Top 20 Biopic Actors Who Look EXACTLY Like the Real People
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The resemblances are uncanny! For this list, we’ll be looking at the performers in biographical films that most resemble their real-life counterparts. Our countdown includes actors Austin Butler, Paul Dano, Salma Hayek and more! What’s the closest celebrity look-alike you’ve ever seen? Let us know in the comments below!
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#biopic #actors #lookalike #marilynmonroe #johnnycash #elvis
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What’s the closest celebrity look-alike you’ve ever seen? Let us know in the comments below! For more content like this, click here: kzread.info/dash/bejne/fqek07esnsnPktI.html Don't forget to play our Live Trivia games at 3pm and 8pm EST for a chance to win cash! The faster you answer, the more points you get!: www.watchmojo.com/play
@mousemd
8 ай бұрын
Most of them I wouldn't say exactly. I do know that they wrote Cash's songs in a higher pitch for Phoenix range. He practiced so much that he could sing bass. So they threw the remade songs out. I could never mix up John and June with the actors that portrayed them
@jcj268
8 ай бұрын
Can you do Top 20 The Office Memes?
@Interest_In_Everything
8 ай бұрын
You forgot about Barry Pepper as Roger Maris in 61*.
@Bullyboy38
8 ай бұрын
Stephen Fry as Oscar Wilde
@NoelBenavente
8 ай бұрын
I think Will Smith as Ali was better than many listed here, but nice list anyway 👌🏼
Fun fact about Johnny Cash. He saw The Gladiator and really loved Joaquin in it. He invited him at dinner and said that if someday they do a biopic of him, he wanted Joaquin to play him !
How did Angela Bassett as Tina Turner not make this list
@tacoenvy
8 ай бұрын
Yeah seriously
@jermuelishot12345
6 ай бұрын
because racism
@ETHAN.05759
4 ай бұрын
@@jermuelishot12345 if it was racism Mandela, Malcolm, Selena and Frida wouldn't be on here
Jamie Foxx looks exactly like Ray Charles
Val Kilmer in the "Doors." That was pretty crazy when it came out. Not only the similar look, but Val moves like him also. Thanks for the video!
I love how O'Shea Jackson Jr. was omitted from the list for the simple fact that he's literally Ice Cube's body double 😂
@mikeveselov
8 ай бұрын
not just a double, A SON!
@spacepunk_nappy
8 ай бұрын
He looks like Cube.but doesn't LOOK like Cube....He looks more like his mom, but he does...however... kinda sound like him......and he's way lightskinned than his father....
@kevonlarosa4880
6 ай бұрын
@@spacepunk_nappyO'Shea Jr looks more like Cube than Jason looks like Eric though
As much as I like Al Pacino in _Scent of a Woman,_ Denzel Washington absolutely should have won the Best Actor Oscar that year for _Malcolm X._
My favorite behind-the-scenes interview was with Brian May on the set of Bohemian Rhapsody. He said before shooting started, Hair and Make-up asked him to approve of some whigs they were testing on Gwilym Lee, and when Brian May saw Gwilym in full costume, May claimed that he freaked out for a minute. He said it was like looking into a mirror of himself in the 1970s.
@CashelOConnolly
8 ай бұрын
Well something has to be convincing about the lie that was Bohemian Rhapsody💩🤢
@theylied1776
8 ай бұрын
@@CashelOConnolly Sure, why not???
@CashelOConnolly
8 ай бұрын
@@theylied1776 well it was awful. don’t you think? They straight washed Mercury
@theylied1776
8 ай бұрын
@@CashelOConnolly No, I don't think it was awful. It was a movie, not a documentary. It was a character study, not a biopic. This is why Fleetwood Mac has turned down several movie offers. They understand in order (to do justice to any band) the movie would have to be at least 6 to 8 hours long.
@CashelOConnolly
8 ай бұрын
@@theylied1776 it was certainly pushed as a biopic! Quite simply Brian May instructed the studios to not include anything that made the band look bad,like Mercury’s frequent orgies,his copious amount of drug taking and him having unsafe sex knowing he was H.I.V+ ! he gave people a death sentence🤬 They also didn’t include how Mercury would abuse his partners! Factually it’s also a mess!!!
There's also Angela Bassett as Tina Turner, Gary Busey as Buddy Holly, Christian Bale as Dick Cheney, Tom Hanks as Mister Rogers, Charlize Theron as Aileen Wournos AND Megyn Kelly, Hilary Swank as Brandon Teena, Cate Blanchett as Katherine Hepburn, Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill, Meryl Streep as Lindy Chamberlain, Julia Child AND Margaret Thatcher, Renee Zellweger as Judy Garland, Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana. I was blown away by how Kristen played Diana. The resemblance was uncanny down to the mannerisms, gestures, accent and voice tone. As for Cate, she absolutely became Katherine it was uncanny. Same for Christian Bale, unassuming people watching Vice wouldn't even know that it was him playing Dick Cheney. Meryl doesn't get enough credit for A Cry in the Dark, she disappeared into the role with a complete Australian accent and uncanny similarity to Lindy Chamberlain.
@jeank8061
8 ай бұрын
Hilary Swank as Amelia Erhart, too - she was perfectly cast!
@blackguyofthesouth2161
8 ай бұрын
Alot of those you said involved make up and prosthetics
@wendykoepnick489
8 ай бұрын
I agree with all of those especially Charlize Theron. I say we need a part 2
@RhaegarTargaryen1st
8 ай бұрын
Angela gave a mesmerizing performance as Tina Turner but she doesn't really look like her.
@janicehummel8447
8 ай бұрын
Yeah... there were a lot of big omissions on this list.
Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth (The Queen), Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury (Bohemian Rhapsody), Gary Bakewell as Paul McCartney (The Linda McCartney Story), Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher (The Iron Lady), Renee Zellweger as Judy Garland (Judy), Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford (Mommie Dearest).
@NaticzkaKaminskaHenryDolphin
8 ай бұрын
Malek didn't look like Freddie at all. you have to be blind to think so
@joannryan5929
8 ай бұрын
No need to be nasty. That's the problem with this world. It's my opinion and I am entitled to it. And, by the way, I'm not blind anymore. Have a nice day!@@NaticzkaKaminskaHenryDolphin
@AtheneHolder
7 ай бұрын
Ithink the narrator said anyone with heavy prosthetics won't qualify... Rami and those teeth would be out the runnings@@joannryan5929
I don't think Joaquin Phoenix really looks like Johnny Cash but I think he did a great job of channeling him. Gwilym Lee as Brian May was freaskish between how close they look and how much he sounded like him
Maybe not a biopic, but Charlize WAS Aileen in Monster. Chilling how close they looked alike
@jamiethal1319
8 ай бұрын
It’s a biopic.
Kilmer should have been #1 or #2 at the very least. He looked and sounded more like the real person than most of the actors listen after him. In fact, not only did the members of the Doors think he sounded like Morrison, when they first saw him on set as Morrison they were a bit unnerved by the resemblance.
@michaelrue1400
8 ай бұрын
Kilmer #1, Phoenix #2, and Foxx #3.
@williamdavis4809
8 ай бұрын
Agreed
My family joined Temple #7 in Harlem in 1957. The head minister at that time was Malcolm X. To us he was Minister Malcolm. When I saw Denzel in that film, a chill ran up my spine. I thought I was watching a ghost! He should've been higher up on this list and he should've won the Oscar. He nailed that role. I know because I saw the real thing every Sunday for 6 years.
I'm shocked that "I Saw The Light" isn't here. Tom Hiddleston actually resembles Hank Williams quite well.
I agree with Jennifer Lopez as Selena, Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela, Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capore, Ben Kingsley as Gandhi, Eddie Redmayne as Stephen Hawking, Gary Oldman as Sid Vicious, Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison, Robert Downey Jr as Charlie Chaplin, Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln, James Franco as James Dean and last is Jamie Fox as Ray Charles. They all look as well did an excellent job performances the parts! I’m not saying the other didn’t especially Denzel Washington! But the title did say look exactly like the real people. These actors and actress do!
Cate Blanchett as Katherine Hepburn? Maybe not 100% physically accurate but boy did she definitely nailed the speech and the mannerisms.
Denzel should’ve been ahead of Michelle Williams
@WilliamTheMovieFan
8 ай бұрын
Yeah. Kilmer should have been #1 or #2 at least.
@carr0760
8 ай бұрын
Except that Denzel looked like Denzel, not Malcolm X.
@blackguyofthesouth2161
8 ай бұрын
Denzel doesnt even look like Malcolm X
@ahmedmaklad6527
8 ай бұрын
@@blackguyofthesouth2161 yes he does
@blackguyofthesouth2161
8 ай бұрын
@@ahmedmaklad6527I know all black people look alike to y'all but Denzel is dark skin and Malcolm X waslight skin, but we accept it because he played the hell out of the part. Stick to wyt ppl things please.
You left out Renee Zellweger's Oscar-winning performance as Judy Garland in the 2019 biopic Judy.
@notorioustori
8 ай бұрын
Omg, this!!!!
Ana de Armas look similar to Marilyn Monroe in Blonde: she even nailed that facial expression down
Should add in George C. Scott for Patton. And Sissy Spacek for Coal Miner’s Daughter
Will smith as Muhammad Ali was so good I actually thought he was Muhammad Ali for a brief time 😭
Austin Butler’s facial features look nothing like Elvis. It was his tremendous acting skills that were convincing.
I will always remember Jamie Foxx from In Living Color. Funny thing is back then it was David Alan Grier who did the Ray Charles impression while Jamie did a spot on Lionel Richie.
@WomanRoaring
6 ай бұрын
what about Tommy Davidson doing Sammy Davis Jr.? I always thought he should have been cast as Sammy in a bio pic.
@NotMeNaNaNa
6 ай бұрын
@@WomanRoaring yes! His agent is failing him by not getting that project to make him the award winning and well respected actor his In Living Color cast mate has become.
Chadwick boseman as james brown in "Get on Up"
@jaclynsanture6643
8 ай бұрын
My dad and I saw the movie, Chadwick B was amaizing!
It's a shame that Austin Butler didn't nab the Oscar for his work as Elvis, but he might have had a chance had Brendan Fraser not been nominated in the same category!
@Denis-89
8 ай бұрын
He still should have won, had people not done the old sympathy vote..
@blackguyofthesouth2161
8 ай бұрын
I would had voted for Colin Farrell personally
@werthmelissa
8 ай бұрын
He did get a Golden Globe for it though even though it took a little bit of a dark turn when Lisa Marie Presley who witnessed his win unfortunately passed away just two days later
@seanford2358
8 ай бұрын
At least LMP got to see him lift the Golden Globe…
Barry Pepper and Thomas Jane as Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle in *61. Not only did both actors put in a fantastic performance, but they look remarkably similar to the baseball legends they portrayed.
@Jimmersaunt
8 ай бұрын
I agree especially Barry Pepper!
Can't forget about Charlize Theron's portrayal of Aileen Wournos in Monster
@ShilohMarley
8 ай бұрын
Prosthetics
@mattalan6618
8 ай бұрын
@@ShilohMarley to a point. she actually gained weight for the role as well
The first thing I ever saw James Franco in was Spider Man-and I immediately thought how much he looked like James Dean! No surprise to find out he played him in a movie!
The guys playing Magic Johnson, Kareem, and Larry Bird on HBO’s Winning Time are the three best castings of real life people ever.
Jim Carrey as Andy Kaufman
Wylie Draper as Michael Jackson in “The Jacksons: An American Dream” & Gary Oldman as Lee Harvey Oswald in “JFK”
Honorable Mention: *Tom Cruise* as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, "Valkyrie (2008)" Cruise was attracted to the role based on the resemblance of his profile (side-facing posture) to von Stauffenberg's. The actor prepared for the role for eight months by hiring a researcher, studying history books, and speaking with some of von Stauffenberg's family. Since von Stauffenberg lost his left eye, right hand and two fingers on his left hand in an Allied attack in Tunisia, Cruise affected the same disabilities to practice dressing, moving items and writing. Cruise initially found the eyepatch difficult to work with but acknowledged that von Stauffenberg had to live with this discomfort. (Wikipedia)
@WatchMojo-There are 2 more that I feel need to be mentioned as honorable mentions: Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury in "Bohemian Rhapsody" (2018) and Ed Harris as Eugene "Gene" Kranz in "Apollo 13" (1995).
There was a biopic about Madonna on Netflix a few years back. The woman who played the Material Girl looked SO MUCH like Madonna it was almost confusing; as in "wait, did someone find footage of Madonna from the 80s for this movie?"
@cryingbananajo
8 ай бұрын
It would have remained relevant if Madonna still remained an icon.
Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford in "Mommie Dearest".
Awesome list! Honorable mentions: Emma Corrin as Diana, Princess Of Wales (The Crown season 4), Naomi Watts as Diana, Princess Of Wales (Diana), Tom Hanks as Walt Disney (Saving Mr. Banks), Susan Sarandon as Bette Davis (Feud series) and Hilary Swank as Amelia Earhart (Amelia).
@NoelBenavente
8 ай бұрын
I would add Will Smith as Alí
Gary Oldman as Sid Vicious and Jennifer Love Hewitt as Audrey Hepburn were also really accurate, it feels like seeing Sid and Audrey themselves in both.
From a pure resemblance point of view, Barry Pepper as Roger Maris in 61* really needed to be on this list. The resemblance is uncanny.
Helen Miren has done a good job in her biopic roles of queen Elizabeth and Golda Meyer. Granted, I dont know much about Golda, but she does look like her. Sometimes it helps when an actor uses a little makeup to complete the transition to their character, however, like Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill, you don't see Gary at all under the makeup. I was able to see Leo's eyes under the prosthetics in Mr Hoover.
@KimberlyLetsGo
8 ай бұрын
Helen needed prosthetics to look like Meir. As per the opening of this video, they excluded those portrayals.
@kandipiatkowski8589
8 ай бұрын
@@KimberlyLetsGo thanks. I didn't know. I may watch it at some point, it's just not a priority right now. I haven't gotten my TV hooked up yet since I moved recently.
What about Tom Hanks as Walt Disney and Mister Rodgers?
@Shantosh9550
8 ай бұрын
He looks nothing like Walt and Mr Rodgers
@Eshabear1213
8 ай бұрын
I loved Tom Hanks in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
@jamiethal1319
8 ай бұрын
Kinda does. Both of them.
Madonna as Eva Paron in Evita. She looked just like Evita.
Jamie Fox was the total package and deserved the number one spot.
@HeronCoyote1234
8 ай бұрын
He channeled Ray Charles.
This video should have had the title “20 POPULAR Biopic Actors Regardless If They Actually Looked Like The Real People Or Not”. Otherwise, Demetrius Shipp Jr as Tupac Shakur in All Eyez On Me would have bumped Denzel or Freeman or Austin Butler off of this list.
I am shocked and disappointed that Will Smith as Muhammad Ali in "Ali" AND Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne as Tina and Ike Turner in "Whats Love Got To Do With It" werent on this list.
Honestly, my fave actress to play Marilyn is Kelli Garner in ‘The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe’.
@michaelrue1400
8 ай бұрын
I most appreciated Poppy Montgomery in Norma Jean and Marilyn.
Leo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes...he even hot the accent right.😊😊
@Eshabear1213
8 ай бұрын
Who is Howard Hughes?
@AngeliqueStP
8 ай бұрын
Google exists. @@Eshabear1213
@jamiethal1319
8 ай бұрын
Howard Hughes was a movie director. The movie was The Aviator.
The ray charles on was incredible. Hit the road jack was a highlight for me 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
@jaclynsanture6643
8 ай бұрын
I Love Ray, Mr Foxx is amaizing!
Honorable mentions to Gary Oldman as Lee Harvey Oswald (JFK) AND Ludwig van Beethoven (Immortal Beloved). In other roles he has worn prosthetics, like as Churchill, but in those ones (other than a wig as Ludwig) it was just him looking exactly like other people.
@michaelrue1400
8 ай бұрын
Gary Oldman puts his entire being into every role he plays. Absolutely superb.
An amazing topic for a video that is once again delivered to the standards of which only WatchMojo continually gives to us! Thank you for making time pass so effortlessly. Just one suggestion, if you make another part to this, how about putting up a split screen with stills of the original and the copy? To better illustrate the similarities
If there is ever a George Michael biopic, I think Theo James should portray him. 😁
@amrapalibhagat1111
8 ай бұрын
I would love to see George Michael's biopic ❤️
They should add Tammy Blanchard as Judy Garland to the list. I was blown away by her appearance in the film "Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows"
Glad Robert Downey Jr. was included!
Damn I guess Watchmojo have blacklisted Will Smith for portraying Ali. Where is Angela Basset as Tina Turner? She killed that role. Also, I think Jamal "Gravy" Woolard was great as Notorious B.I.G.
Val Kilmer was amazing as Morrison.
Meryl streep as Julia child is also a good one
I remember watching 'Basic Instinct' in the cinema when it came out in 1992, every time I saw Jeanne Tripplehorn on screen I could not get over how much she resembled Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and could be the first choice to play her on screen. Fast forward to 2009 and she actually played her in 'Grey Gardens'. I was blown away by Susan Sarandon's as Bette Davis in 'Feud'. Not only did she look just like her, but her voice, mannerisms and presence were perfect too.
You forgot Cillian Murphy as Robert J. Oppenheimer 😨
I remember a buddy of mine who was a huge Doors fan wanted a Morrison tattoo on his shoulder and so he got one. Once it was done, another friend of ours, may he RIP, walked into the tattoo studio we all hung out at and noticed they had been using the movie poster as a reference, so he HAD to tell him "You realize that you just got a tattoo of VAL KILMER right?" The tattoo artist and the buddy getting the tat just looking at each other trying to find a way around it. But they realized it was pretty much 100% a done deal and there was no way around it lol. So everyone there laughed their asses off and he and the tattoo artist felt like tools. Although, it really did look like Morrison, he kept getting teased about it. Buddies kept asking when he was gonna get a _At First Sight_ tattoo...etc. LMFAO
They forgot Denzel Washington as Frank Lucas in American gangster one of the best roles of his career
The moment I see Selena, I start crying like a baby. Such a big loss to the world. She was on route to becoming the biggest Latina pop star of all time..
Great list. The top 2 are perfect!
I wish you'd do a side by side of them 😊
@jeank8061
8 ай бұрын
I was thinkin' the same thing
@crystalshaw8744
8 ай бұрын
Me too.
@jennyfab312
8 ай бұрын
Well then we'd see how they don't really look EXACTLY like them.
That's just perfect casting.
A couple shoutouts: Margo Robbie as Sharon Tate in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer.
They did a great job playing real life famous people
Definitely feels like a crime that y’all left off Dennis Quaid as Jerry Lee Lewis. The real Jerry Lee was a monster and Quaid still managed to absolutely nailed his mannerism, speech patterns and leave a hint of that darker side. Believe he lived with Lewis for many months to do so. People who watch the movie many think it’s satire until they see real footage of Jerry Lee. He really was that comical in real life. Also sad that Chloe Webb wasn’t mentioned along with Gary Oldman. She was also undistinguishable from her real life counterpart. While the movie itself is almost completely fictional, both Webb and Oldman transformed themselves into the people they were portraying.
James Franco had won a Golden Globe for playing James Dean
…in the heartbreaking life of Piaf depicted in “La Mome (La Vie En Rose, Marion Cotillard as the diminutive dynamo has to be one of the finest ever recorded on cellulose.
one of my favorite look-alikes was Gary Oldman as Beethoven in the movie "Immortal Beloved". but he's such a chameleon that it's no surprise how good he is at chaning his appearance. :)
We need round 2!! Missed sooooo many
Great list
Kurt Russell as Elvis and Jimmy Stewart as Glenn Miller.
Austin Butler was perfect for the Elvis Presley role he knew what he was doing and Blonde omg it was amazing it was hard to know that the actress that played her look so much like her
@Nicholasmcmath-cr1xl
8 ай бұрын
Agree
@seanford2358
8 ай бұрын
All the mannerisms were bang on…
"Yes; and also a universe where you're funny". 💀😲😆😂🤣
Man, you missed Steve Coogan as Stan Laurel in Stan and Ollie! Spot on! He should be near the top!
I would add Matthew Broderick as Colonel Robert Gould Shaw in “Glory “. If you look at pictures of Colonel Shaw you can see a tremendous resemblance.
That’s actually really solid!
Love and Mercy is such an underrated movie!!!
JAMES FRANCO AS "THE CITIZEN KANE OF BAD MOVIES" TOMMY WISEAU IN "THE DISASTER ARTIST", LOL! 🎬👍😂
Michael Sheen as Brian Clough is very uncanny, even got his dialect and physical mannerism down.
JLo was practically Selena’s doppelgänger. Put both pics next to each other and you’d swear they were the same person at face value. I think Selena might have been amazed by how close the resemblance was
I was expecting to see high up on this list Gary Oldman's another brilliant performance: Winston Churchill.
@AngeliqueStP
8 ай бұрын
This list was for likenesses with little to no makeup ...so that wouldn't count.
@NaticzkaKaminskaHenryDolphin
8 ай бұрын
@@AngeliqueStP lol what? they all had makeup. this was no prosthetics list but makeup - everyone has it. and that is why they missed a few. Bale as Cheney didn't have prosthetics, just make up and he got fat for the role, so no fat suit. he should be here
Where is Christian Bale as Dick Cheney? It is scary how similar Bale looked to Cheney, and he didn't have prosthetics or a fat suit, it was all Bale! Some of these are not similar at all! For example, Michelle Williams never looked like Marilyn, sorry. And Austin Butler is not similar to Elvis at all. Jonathan Rhys Meyers who played Elvis in a miniseries in 2005 looked almost identical to Elvis!!
Sasha Baron Cohen as Freddie Mercury would have been plain perfect.
Daniel Radcliffe was funny as weird al
@Eshabear1213
8 ай бұрын
I haven’t seen that one yet
Ben Kingsley as Gandhi for the win!
Daniel Day Lewis gives me chills!! Val Kilmer as Mr. Mojo Risin is the absolute best of all!! 🎉🎉🎉
This needs a part 2
You forgot Jonathan Pryce as Cardinal/Pope Francis in the Two Popes
I would’ve thought Joaquin phoenix as cash would’ve been higher up on the list and with the actor who played Brian may my mom thought it was his son playing him or may in a wig
Val Kilmer really looked like Jim Morrison, but I think it was also the only case where the real person looked more good looking than the actor who played him.
I am always amazed by how good a job Hollywood often does when it it comes to casting actors for biopics. I mean. Take Gandhi for example. Ben Kingsley, I swear, you bought him ad Gandhi just by looking at him. I just wish they’d get the story or the costume right
Ed Harris as Jackson Pollack.😊
Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford
Austin did an incredible job portraying Elvis-however he looks nothing like the King.
Walk Hard - John C. Reilly as Dewey Cox. 😁💚
You only missed on one. Kurt Russell was a much more convincing Elvis than Austin Butler. He looked so much more like him.
I loved Joaquin Phoenix’s version of Johnny Cash
@Eshabear1213
8 ай бұрын
Me too
Sam Riley as Ian Curtis from Control should be on this list