Guess Who This Brown-Eyed Girl Turned Into!

Before she was co-ruling empires in the TV world music industry, this schoolgirl was posing for cute yearbook pics and cheesing for the camera.

Getting her start in acting in the early 1990s, this eventual rock star would go on to star in some of the biggest shows and movies in the 2000s and 2010s ... and it doesn't look like she's gonna slow her roll either.

Some of her most notable appearances were in "Baby Boy," "Hustle & Flow," "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (for which she got an Oscar nom) as well as comedies like "Think Like a Man," "What Men Want" and slew of Tyler Perry films too.

Perhaps her most famous role though ... playing Lucious Lyon's wife, Cookie, on "Empire," where she's reigned supreme for at least 4 years now.

Ever versatile ... she's shown her range in movies time and again. And, at this rate, we're sure to see her more and more.