Actors With A Huge Age Gap Between Them And The Roles They Played
Among other things, movies and shows rely on the actors' ability to transform to become a success. But it's kind of hard for a 30-year-old to transform into a teen, no matter how good an actor he is.
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That sometimes creates comical and hardly believable situations. Good actors can carry the role, and they can make it believable, but once you see their faces, the whole facade crumbles down.
However, some actors are really young looking and they can get away with it. Why do producers hire adults to play teens?
"Gossip Girl," "Pretty Little Liars," "Glee," and "Riverdale" are all successful TV shows with a major cast of teenagers played by adults, often 15 years older. Producers choose performers who are substantially older than the character they represent for a variety of technical reasons.
For one thing, labor rules limit the number of hours that most teenagers and minors under the age of 18 can work. Their time on set must be divided between school, rest, and food.
Actors under the age of 16 must work with a guardian on-site. Despite these technicalities, it's difficult to defend a series like "Riverdale," where the average age gap between actors and the roles they play is an average of 8.25 years.
Take a look at our list of actors with a huge age gap between them and their roles:
There's been plenty of times when actors play characters whose age isn't necessarily the same as their own. And sometimes it's believable.
![There's been plenty of times when actors play characters whose age isn't necessarily the same as their own. And sometimes it's believable.](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/4d/5e/44/4d5e447cda052cc4f29067c18056b305.gif)
1. Florence Pugh as Amy March in Little Women
You certainly knew Florence, who was 22 at the time of production, wouldn't exactly look 13 in Little Women's Young Amy moments. But how can anyone complain about a fantastic performer performing a fantastic role?
The school scenario in which Amy/Florence was surrounded by actual 13-year-old children, on the other hand, needed too much suspension of disbelief.
![1. Florence Pugh as Amy March in Little Women](https://static.dailysquared.com/posts/0a9a9bbf582be77ae24a4f59b3f1aa17_15424_700.jpg)
2. Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones
Because it's never established what age Tyrion was intended to be on the show, this is a pretty minor infraction. All we know is that he was meant to be a few years younger than Jaime and Cersei, which doesn't quite add up when you see them side by side.
![2. Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones](https://static.dailysquared.com/posts/4dbf9b29297a76c058999fb847849030_15424_700.jpg)
3. Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker in Spider-Man
Tobey was 26 when he portrayed Peter, a 17-year-old. Even if he did appear to be kind of old for high school, this isn't a huge age gap.
The greater issue came when Tobey was 32 and Peter was meant to be at most 21 in Spider-Man 3. Tobey has a youthful appearance, but 11 years is a significant gap.
![3. Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker in Spider-Man](https://static.dailysquared.com/posts/3db361d49c23fddcf91c0d0559d509d4_15424_700.jpg)
4. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone in The Amazing Spider-Man
We could have bought Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone as high school students if they weren't already incredibly famous when this movie came out. However, The Social Network and Easy A were released two years before The Amazing Spider-Man, and Andrew, as good as he was at portraying Peter's jittery teen energy, was still nearly 30 when the film was released in 2012.
Emma had previously appeared in the film Crazy, Stupid, Love, in which she played an adult. Sorry, I adore them both, but they were hardly the picture of high school.
![4. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone in The Amazing Spider-Man](https://static.dailysquared.com/posts/27ef9235ecb9445f233043a88a8ca94a_15424_700.jpg)
5. The cast of most teen dramas
We understand that real teenagers cannot play teenagers in teen dramas. But you can't really tell us it's not amusing to witness a man in his mid-to-late-twenties fretting over who he'll invite to prom.
It's especially evident when someone like Cole Sprouse portrays a teenager 10 years after the world first saw him play one. Or when Elena, played by Nina Dobrev, appears to be the same age as her aunt, who is supposed to be 30.
![5. The cast of most teen dramas](https://static.dailysquared.com/posts/74b0d60dde54915a2d16557bbdc7265d_15424_700.jpg)
6. Angelina Jolie as Queen Olympias in Alexander
In this film, Angelina Jolie plays Colin Farrell's mother. He is only a year older than he is! This film suffers from severe cognitive dissonance, and their sequences together are a strange experience.
![6. Angelina Jolie as Queen Olympias in Alexander](https://static.dailysquared.com/posts/9bbcc99f7ba7faf6cf001489f402a5fd_15424_700.jpg)
7. Aaron Tveit as Danny Zuko in Grease: Live
Adults played teenagers in the original Grease, so maybe Grease: Live gets a pass because it was simply following in the footsteps of its predecessor. He made a fantastic Danny, but he was definitely a 32-year -old Danny.
![7. Aaron Tveit as Danny Zuko in Grease: Live](https://static.dailysquared.com/posts/9dbdf0b5bb5cb7a3ad18e14d03059195_15424_700.jpg)
8. Rachel McAdams as Regina George in Mean Girls
A legendary part played by a legendary actor! However, Rachel McAdams (and, to be honest, the majority of the cast) did not appear to be a typical high school student. She appears to be a lawyer or other adult professional in this scene.
![8. Rachel McAdams as Regina George in Mean Girls](https://static.dailysquared.com/posts/e856a23ec68df2737666594e44297a7a_15424_700.jpg)
9. Jennifer Lawrence as Joy Mangano in Joy
Jennifer Lawrence is a fantastic actress, but at 24, she appeared to be far too young to represent a woman in her mid-thirties. Jennifer's presence as a young actress playing a woman who had experienced so much was unusual.
![9. Jennifer Lawrence as Joy Mangano in Joy](https://static.dailysquared.com/posts/63164782cfb20de120bcca062b1c54e2_15424_700.jpg)
10. Alan Ruck as Cameron Frye in Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Cameron Frye is one of the most popular actors, but he was not a credible adolescent. Alan Ruck looked every inch the 29-year-old he was at the time of filming, whether it was because of the character's old spirit or because he was so much taller than Matthew Broderick and Mia Sara.
![10. Alan Ruck as Cameron Frye in Ferris Bueller's Day Off](https://static.dailysquared.com/posts/142646b2bf147feaeafb2f1db9957ab5_15424_700.jpg)
11. Jesse Metcalfe as John Tucker in John Tucker Must Die
Yes, another teen film in which a 28-year-old actor attempts to play a high school student but fails miserably. But, before you scream at me for being repetitive, remember that Jesse Metcalfe in this film looks way too old for high school.
![11. Jesse Metcalfe as John Tucker in John Tucker Must Die](https://static.dailysquared.com/posts/4de0e49a479123cd9fd4ae7d8d76a404_15424_700.jpg)
12. Any time Marvel has tried to digitally de-age their actors, particularly Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., and Samuel L. Jackson
It looked strange when they tried to make Robert Downey Jr. appear like a college student in Civil War, and it looked strange when they tried to make Samuel L. Jackson look like a youthful Nick Fury in Captain Marvel! Nobody has a face like that! Sorry, but we don’t like it.
![12. Any time Marvel has tried to digitally de-age their actors, particularly Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., and Samuel L. Jackson](https://static.dailysquared.com/posts/bc4ecada46aa257930f4094910f80f84_15424_700.jpg)
13. Natalie Portman as Padmé Amidala in Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones
In the prequel trilogy, the character's age didn't really important, but you can't deny that it was odd that she was 14 in Phantom Menace and looked precisely the same age in Attack of the Clones, which did take place 10 years later.
Meanwhile, in Phantom Menace, Anakin was acted by a young boy, and 10 years later, he was played by Hayden Christensen, a mature man.
![13. Natalie Portman as Padmé Amidala in Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones](https://static.dailysquared.com/posts/f2a905bb9b3d3d7571dcd2b011d10b12_15424_700.jpg)
14. Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing
Was it really that expensive for the screenwriters to imply Baby was around 21 years old in the movie? She could easily have been a sheltered 21-year-old! Even if Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze were fantastic in the film, claiming to be 17 when her love interest appeared to be at least 30 didn't help.
![14. Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing](https://static.dailysquared.com/posts/4f38ddb33e2e79fd9f5867e6e8fc0843_15424_700.jpg)
15. Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter epilogue
The epilogue occurred 19 years after the main plot finished. Not 30, not 40, but 19 years. So, can someone tell me why Ron was this way at 36 years old? He appears to be in his fifties at the very least.
![15. Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter epilogue](https://static.dailysquared.com/posts/4734cb6b4eb6b4afb0f29bc4b00fc661_15424_700.jpg)
Another reason for hiring adults to play teens is that the adult actor can handle stress better than a hormone-driven teen. They’ve learned to communicate with the crew, follow directions, etc.
But this creates a problem. When 15-year-old stares at the television, comparing themselves to someone nearly a decade older than them, they are comparing themselves to what they are "supposed" to look like according to the media's latest beauty standards.
And it is not a good thing.