50 Adult Actors Who Played Teenagers Onscreen Whether They Looked The Part Or Not
BuzzFeed
5 min read
1.Darren Barnet is currently 30 playing 16-year-old Paxton on Never Have I Ever.
Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection
2.Stockard Channing was 33 when she played Rizzo in Grease.
Paramount / Courtesy Everett Collection
3.And Michael Tucci was 31 when he played Sonny in Grease.
Paramount Pictures
4.Gabrielle Union was 27 when she played a high school senior in Bring It On.
Universal / Courtesy Everett Collection
5.Emma Thompson was 36 when she played 19-year-old Elinor Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility.
Columbia Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection
6.Stacey Dash played 16-year-old Dionne in Clueless when she was 28.
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7.Chad Michael Murray played a high school senior in A Cinderella Story despite being 22 at the time.
Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection
8.Judd Nelson was 25 when he played the eternally angsty Bender in The Breakfast Club.
Universal Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection
9.Jennifer Grey was a full decade older than 17-year-old Baby when she filmed Dirty Dancing.
Artisan Entertainment / Courtesy Everett Collection
10.Tobey Maguire was 26 when he played 17-year-old Peter Parker in Spider-Man.
Columbia Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection
11.Meanwhile, Andrew Garfield was 29 when he put on the spider suit in The Amazing Spider-Man.
Columbia Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection
12.Tom Holland was the most appropriately aged Peter Parker, but he was still 21 playing 15 in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Columbia Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection
13.Rachel McAdams was 25 when she played Regina George in Mean Girls.
Paramount / Courtesy Everett Collection
14.At 29, Alan Ruck was much too old to be skipping school in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off!
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15.Despite being 28, Chase Stokes plays 16-year-old John B on Outer Banks.
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16.Cole Sprouse was 25 when he first started playing 15-year-old Jughead Jones on Riverdale.
The CW / Courtesy Everett Collection
17.Winona Ryder played 18-year-old Susanna in Girl, Interrupted when she was 28.
Kushner-Locke Co. / Courtesy Everett Collection
18.Ralph Macchio was 22 when he played Daniel Laruso, so The Karate Kid was actually a karate adult!
Columbia Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection
19.Nicola Coughlan is 33 playing a 16-year-old on Derry Girls.
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20.Gabourey Sidibe was 26 when she played 16-year-old Precious in Precious.
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21.Channing Tatum was 26 when he played Duke Orsino in She's the Man.
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22.Daenerys Targaryen was supposed to be 15 years old at the start of Game of Thrones, but Emilia Clarke was 25.
HBO
23.Leonardo DiCaprio played a 17-year-old con artist in Catch Me if You Can when he was 28.
DreamWorks / Courtesy Everett Collection
24.Barbra Streisand played a 17-year-old in Yentl, despite being 41 at the time of filming!
Everett Collection / Everett Collection
25.Tom Welling starred as 14-year-old Clark Kent even though the actor was 24 when Smallville premiered.
Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection
26.Henry Winkler was 28, a full decade older than the Fonz, on Happy Days.
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27.Ncuti Gatwa is 28 but currently plays 17-year-old Eric on Sex Education.
Netflix / Courtesy: Everett Collection
28.Francia Raisa was certainly "grown" when she played a first-year college student at the age of 31 on Grown-ish.
Freeform / Courtesy Everett Collection
29.Timothy Granaderos was 31 when he played 16-year-old Monty on 13 Reasons Why.
David Moir / Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection
30.Rebel Wilson played 18-year-old Fat Amy in Pitch Perfect when she was 32.
Universal / Courtesy Everett Collection
31.Annie was 19 in Season 1 of Community, but Alison Brie was 27 when the show began.
NBC / Courtesy Everett Collection
32.Ashleigh Murray was 28 when she started playing Josie McCoy on Riverdale.
The CW Network / Courtesy Everett Collection
33.Dominique Fishback was 29 when she played the street-smart teenager Robin in Project Power.
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34.Florence Pugh played 13-year-old Amy March in Little Women at 22.
Columbia Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection
35.Wood Harris played a teen football star in Remember the Titans when he was 31.
Buena Vista Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection
36.Keiko Agena was 27 when she started playing 16-year-old Lane on Gilmore Girls.
The CW / Courtesy Everett Collection
37.Mae Whitman played a high school senior in The Duff when she was 26.
Lionsgate / Courtesy Everett Collection
38.Antwon Tanner started playing 16-year-old Skills on One Tree Hill when he was 28.
The CW / Courtesy Everett Collection
39.Shirley Henderson was 37 when she first appeared as 14-year-old Moaning Myrtle in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
Warner Bros. Pictures
40.Crystal Reed was 27 when she played 16-year-old Allison Argent in Teen Wolf.
MTV
41.Taylor Kitsch was 25 playing a sophomore in high school on Friday Night Lights.
NBC / Courtesy Everett Collection
42.Jessica Barden was 28 when she played 17-year-old Alyssa on The End of the F***ing World.
Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection
43.Jason Earles was 28 when he started playing 15-year-old Jackson Stewart on Hannah Montana.
Disney Channel / Courtesy Everett Collection
44.Ross Butler was 10 years older than his 13 Reasons Why character at the start of Season 1.
Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection / Everett Collection
45.Bianca Lawson was 33 when she played 17-year-old Maya St. Germain on Pretty Little Liars.
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46.Alexa Demie was 29 when she played 17-year-old Maddy Perez on the first season of Euphoria.
HBO
47.Cory Monteith was 27 when he first started playing 16-year-old Finn Hudson on Glee.
20thCentFox / Courtesy Everett Collection
48.Jesse Metcalfe was 28 when he played the serial cheater John Tucker in John Tucker Must Die.
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49.Drew Seeley was 26 when he played a high school senior in Another Cinderella Story.
Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection
50.And finally, Meredith Monroe played high school sophomore Andie McPhee on Dawson’s Creek when she was 29.
Sony Pictures Television / Courtesy Everett Collection