Although I am in sad lack of it, patience is a virtue that is greatly rewarded.  If you have patience with wine, it improves.  If you wait a bit with cheese, it tastes amazing (just not too long – that could get dangerous).  Even if you are patient with people, they usually get better. Well, some people. Not my ex-boyfriend.

The last is especially true with some child celebrities.   Sure, most child stars end up passed out in a gutter surrounded by VHS tapes of their glory days, but some – especially some pretty choice boy toys – turn out just right. Let’s take a look at some of our favorite young hotties who grew up, aged like a fine bottle of Boones Farm, and suddenly got super hot.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Yeah, I watched Third Rock From the Sun and was therefore super excited to see JGL starring in that am-AZING classic, 10 Things I Hate About You.  What a cutie, right?  Well, Joey totes grew up and I love him way more than my Skechers (…’cause I don’t have a Prada backpack).

Bow Wow (formerly Lil’ Bow Wow)

To a pre-teen white girl from the Midwest, Lil’ Bow Wow was as hood as it got.  My friends and I used to throw on his CD and pretend we were cooler than we actually were.  Fast forward a decade or so and we’re still doing that…but with iTunes.  And Lil’ Bow Wow has ditched the Lil and replaced it with some serious hotnessss.

Leonardo DiCaprio

Leo was the adorable kid next door (or homeless boy without a family) when he entered our lives via Growing Pains. We didn’t think he could get any hotter than his Titanic days, but it looks like someone just keeps getting better. And better. And better. Leo’s age has done wonders for him – he’s more brooding and handsome than ever. We can only imagine how smokin’ he’ll be when he hits the big 4-0.

Dante Basco

Almost the entire reason for watching Hook a thousand times over was for Rufio in his tights and cropped tank (it was Never Never Land, okay?!?).  Thank goodness Dante left the Land of Lost Boys and joined the World of the SMOKIN’ Hot Men. Seriously, who saw that coming?

Shia LeBeouf

Shia put the “geek” in “totally geeky” back in his Even Stevens days, but he was a master of the physical comedy, so I watched anyway.  Luckily, he grew into that face of his and now he’s playing the lead role in my Transformers-themed sexual fantasies. He is total hotness and has proved that it’s 100% possible to come out of an (long ass) awkward phase.