PICTURE EXCLUSIVE: X Factor judge Rita Ora looks the picture of innocence in previously unseen flashback photos from her stage school days
She's enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame, cementing her superstar status by landing a judging role on The X Factor this year.
And it seems Rita Ora has always been destined for stardom, brimming with confidence and star quality even as a talented youngster dreaming of bigger and better things.
The 24-year-old judge looks the picture of innocence in previously unseen heads shots from her days at Sylvia Young stage school.
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As she was: Rita looks super cute in her Year Five school photo, where she sported brunette hair
Rita is instantly recognisable in her Year five photos, flashing the same cheeky grin that beams into viewers' living rooms every Saturday night on the ITV singing competition.
With her brunette locks styled in natural ringlets and a face free of make-up, the Hot Right Now hit-maker looks poles apart from the ultra glamorous, blonde bombshell image she favours these days.
The Kosovo-born singer has clearly always been a natural beauty, appearing completely at ease as she strikes a series of poses for the camera in her school uniform.
Throwback picture: Posing with her sister Elena and father Besnik in a lovely black and white snap
Head shots taken just one year later see the 16-year-old sporting a more mature hairstyle, wearing a black jumper and soft pink lipstick.
Rita has perhaps always destined for superstardom - she was named after the favourite Hollywood star of her film director grandfather Rita Hayworth.
She graduated from Sylvia Young Theatre School, which has formed some of Britain's best talent including Amy Winehouse and Billie Piper, and soon made a name for herself by gigging around the London pub scene.
Bricks and mortar: In the book, Rita's childhood home in Kosovo can be seen
Tough start: Rita explains that she ended up in care when she first arrived in the UK
The pop princess's career took off in 2009 when she was signed to Roc Nation by rap mogul Jay-Z - and the rest is history.
But the starlet didn't have the best start in life; her parents Besnik and Vera fled from Kosovo to escape the war in Yugoslavia when Rita was just one year old.
Along with her then three-year-old sister, Elena, the girls were put into a home while their status was assessed.
In an extract from her new biography, Rita explains: 'We were sent straight to the children's home, me and my sister, because my mum and dad were refugees and so were we.
Performer: Rita was determined to make it as a celebrity and went to the Sylvia Young school
Rita's biography Hot Right Now is out on October 29.
'We were lucky to get out. The airport was closing down and they weren't letting anyone leave by that stage. We were on the last flight out, it was pretty scary for them.'
She also revealed that her parents were wary of her pursuing a a career in music, and her father gave her an ultimatum after she left school - make it happen within a year or return to college.
The blonde beauty said: 'I didn't speak to them [properly] for a few years so I had to find my way. I was like, "I need to sing!"'
Another extract from the new biography, serialised by The Sun, saw Rita confessed she was groomed by a 26-year-old man when she was just 14.
But, astonishingly, the singer has insisted that she was not a victim of child sex abuse.
Talking for the first time about what happened, the 24-year-old said: 'I was 14 when I had my first relationship with a guy. I would say he was about 26. It is child abuse really, isn't it?'
Rita's biography Hot Right Now is out on October 29.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3293667/Rita-Ora-s-flashback-photos-school-days.html#ixzz3pzYptTlM
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