16 Actors Who Had To Age Down For Their Roles, And 15 Who Pretended To Be Much Older Than They Really Are
1.In Never Have I Ever, Darren Barnet plays 17-year-old Paxton Hall-Yoshida, but in real life Darren is 30 years old.
2.In Alexander, Angelina Jolie played Colin Farrell's mother, even though she was only a year older than him in real life.
3.In Little Women, Florence Pugh played 13-year-old Amy March even though Florence was 23 in real life.
4.In Apocalypse Now, Laurence Fishburne played a soldier fighting in the Vietnam War, even though he was only 14 years old at the time.
Later on, he admitted that he lied about his age to get the part.
5.In The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Andrew Garfield was 31 years old, while his character Peter Parker was just graduating high school at 18.
6.In Lost in Translation, Scarlett Johansson played Charlotte, a college graduate, while Scarlett was only 18 in real life.
7.In Riverdale, Ashleigh Murray played 16-year-old Josie McCoy but was in her 30s IRL.
8.In Se7en, Gwyneth Paltrow played Brad Pitt's wife and high school sweetheart, even though she was only 22 and Brad was 32 at the time.
9.In Derry Girls, Nicola Coughlan began playing 16-year-old Clare Devlin when she was 31 in real life.
10.In Joy, Jennifer Lawrence played Joy Mangano at age 34 and up, even though Jennifer was only 25 at the time.
11.In Hannah Montana, Jason Earles began playing 16-year-old Jackson Stewart when he was 29 years old.
12.In The Hobbit series, Orlando Bloom was actually two years older than Lee Pace, the actor who played his father.
13.In Pretty Little Liars, Bianca Lawson played 16-year-old Maya St. Germain, despite being 31 years old in real life.
14.In Orange Is the New Black, Elizabeth Rodriguez played Dascha Polanco's mother, despite only being two years older than her in real life.
15.In Outer Banks, Chase Stokes began playing 16-year-old John B. when he was 27 years old.
16.In Titanic, Gloria Stuart played 100-year-old Rose even though she was only 87 years old.
17.In Grownish, Francia Raisa plays 22-year-old Ana Torres, but Francia is actually 33 in real life.
18.In Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Cher played Meryl Streep's mother, even though at the time, Cher was 72 and Meryl was 69.
19.In the Harry Potter movies, Shirley Henderson played Moaning Myrtle but was actually 35 when she originated the role.
20.In Monster, Charlize Theron played Aileen Wuornos from the ages of 33–36, despite only being 28 herself.
21.In Happy Days, Henry Winkler played 19-year-old Fonzie but was actually 29 in real life — he was about 39 years old by the series finale.
22.In Man of Steel, Diane Lane was only 47 when she played Martha Kent, who's always been portrayed as a much older, elderly woman in the comics.
23.In Gilmore Girls, Keiko Agena played Rory's best friend Lane and fellow high schooler, despite being 27 when the show aired.
24.In The Manchurian Candidate, Angela Lansbury played the onscreen mom of Laurence Harvey, who was only three years younger than her.
25.In Sense and Sensibility, Emma Thompson played 19-year-old Elinor Dashwood but was 35 in real life.
26.In Mean Girls, Amy Poehler played Rachel McAdams' mother, even though she was only seven years older than Rachel in real life.
27.In Smallville, Tom Welling was actually 24 years old when he played a literal 14-year-old on the show.
28.In Golden Girls, Estelle Getty played Bea Arthur's mom, even though Bea was actually a year older than Estelle in real life.
29.In 8 Simple Rules, Amy Davidson played Kaley Cuoco's younger sister, but in real life, she was actually six years older than her.
30.In Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Lionel Jeffries played Dick Van Dyke's father, even though Dick was actually six months older than Lionel.
31.And finally, in Grease, despite all playing high schoolers, none of the cast was even remotely close to their characters' ages.
