Louis Tomlinson’s forgotten soap role before boyband fame revealed as fans go wild over resurfaced clip
A CLIP of a ‘baby’ Louis Tomlinson on Waterloo Road, long before he was a global superstar, has tickled fans.
The BBC soap dug through the archives to unearth a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo from former One Direction star Louis.
As the school drama celebrates its 20th anniversary, the official social media site posted the vintage footage and asked: “Do you think he was scared of Janeece?”
The clip shows a baby-faced Louis playing an extra during the show’s very first series in 2006.
In the footage, a concerned-looking Louis can be seen in the background of the school playground as fan-favourites Janeece Bryant (Chelsee Healey) and Donte Charles (Adam Thomas) get into a heated row.
To help fans catch the four-second appearance, the clip has been given the slow-motion treatment, asking: “Can you spot One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson in Waterloo Road?”
Fans commented: “Baby Louis Tomlinson.”
“He was so young,” noted a second.
“What a babbyyyyyy,” cooed a third.
Before his X Factor audition in 2010, Louis was a budding actor with a string of background roles.
Along with his stint at the fictional Greater Manchester school, he also popped up in Kay Mellor’s Fat Friends and the drama film If I Had You.
Louis, 34, recently opened up about one of his pre-fame jobs.
Speaking to Radio 2’s Scott Mills, he shared: “I did work at Toys R US. It was one of my favourite jobs.
“I absolutely loved it. I loved it. Honestly. I was just on the tech.
“I had to just do the tech basically, giving tech demos to people.
“Do you remember Guitar Hero? Well, they’d just released DJ Hero.
“I just spent hours on my working day demonstrating to other customers.
“I loved that job though, I loved it.”
Fans commented: “He came from a working class and despite his global success he keeps being so down to earth.”
A second added: “Love that he did all these jobs. And he’s still so humble.”
A third penned: “The cutest role mode.”
The singer has recently dropped his third solo album, How Did I Get Here?.
The Lemonade and Sunflowers star has spoken about his ‘terrifying’ world tour which lands in the UK for a run of dates throughout April and May.
Louis got his big break on The X Factor but he recently said the show is unethical and “could do better” for its contestants.
The singer was put into One Direction by the show’s judges and rocketed to superstardom – then returned as a judge in 2018.
Recently, Louis paid a heartfelt tribute to tragic bandmate Liam Payne with a song on his new album.
Louis sings about loss on the track Dark to Light and asks if he could have done more to help someone in need.
Liam was just 31 when he died in October 2024 after falling from his hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Louis has been dating Zara McDermott since last March and they recently spent their first Valentine’s Day together.
This comes after the loved-up pair celebrated their first Christmas together at his home in Hertfordshire.
The Sun were the first to reveal at the start of the year that Zara and Louis had begun dating each other just weeks after she split from long-term partner, reality star Sam Thompson.