Star Swap

Scott Hardie | March 19, 2016
Wait a minute... Ellen Barkin and Ellen Burstyn are two different people?

I've seen Burstyn pop up lately in Interstellar and House of Cards, and I kept thinking it's great that she's still getting roles, since she was such a sex symbol in the 80s in steamy movies like Sea of Love and those kinds of actresses don't have much of a shelf life in Hollywood. Now that I've looked it up, I feel silly.

But it's happened before: Like other people I've seen online, I couldn't tell the difference between Dermot Mulrooney and Dylan McDermott for years. And I know that a lot of people mix up Bill Paxton and Bill Pullman.

Are there stars who you've gotten mixed up?

Aaron Shurtleff | March 21, 2016
I was just thinking today that I always seem to hear something on the radio by Liz Phair, and think it's by Heather Nova, probably because of the song "Supernova".

Erik Bates | March 21, 2016
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Samir Mehta | March 21, 2016
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Scott Hardie | December 30, 2016
All this time, I thought TJ Miller was the breakout star of Workaholics. It turns out it's some guy named Blake Anderson. Even when Anderson guest-starred in Arrested Development and Parks and Recreation, I thought he was TJ Miller. I can't be the only person who gets those guys confused.

Steve West | December 31, 2016
Jennifer Lawrence and Renee Zellweger look identical to me at times. My daughter says I'm crazy - that there's no resemblance. I think she's the crazy one.

Scott Hardie | January 1, 2017
Their ages, and how much longer Zellweger has been acting, make them easy to tell apart to me, but I certainly see the resemblance now that you mention it.

Samir Mehta | January 1, 2017
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Erik Bates | January 1, 2017
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Scott Hardie | January 1, 2017
Nixon did make an uncredited guest appearance on The Simpsons.

Samir Mehta | January 3, 2017
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Scott Hardie | October 9, 2018
Christina Hendricks and Jessica Chastain.

Samir Mehta | October 10, 2018
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Scott Hardie | October 12, 2018
Bryce Dallas Howard was seared into my mind as a distinct individual when I watched the DVD extras for The Village and discovered her unbearably pretentious and self-interested video diaries.

Scott Hardie | March 30, 2019
I am embarrassed to have just discovered today that Zachary Quinto and Zachary Levi are two different people. In my defense, they have some pretty similar names and resumes, and they even look alike.

Scott Hardie | July 18, 2019
Go ahead, try to convince me that Lily James and Annie Murphy are two different people.

Erik Bates | July 18, 2019
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Scott Hardie | October 7, 2019
When I saw that Rip Taylor died this weekend, I thought, didn't he die a few months ago? But no, that was Rip Torn. Despite one being a confetti-tossing goofball and the other being a mostly serious dramatic actor, I have mixed them up all of my life. (It's possibly because the one with the fake-sounding silly name is the serious one.)

Scott Hardie | October 31, 2019
Wait, Amber Heard and Blake Lively aren't the same person?

I can tell the difference between Linda Cardellini and Ellen Page, but I could see how other people could get them mixed up.

Scott Hardie | January 22, 2020
Jane Levy: TV's Emma Stone.

Scott Hardie | February 24, 2020
Today, I learned that Brett Cullen and David Wenham are two different people. I see online that people think that Cullen looks like Aaron Eckhart, but Eckhart I will always recognize from certain very specific roles. Cullen and Wenham just seem like interchangeable middle-aged heavies in shows like Iron Fist and Person of Interest; either one could play the other's parts and I couldn't tell.

Scott Hardie | May 1, 2020
I know them from very different roles, but Ellie Kemper and Karen Gillan could be twins. And Kaitlyn Dever could be their younger sister.

Samir Mehta | May 1, 2020
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Scott Hardie | August 10, 2020
Now that I am watching Brave New World on Peacock, which inspired a recent goo, it strikes me how much Jessica Brown Findlay looks like Ione Skye.

Denise Sawicki | August 11, 2020
I have trouble with Kevin Corrigan and Mark Ruffalo.

Scott Hardie | August 16, 2020
Back in the 80s and 90s, I thought it was kind of impressive that Crystal Bernard was everywhere on TV: Happy Days, It's a Living, Northern Exposure, Wings. It wasn't until recently that I learned that the bartender-waitress with the much older husband on Northern Exposure was in fact played by Cynthia Geary. I don't know what I was thinking.

Denise Sawicki | August 21, 2020
Not celebrities so much but there is Ben M Hanson and Ben W Hanson, both running on the Dem-NPL ticket for state senate for my district. They don't look THAT much alike but it's still quite amusing. I heard about it before but was reminded because I just got the flyer in my door.

Scott Hardie | August 21, 2020
Haha, that's great, Denise! That should be fodder for at least a couple of minutes of comedy for some late-night current-events comedy show. It certainly reminds me of The Simpsons.

Scott Hardie | April 21, 2021
They are very different actresses of different ages, but I think Emilia Clarke looks like a daughter (or clone perhaps?) of Helena Bonham Carter. Same forehead, eyebrows, nose, mouth, chin, overall facial structure, everything but the eyes. I didn't notice it until I glanced at a photo from Clarke's next movie and mistook her for Bonham Carter until I looked closer. (If you're not seeing the resemblance in that giant photo, try zooming out.)

Erik Bates | July 22, 2021
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Steve West | August 23, 2021
I saw Jeffrey Dean Morgan in The Walking Dead and swore it was Javier Bardem for a minute.

Scott Hardie | July 26, 2023
There's no confusing these two, but there's a strong resemblance none the less: Back when he had hair, Maroon 5's Adam Levine looked like Ted Lasso's Brett Goldstein.

Scott Hardie | January 16, 2024
If Chloé Zhao and Zoë Chao ever make a movie together, I will lose what little ability I still have to remember which is which.