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. However, it's quite challenging for a 30-year-old to convincingly portray a teen, no matter how talented the actor may be.

This sometimes creates comical and hardly believable situations. Good actors can carry the role and make it believable, but once you see their faces, the entire facade crumbles.

However, some actors have a youthful appearance and can get away with it. So, why do producers hire adults to play teens?

"Gossip Girl," "Pretty Little Liars," "Glee," and "Riverdale" are all successful TV shows featuring a major cast of teenagers portrayed by adults, often 15 years older. Producers choose performers who are significantly older than the characters they represent for various 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 meals.

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 approximately 8.25 years.

Take a look at our list of actors with a significant age gap between them and their roles:

There have been plenty of instances when actors play characters whose ages don't necessarily match their own. And sometimes, it's believable.

Fox

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 delivering a fantastic role?

The school scenario in which Amy/Florence was surrounded by actual 13-year-old children, on the other hand, required too much suspension of disbelief.

Columbia Pictures

2. Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones

Since it's never established what age Tyrion was intended to be on the show, this is a relatively 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.

HBO

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 somewhat old for high school, this isn't a huge age gap.

The greater issue arose when Tobey was 32 and Peter was meant to be at most 21 in Spider-Man 3. Tobey has a youthful appearance, but an 11-year gap is significant.

Sony

4. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone in The Amazing Spider-Man

We could have accepted Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone as high school students if they hadn't already been 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.

Sony

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 whom 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.

Disney Channel/CW

6. Angelina Jolie as Queen Olympias in Alexander

In this film, Angelina Jolie plays Colin Farrell's mother, even though he is only a year older than she is! This film suffers from severe cognitive dissonance, and their scenes together are a strange experience.

Intermedia Films

7. Aaron Tveit as Danny Zuko in Grease: Live

Adults played teenagers in the original Grease, so perhaps 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.

Fox

8. Rachel McAdams as Regina George in Mean Girls

A legendary role played by a legendary actor! However, Rachel McAdams (and, to be honest, the majority of the cast) did not appear to be typical high school students. She looks more like a lawyer or another adult professional in this scene.

Lorne Michaels Productions

9. Jennifer Lawrence as Joy Mangano in Joy

Jennifer Lawrence is a fantastic actress, but at 24, she appeared far too young to portray a woman in her mid-thirties. Jennifer's presence as a young actress playing a woman who had experienced so much was unusual.

Fox 2000 Pictures

10. Alan Ruck as Cameron Frye in Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Cameron Frye is one of the most popular characters, but he was not a credible adolescent. Alan Ruck looked every bit the 29-year-old he was at the time of filming, whether due to the character's old spirit or because he was so much taller than Matthew Broderick and Mia Sara.

Paramount Pictures

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.

Landscape Productions

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.

Marvel

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 matter, 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 took place 10 years later.

Meanwhile, in Phantom Menace, Anakin was portrayed by a young boy, and 10 years later, he was played by Hayden Christensen, a mature man.

Lucasfilm

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.

Great American Films

15. Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter epilogue

The epilogue occurred 19 years after the main plot concluded. Not 30, not 40, but 19 years. So, can someone tell me why Ron looked this way at 36 years old? He appears to be in his fifties at the very least.

Warner Bros.

Another reason for hiring adults to play teens is that adult actors can handle stress better than hormone-driven teens. They’ve learned to communicate with the crew, follow directions, etc.

But this creates a problem. When a 15-year-old stares at the television, comparing themselves to someone nearly a decade older, they are measuring themselves against what they are "supposed" to look like according to the media's latest beauty standards.

And that is not a good thing.