32 Actors Look Like Don’t Look Like Famous People

Tom Hanks didn’t look like Mister Rogers.

Recently, Variety reported that Rooney Mara will portray the iconic Audrey Hepburn in an upcoming biopic film.

Rooney Mara plays Audrey Hepburn in Apple Biopic directed by Luca Guadagnino https://t.co/ijlisHWhab

04:42 – 07 January 2022

Pictorial Press / Alamy, Ron Adar / SOPA Images / AP / Via Twitter: @Variety

And if my opinion matters, it really is one of the best casting decisions Hollywood has ever made – I mean, check out this comparison! Rooney is basically Audrey’s clone!

Bettmann / Getty Images / StudioCanal

That got me thinking about all the TV and movie biopics, and the good vs. bad casting decisions Hollywood made. So here are some actors who looked * exactly * like the famous people they portrayed, and actors who absolutely didn’t:

THE MARK MISSED: This is what Rami Malek looked like as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody (2018):

This is what the real Freddie Mercury looked like:

Michael Putland / Getty Images

HIT THE MARK: This is what Kristen Stewart looked like as Joan Jett in The Runaways (2010):

Summit Entertainment / Courtesy Everett Collection

This is what the real Joan Jett looks like:

Michael Ochs Archive / Getty Images

MISSED THE MARK: This is what Zoe Saldana looked like as Nina Simone in Nina (2016):

This is what the real Nina Simone looked like:

David Redfern / Redferns / Getty Images

HIT THE MARK: This is what Denzel Washington looked like as Malcolm X in Malcolm X (1992):

Warner Bros. Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection

This is what the real Malcolm X looked like:

Truman Moore / Getty Images

MISSED THE MARK: What Javier Bardem looked like as Desi Arnaz in Being the Ricardos (2021):

This is what the real Desi Arnaz looked like:

HIT THE MARK: This is what Viola Davis looks like as Michelle Obama in the upcoming miniseries The First Lady (2022):

Jackson Lee Davis / Jackson Lee Davis / SHOWTIME

This is what the real Michelle Obama looks like:

Stan Honda / AFP via Getty Images

MISSED THE MARK: What Madonna looked like as Eva Perón in Evita (1996):

Buena Vista Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection

This is what the real Eva Perón looked like:

Bettmann / Bettmann Archive / Getty Images

HIT THE MARK: This is how Jessica Chastain looked as Tammy Faye Bakker in The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021):

Headlight Images / Courtesy Everett Collection

This is what the real Tammy Faye Bakker looked like:

Donaldson Collection / Getty Images

THE MARK MISSED: What Diana Ross looked like as Billie Holiday in Lady Sings the Blues (1972):

This is what the real Billie Holiday looked like:

William Gottlieb / Redferns / Getty Images

HIT THE MARK: This is what Taron Egerton looked like as Elton John in Rocketman (2019):

Paramount Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection

This is what the real Elton John looks like:

Michael Ochs Archive / Getty Images

MISSED THE MARK: What Martin Sheen looked like as John F. Kennedy in Kennedy (1983):

NBC / Courtesy Everett Collection

This is what the real John F. Kennedy looked like:

Bettmann / Bettmann Archive / Getty Images

HIT THE MARK: This is how Sterling K. Brown saw as Christopher Darden in The People v. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story (2016) from:

FX / Courtesy Everett Collection

This is what the real Christopher Darden looks like:

Lee Celano / Getty Images

THE MARK MISSED: This is what Jessica Lange looked like as Joan Crawford in Feud: Bette and Joan (2017):

This is what the real Joan Crawford looked like:

HIT THE MARK: This is what Drey Barrymore looked like as Edith Bouvier Beale in Gray Gardens (2009):

This is what the real Edith Bouvier Beale looked like:

Tom Wargacki / Getty Images

THE MARK MISSED: This is what Tom Hanks looked like as Mister Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019):

Sony Pictures Release / Courtesy Everett Collection

This is what the real Mister Rogers looked like:

Bettmann / Bettmann Archive / Getty Images

HIT THE MARK: This is what Lil Mama looked like as Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes in CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story (2013):

This is what the real Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes looked like:

MISSED THE MARK: What Angelina Jolie looked like as Gia Carangi in Gia (1998):

This is what the real Gia Carangi looked like:

Andrea Blanch / Getty Images

HIT THE MARK: This is what Halle Berry looked like as Dorothy Dandridge in Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999):

HBO / Courtesy Everett Collection

This is what the real Dorothy Dandridge looked like:

Silver Screen Collection / Getty Images

THE MARK MISSED: This is what Eddie Murphy looked like as Rudy Ray Moore in Dolemite Is My Name (2019):

Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection

This is what the real Rudy Ray Moore looked like:

Michael Ochs Archive / Getty Images

HIT THE MARK: This is what Lily James looks like as Pamela Anderson in the upcoming series Pam & Tommy (2022):

Hulu

The miniseries will begin streaming on Hulu on February 2, 2022.

This is what the real Pamela Anderson looks like:

Pearson All-American Television / Courtesy Everett Collection

MISSED THE MARK: What Aaron Taylor-Johnson looked like as John Lennon in Nowhere Boy (2009):

Icon Film Distribution / Courtesy Everett Collection

This is what the real John Lennon looked like:

Michael Ochs Archive / Getty Images

HIT THE MARK: This is what Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def) looked like as Chuck Berry in Cadillac Records (2008):

Sony Pictures Release / Courtesy Everett Collection

This is what the real Chuck Berry looked like:

Michael Ochs Archive / Getty Images

THE MARK MISSED: What Beyoncé Looked Like as Etta James in Cadillac Records (2008):

Sony Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection

This is what the real Etta James looked like:

Michael Ochs Archive / Getty Images

HIT THE MARK: This is what Daniel Day-Lewis looked like as Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln (2012):

20th Century Fox / Courtesy Everett Collection

This is what the real Abraham Lincoln looked like:

Hulton Archive / Getty Images News / Getty Images

MISSED THE MARK: This is what Lindsay Lohan looked like as Elizabeth Taylor in Liz & Dick (2013):

This is what the real Elizabeth Taylor looked like:

Archive Photos / Getty Images

HIT THE MARK: This is what Uzo Aduba looked like as Shirley Chisholm in Mrs. America (2020):

This is what the real Shirley Chisholm looked like:

Leif Skoogfors / Corbis via Getty Images

MISSED THE MARK: What Leonardo DiCaprio looked like as Howard Hughes in The Aviator (2004):

Miramax / Courtesy Everett Collection

This is what the real Howard Hughes looked like:

Bettmann / Bettmann Archive / Getty Images

HIT THE MARK: What Jennifer Lopez looked like as Selena Quintanilla-Pérez in Selena (1997):

Warner Bros. Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection

This is what the real Selena Quintanilla-Pérez looked like:

Arlene Richie / Getty Images

THE MARK MISSED: What John Cusack looked like as Richard Nixon in The Butler (2013):

This is what the real Richard Nixon looked like:

Wally Mcnamee / Corbis via Getty Images

HIT THE MARK: This is what Leslie Odom Jr. looked like as Sam Cooke in One Night in Miami … (2020):

Amazon Studios / Courtesy Everett Collection

This is what the real Sam Cooke looked like:

Michael Ochs Archive / Getty Images

MISSED THE MARK: What Meryl Streep Looked Like as Florence Foster Jenkins in Florence Foster Jenkins (2016):

Paramount Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection

This is what the real Florence Foster Jenkins looked like:

Pictures Parade / Getty Images

And HIT THE MARK: This is what Renée Zellweger looked like as Judy Garland in Judy (2019):

Roadside Attractions / Courtesy of Everett Collection

This is what the real Judy Garland looked like:

Hulton Archives / Getty Images

If * you * could cast an actor to portray a famous person in a TV / movie biopic, who would it be? Let us know in the comments below!

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