Have you ever met someone before they became famous, and now they are really famous?" The replies were immediate and lengthy. Firstly, a Quora user named John Santora wrote that: "My brother and I irritated the hell out of Kanye West on a flight to New York from Orlando in July 2004 ...  My mother apologised to Kanye, and Kanye was very kind and understanding, he went on to further explain how he loved kids. He took this like a champ, if some kid tried to throw pizza at me on a plane, I would be pretty angry."

Then a user named Judith Ackerson chimed in about how she used to know Mark Hamill, stating: "I was one year behind him, but we were in the same drama class and were in one play together (he was the star and I was a walk-on). He was a really nice kid, and very popular for all of the right reasons. He was voted to several honorary positions in his senior year, including Most Likely to Succeed ...I'm absolutely delighted that he's done so well, and not at all surprised that fame doesn't seem to have corrupted him in the least."

Another user talked about knowing Chris Pratt as a teenager, when the Jurassic World star was homeless in Hawaii. They stated that Pratt had always been ambitious, and dreamed about making a "sh*tload of money." Then another user, who claimed to have been a former actress, stated that she had worked alongside Alec Baldwin 30 years previously, and added that "He's the nicest guy. I think he unfairly gets a lot of flak."

So there you have it: I guess it just goes to show that you never can tell who's going to end up famous. So if you know someone in your life who's nurturing a special talent, then stick close to them: they'll help you out once they get their big break.