- 11 hours ago
From high schoolers who clearly need a parent-teacher conference to teens who look decades older than written, these on-screen casting choices are impossible to ignore. We’re counting down the film and TV characters whose actors were nowhere near the same age as their roles, from classic musicals and superhero stories to modern teen dramas. Which one made you do a double take?
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00:00Who is that?
00:01Ferris Bueller, you're my hero.
00:03Welcome to Miss Mojo, and today we're looking at film and TV characters who were played by actors who weren't
00:10quite in the same age range.
00:11For this list, we're excluding cases where age discrepancies between character and actor were kind of the point.
00:18Jeez, he looks like my dad.
00:22Sonny, Grease.
00:23This year she's gonna wish she's never seen me.
00:25Oh yeah? And what are you gonna do?
00:27I just ain't gonna take any of a crap, that's all. I don't take no crap from nobody.
00:31Believability wasn't the biggest concern when making this hit retro high school musical set in the nostalgia-tipped 1950s.
00:38Not even the two squeaky clean leads look a day younger than 25.
00:43Sandy!
00:44Danny?
00:45What are you doing here?
00:47I thought you were going back to Australia.
00:49We had a change of plan.
00:51Director Randall Kleiser had to use soft focus on some of the older actors' close-ups,
00:56but it has to be said, in a movie where none of the principals is a passable teenager,
01:01Sonny sticks out the most.
01:03Any scotch tape?
01:05Hey, big stuff.
01:06What do you drive, huh?
01:08I drive.
01:09Yeah?
01:10Actor Michael Tucci wasn't the oldest of the principal actors.
01:13That distinction belongs to Stalker Channing, who was 33 during filming.
01:18Still, there's no amount of flunking his senior year Sonny could do to look like he should still be hanging
01:24around the halls of Rydell High.
01:25For a walk.
01:26You were just dawdling, weren't you?
01:28Yes, ma'am.
01:28That is no way to start a new semester, Mr. La Thierry.
01:32I will do the platana.
01:34Perhaps a session of banging erasers after school would put you on the right track.
01:38Yes, ma'am.
01:40Are you just going to stand there all day?
01:42No, ma'am.
01:43I mean, yes, ma'am.
01:43I mean, I'm just...
01:44Well, which is it?
01:44Yes or no?
01:45No, ma'am.
01:46Scott Thorson, behind the candelabra.
01:49This is my friend, Scott Thorson.
01:51His first time in Las Vegas.
01:53Oh, Lost Babe in the Woods.
01:55It's like a Disney movie.
01:57Little Bambi.
01:59Very nice to meet you.
02:01You were incredible out there.
02:03In real life, Thorson met the famed piano man Liberace when he was only 17.
02:08HBO's film about their tumultuous romance begins around that time, with the then 42-year-old Matt Damon playing Thorson.
02:16I promise you, I'll fly you right back to L.A. after my first show.
02:20I promise.
02:22Okay.
02:25Ah, alone at last.
02:30Thank you so much for bringing my baby's medicine.
02:33Hiding Damon behind makeup, soft lighting, and prosthetics as their lifestyle becomes more and more destructive,
02:40Scott's youth is still less than convincing.
02:47She's gonna see us.
02:49People are gonna see what they wanna see, Scott.
02:52Damon signed on to the project in 2008, nearly five years before it saw the light of day.
02:58But funding was hard to come by due to its subject matter.
03:01It's a good performance despite how unconvincing he is as a teenager, and it nabbed him an Emmy nomination.
03:07Hello, hello, hello.
03:09Uh, yes, I want the, uh, uh, I want the...
03:13Scott.
03:14Who the f*** is this?
03:15Scott.
03:17Paxton Hall Yoshida, Never Have I Ever.
03:19I'm here to have sex with you.
03:26Starring as Mindy Kaling's teenage facsimile, Debbie, the then-17-year-old Maitreyi Ramakrishnan,
03:33is totally believable as an awkward 15-year-old fumbling through adolescence.
03:37So, I thought I would follow up on our conversation from the other day and ask if you wanted to
03:42hang out later?
03:45Oh, oh, you mean, uh, like, have sex?
03:47Uh, sure.
03:49Uh, maybe after school today at my place?
03:52T-today?
03:53Her on-screen love interest, played by Darren Barnett, was less so.
03:58He was actually 28 when the show began production.
04:01Paxton, I would never make fun of your sister.
04:03She's super fashionable and way cooler than me.
04:07No laughing!
04:08Mom!
04:09I'm so sorry about your polio, Dr. Vishwakumar.
04:12What?
04:13The internet was, as usual, totally chill when they found this out.
04:17Wait until they find out about every other TV show in existence.
04:21Still, Barnett's appearance as the show's resident heartthrob made his age and maturity apparent.
04:26Paxton, there are more boys coming and going in this in the GameStop at the mall.
04:31Look, I can go. Seems like a bad time.
04:33You just weren't responding to texts.
04:35Don't go, Paxton.
04:37You haven't returned Devi back her dress that she took off in your car.
04:41Co-creator Lank Fisher says this was intentional.
04:44A real 15-year-old would, quote, look like a tiny baby compared to Barnett.
04:49I'll see you at school.
04:54Cameron Frye, Ferris Bueller's Day Off
04:57Alan Ruck was almost 30 when he scored his most famous role.
05:01He was older than co-star Matthew Broderick by at least five years.
05:05The 1961 Ferrari 250 GT, California.
05:13As the put-upon, uptight best friend of the title character,
05:17Ruck's advanced age actually kind of works for the character.
05:21Cameron Frye has real worries.
05:23His anxiety and general fear of the world makes him less like a teenager
05:27and more like a fuddy-duddy who's old before his time.
05:30Okay, Ferris, can we just let it go, please?
05:33Ferris, please.
05:34Come on too far.
05:36You're gonna get busted.
05:39A, you can never go too far.
05:41B, if I'm gonna get busted, it is not gonna be by a guy like that.
05:45Come on, Abe.
05:47Ruck manages to offset his true age by digging into Cameron's emotional life.
05:51There's a reason he's responsible for some of the most memorable moments in the movie.
06:05Peter Parker, Spider-Man
06:16You could make the argument that Peter Parker has never really looked like a standard teenager.
06:22At 27, Tobey Maguire's take on the web-slinging superhero might be the least convincing.
06:28Considering that Maguire's Peter Parker is 17 and close to the end of his high school years,
06:33it's not the worst case of age-fudging, but he is absolutely a full-grown man by then.
06:58Interestingly enough, Elizabeth Banks says she was turned down for the role of Mary Jane Watson,
07:03despite being only a year older than Maguire.
07:07The role went to Kirsten Dunst, who was not yet 20 when cast.
07:11You're living your dream.
07:12Hey girl, your draw was short $6.
07:15Next time that happens, I'm gonna take out your check.
07:19Excuse me, Miss Watson, I'm talking to you.
07:22Hey!
07:23Yes, Enrique, okay? I get you.
07:25Well, you better not happen no more, you hear me?
07:27Don't roll your eyes at me.
07:28Fonzie, Happy Days.
07:30Henry Winkler's cool guy schtick has not aged well for multiple reasons.
07:35Oh, hi Fonzie.
07:37Oh, look what some jerk left on the radiator.
07:39Boy, oh boy, there's sure some dodos around here.
07:48His retrograde, pickup artist ways made him a breakout star during the show's original run,
07:54but as the years go by, it gets harder to see why.
07:58Described as a recent high school dropout,
08:00The Fonz was not supposed to be that much older than the core group of teens at the center of
08:05Happy Days.
08:06Oh, hey, uh, I made a phone call and nobody answered.
08:09We kind of came here to be by ourselves, you know.
08:12So did everybody else.
08:13Come on in, we'll all be by ourselves together.
08:15Yeah, come on in.
08:17It's a drag.
08:18Oh, it doesn't take us care.
08:19So why does he look like he's two or three short years away from a midlife crisis?
08:24He should not be worried about picking up chicks.
08:26He should be worrying about paying his mortgage.
08:29You play with her chest?
08:32No, chest, Fonzie.
08:33The game, chest.
08:35We didn't do anything, I lied.
08:36Oh.
08:37So I thought I should probably...
08:38You know, that makes me mad.
08:40I don't like to make you mad, Fonzie.
08:42I mean, seeing how you said you did, I figured you did, and she did, so I got a date
08:46with myself this afternoon.
08:48Superman Clark Kent
08:50Smallville
08:50At the start of this Superman prequel series, Clark Kent is meant to be a high school freshman.
08:56Tom Welling is many things in that first season, but 14 years old definitely isn't one of them.
09:02Your real parents weren't exactly from around here.
09:08Where are they from?
09:19What are you trying to tell me, Dad?
09:21That I'm from another planet?
09:22Welling, who was 24 when he began playing the role, is a strapping, corn-fed hunk.
09:28You could argue that because he's Superman, he's just that much more physically impressive than the other kids.
09:34However, Smallville is full of actors who look not quite age-appropriate for the characters.
09:39Michael Rosenbaum's Lex Luthor is a notable example.
09:43You've got quite an extraordinary boy there, Mr. Kent.
09:45If there's any way I can repay you, drive slower.
09:51Not that we're complaining.
09:53Welling was a dreamy heartthrob of the 2000s for good reason.
09:58Normal?
10:02How about this?
10:03Is this normal?
10:05Car!
10:12I didn't dive in after Lex's car.
10:14It hit me at 60 miles an hour.
10:16Does that sound normal to you?
10:18Olympias, Alexander
10:19Although the exact date of Alexander the Great's birth is unknown,
10:23his mother, Olympias, Queen of Macedon, was around 20 years old at the time.
10:28While she was young, she wasn't this young.
10:31Your father, that pig, had not ravaged her first.
10:34Say nothing more of my father.
10:36Do you hear me say nothing?
10:40You're right.
10:43Forgive me.
10:45A mother loves too much.
10:52Angelina Jolie plays mother to Colin Farrell,
10:55despite being only one year older than him.
10:58As striking as Jolie is,
11:00it's a bit odd to see her standing next to a man
11:02who looks more like a love interest than her own son.
11:05Who shall I seem to sleep at night anymore?
11:13I wish...
11:14I wish we could spend more time together.
11:19Like we used to.
11:20When you were the sweetest boy.
11:23In this case,
11:24maybe Alexander could have benefited from a bigger age gap.
11:28It could have benefited from a lot of things.
11:30The movie was maligned when it was released
11:32and received six Razzie nominations,
11:35including one for Jolie's performance.
11:37Protect me from your enemies when you are gone.
11:42And remember,
11:43always,
11:45it is I who love you more than any.
11:51Yentl.
11:52Yentl.
11:52Yentl?
11:53Yentl?
11:54What would you like now?
11:57Yentl?
11:57Uh,
11:58a pipe or a cop?
11:59Fine.
12:00Barbara Streisand's directorial debut
12:02was a long-time passion project.
12:05In development as early as 1969,
12:08original writer Isaac Bashevis Singer
12:10worried about Streisand's age even back then,
12:13and she was still in her 20s.
12:15You're a woman,
12:16but I didn't teach you how to be one.
12:19You taught me everything I know.
12:21Too much,
12:22you know.
12:23You know too much,
12:24but not enough.
12:26Yentl wouldn't hit cinemas for another 14 years.
12:30Originally,
12:30she was meant to be the daughter of Nehemia Persoff.
12:33Even aging her up to her 20s
12:35doesn't square up with a then 40-year-old Barbara Streisand.
12:39Despite all that, though,
12:40it's a genuinely good movie,
12:42and it's hard to imagine anyone else playing her.
12:44Not sure I understand,
12:49but I like the way I feel.
12:58After all,
13:00this is Barbara Streisand we're talking about.
13:02The rules are different for movie stars.
13:04You should be proud of yourself.
13:09I love you, aren't you?
13:10Barbara.
13:14I love you, too.
13:23Before we continue,
13:25check out this single from Sound Mojo's album, Balance.
13:27Classical music reimagined as rock,
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13:31Check out the full track and album below.
13:47Evan Hansen,
13:48Dear Evan Hansen
13:50Ben Platt was basically the shepherd of the role
13:52when he won his Tony for originating it
13:55in his very first industry reading.
13:57When the film adaptation came around,
13:59Platt was in his late 20s.
14:01This time,
14:02he would be playing Evan Hansen in Close Up.
14:10It's not really his fault, though.
14:12The combination of garish makeup
14:14and a really unfortunate hairstyle
14:16would have made any real 16-year-old
14:18look like a recently divorced insurance salesman.
14:21I've never seen anyone so sad before.
14:24Having Platt reprise his role on film
14:26was just one of the reasons
14:28the movie was lambasted
14:29by critics and audiences alike.
14:32Words fail.
14:35Words fail.
14:38There's nothing I can say.
14:42Does it matter when an actor
14:44doesn't match their character's age?
14:46Tell us in the comments.
14:51Go to acting.
14:51I thought I would tell.
14:51There's nothing I can say.
14:51If you're loved,
14:51I love you.
14:51I don't know when I'm in trouble.
14:51Need a movie like long?
14:52You're a very good one.
14:52I'm in trouble.