4 years ago
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Real 16-year-olds do NOT look like this.
It's a pretty well-known fact that Hollywood likes to cast actors in their 20s to play teenagers.
Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection
This is because of labor laws that restrict the working hours of people under the age of 18, and because twentysomethings are likely to have more experience and training than teenagers. Also, a lot of teen dramas/movies like to cast hot people without awkward phases and acne, etc.
The CW
This mostly makes sense to me. What doesn't make as much sense is when actors in their 30s are cast as teenagers. Like, sometimes these people are TWICE the age of the characters they're meant to play.
NBC
Here are 21 actors in their 30s who were cast as teenagers!
1. Darren Barnet was 30 when Season 2 of Never Have I Ever, in which he plays high school student Paxton, dropped.
Isabella B. Vosmikova / Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection
2. Bianca Lawson was 31 when she began playing high school student Maya on Pretty Little Liars, and 33 when her character last appeared.
Freeform
3. Tanya Reynolds, who plays Lily on Sex Education, is currently 30.
Sam Taylor / Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection
She was 29 when the last season was released, but as the show is ongoing and the characters are still in high school, she will be playing Lily into her 30s.
4. Greta Onieogou is also currently 30 — she plays high school student Layla on All American.
The CW
5. Stacey Dash was 32 when her character graduated high school at the end of the Clueless TV series.
UPN
6. Stockard Channing was infamously 33 when she played Rizzo in Grease.
Paramount Pictures
7. Michael Tucci was 31 when he played Sonny in Grease, and 32 when the film came out.
Paramount Pictures
8. And Jamie Donnelly, who played Jan, was 31 when the film came out.
Paramount Pictures
I'm going to stop with the Grease ones since I already have three, but there are two more — Annette Charles, who played Cha-Cha, and Dennis Stewart, who played Leo, were both 30.
9. Harry Shum Jr. was 30 when his character Mike graduated high school on Glee.
Fox
10. Andrew Garfield was 30 when The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was released. The film starts with his character graduating high school.
Sony Pictures Releasing
11. Ser'Darius Blain was 30 when Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle came out.
Sony Pictures Releasing
He was a full 12 years older than Morgan Turner, who played his classmate.
12. Wood Harris was 30 when he played Julius Campbell in Remember the Titans.
Tracy Bennett / Buena Vista Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection
13. Jason Earles was 30 when Season 2 of Hannah Montana was airing, playing Miley's teenage brother Jackson.
Bob D'Amico / Disney / courtesy everett collection
He was 33 when the show finished airing, though his character was no longer supposed to be in high school then.
14. This was probably part of the humor, but Efren Ramirez, who played Pedro (a high school foreign exchange student) in Napoleon Dynamite, was 30.
Fox Searchlight / Courtesy Everett Collection
15. Michael Steger, who played Navid on 90210, was 30 by the time Season 3 (the characters' senior year) began airing.
Patrick Ecclesine / The CW / Courtesy Everett Collection
Fun fact: Ryan Eggold, who played a teacher on the show, is four years younger than Michael.
Patrick Ecclesine / The CW / Courtesy Everett Collection
16. Trevor Donovan, who played Teddy, was actually already 30 when he joined the show as a high school student in Season 2. He was 32 when the graduation episode aired.
Michael Desmond / The CW / Courtesy: Everett Collection
17. Similarly, Timothy Granaderos Jr., who played Montgomery on 13 Reasons Why, was 30 when the show began airing. By his last episode in Season 4 (when the characters were still in high school), Granaderos Jr. was 33.
David Moir / Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection
18. Ross Butler was also 30 by the time the show ended (at the end of high school).
David Moir / Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection
He was also 30 when the third To All the Boys I've Loved Before film was released.
19. This one's a small example, but Lucy Hale was 30 when she appeared as Katy Keene on Riverdale.
The CW
When Katy Keene began airing, Katy was supposed to be in her 20s. However, remember that Katy Keene takes place five years before Katy Keene, and Katy was supposed to be about Veronica's age when they met up on Riverdale.
20. And Ashleigh Murray was 31 when she last appeared as a high school student on Riverdale.
The CW
21. And finally, we can't confirm this because Alexa Demie has never publicly revealed her age, but the Euphoria star appears to be 31 based on her yearbook.
HBO
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