The Internet Thinks Ryan Reynolds Basically Used to Be Zack Morris

Lest you let Ryan Reynolds‘ status as one of Hollywood’s heartthrobs fool you, rest assured that even the Deadpool star had a typical awkward stage while he was growing up.

In a Instagram post welcoming the new year, Reynolds shared a photo of himself in his youth, where he sported a striped polo and more prominently, a floppy bowl-cut hairstyle in a brassy bleach blonde hue, a dated look that was compared by many of Reynolds’ followers, to Saved by the Bell‘s inimitable Zack Morris.

Reynolds, however, exercised a healthy sense of humor about it, noting wryly in his caption that he “used to style my hair with a blowtorch.”

Further proof that sometimes even the most awkward of ducklings can become beautiful swans. See Reynolds’ original post below.