# Biggest age difference between an actor and the character that they portray **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 22, 2021, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-age-difference-between-an-actor-and-the-character-that-they-portray/938399 "2021-03-22T04:46:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2021, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-age-difference-between-an-actor-and-the-character-that-they-portray/938399/1 "2021-03-22T04:46:23Z")
It’s very common for 20 somethings to play high school students but the upcoming series “Chad” has 39 year old Nasim Pedrad playing a 14 year old. Is there a case of a bigger discrepancy between an actor and their character’s age? I’m not thinking about actors wearing makeup to make them look older or anything like that. Just actors playing a character much younger than they actually are. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2021, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-age-difference-between-an-actor-and-the-character-that-they-portray/938399/2 "2021-03-22T04:50:26Z")
Barbra Streisand was meant to be a teenage girl as the title character in _Yentl_. She was 41 at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2021, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-age-difference-between-an-actor-and-the-character-that-they-portray/938399/3 "2021-03-22T04:58:09Z")
Anyone playing God. Eta (Oh, wait–much _younger_) ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2021, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-age-difference-between-an-actor-and-the-character-that-they-portray/938399/4 "2021-03-22T05:00:14Z")
I originally had a comment about smart alecks and God but deleted it. Should have known better. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2021, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-age-difference-between-an-actor-and-the-character-that-they-portray/938399/5 "2021-03-22T05:14:30Z")
Well, there goes my wisecrack about a 39-year-old Hugo Weaving playing a 6500-year-old Elrond of Rivendell. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2021, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-age-difference-between-an-actor-and-the-character-that-they-portray/938399/6 "2021-03-22T05:18:31Z")
Cool question. Hard to think of an age difference between a character and the actor portraying them that is more than 25 years. But if anyone could do it, it would probably be Sally Field. Let’s see, Field was born in 1946, and in 2012 (age 66) she played Mary Todd Lincoln in a Spielberg film, “Lincoln,” which I have not seen. But I’m going to hazard a guess that much of the role centered around the time Lincoln was in the White House, 1861 to 1865. Since Mary Todd was born in 1818, she would have been First Lady from age 43 to 47. Thus, I’m guessing it is fair to say that 66-year-old Sally Field played 43-year-old Mary Todd Lincoln - a difference of 23 years. Pretty amazing but still doesn’t beat the OP’s example. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2021, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-age-difference-between-an-actor-and-the-character-that-they-portray/938399/7 "2021-03-22T11:10:47Z")
Not quite the meaning of the OP but … Craig Charles played Dave Lister in Red Dwarf where is he supposedly the last human being alive and (due to being held in stasis) is over 3 million year old. He is of course playing a 20something Liverpudlian slob. Stephen Moore voiced the part of Marvin the Paranoid Android in HHGTTG, at one stage waiting 576,000,003,579 years for the arrival of Zaphod, Trillian, Ford and Arthur at Milliways. By the end of the books, as a result of all the time travel Marvin is several times older than the Universe. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2021, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-age-difference-between-an-actor-and-the-character-that-they-portray/938399/8 "2021-03-22T11:35:52Z")
Yeardley Smith and Nancy Cartwright. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2021, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-age-difference-between-an-actor-and-the-character-that-they-portray/938399/9 "2021-03-22T11:38:52Z")
Shirley Henderson played Moaning Myrtle - the ghost of a girl who died at 14 (and thus appeared to be 14) when she was 40. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2021, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-age-difference-between-an-actor-and-the-character-that-they-portray/938399/10 "2021-03-22T12:52:42Z")
Jimmy Cagney, then 42 years old, played George M. Cohan across the years in Yankee Doodle Dandy. In one scene he plays him as a newborn and in another as an older man toward the end of his life (Cohan lived to be 68). ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2021, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-age-difference-between-an-actor-and-the-character-that-they-portray/938399/11 "2021-03-22T13:17:47Z")
Mae West was 84 when she did _Sextette_. I can’t find a cite but IIRC her character Marlo Manners was supposed to be in her late 20s. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2021, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-age-difference-between-an-actor-and-the-character-that-they-portray/938399/12 "2021-03-22T13:21:41Z")
Christina Crawford was on **The Secret Storm** in 1968 and had to have surgery. While recuperating, her mother, Joan Crawford, stepped into her role despite being almost 40 years older than the character. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2021, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-age-difference-between-an-actor-and-the-character-that-they-portray/938399/13 "2021-03-22T14:08:36Z")
Don’t some actors playing vampires win this one easily? Better than that, I’ll go with George Burns in Oh, God! Burns was at least 80, and God was as old as time itself. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2021, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-age-difference-between-an-actor-and-the-character-that-they-portray/938399/14 "2021-03-22T14:52:46Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Well, there goes my wisecrack about a 39-year-old Hugo Weaving playing a 6500-year-old Elrond of Rivendell. Oh, pshaw. Galadriel was born in the Age of Trees while Elrond, being born at the beginning of the Second Age is a mere stripling in comparison and, in fact, married Galadriel’s daughter, Celebrian. Blanchett OTOH is about nine years younger than Weaving. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2021, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-age-difference-between-an-actor-and-the-character-that-they-portray/938399/15 "2021-03-22T15:03:35Z")
Wasn’t Luke Perry in his fifties towards the end of **90210**? 😛 Seriously though, speaking of 90210, Gabrielle Carteris was likely the previous record holder for a high school character before “Chad”, since she was still playing a 15 year old at age 29. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2021, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-age-difference-between-an-actor-and-the-character-that-they-portray/938399/16 "2021-03-22T15:09:11Z")
Just saw a thing on this yesterday (MsMojo maybe). I think the biggest discrepancy they found was from Harry Potter. The actress playing Moaning Myrtle was 36 at the time. The one I usually use is Spencer from iCarly. I don’t recall if they ever gave his age, but he was 30 when they started filming and his character was probably 20ish. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2021, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-age-difference-between-an-actor-and-the-character-that-they-portray/938399/17 "2021-03-22T15:26:21Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > the upcoming series “Chad” has 39 year old Nasim Pedrad playing a 14 year old. I don’t think they’re fooling anyone. I kept waiting for the big reveal that he’s really a middle-age woman. I mean, that could be humorous. But… are they really playing it straight, assuming no one will notice gender or age clues (like her neck)? See if you think it’s awkward… [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Yo7KxTQJtT8/maxresdefault.jpg "CHAD Trailer (2021) Nasim Pedrad, Comedy Series") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo7KxTQJtT8) ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2021, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-age-difference-between-an-actor-and-the-character-that-they-portray/938399/18 "2021-03-22T15:44:22Z")
> [@Biggest age difference between an actor and the character that they portray](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-age-difference-between-an-actor-and-the-character-that-they-portray/938399/9): > > Shirley Henderson played Moaning Myrtle - the ghost of a girl who died at 14 (and thus appeared to be 14) when she was 40. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2021, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-age-difference-between-an-actor-and-the-character-that-they-portray/938399/19 "2021-03-22T15:50:32Z")
Wet Hot American Summer had a bunch of 30-year-olds playing teenagers. Ten years later, they had the same actors come back playing _slightly younger_ versions of those same characters in Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp. It looks like the biggest difference was Ken Marino at 46, playing a 17? year old. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2021, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-age-difference-between-an-actor-and-the-character-that-they-portray/938399/20 "2021-03-22T15:52:56Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I don’t think they’re fooling anyone. I kept waiting for the big reveal that he’s really a middle-age woman. I mean, that could be humorous. But… are they really playing it straight, assuming no one will notice gender or age clues (like her neck)? Even though they’re playing it straight, it’s still meant to be a joke. She created the show, it’s not like they just decided a 39-year old woman was the best option to play a 14 year old boy. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-age-difference-between-an-actor-and-the-character-that-they-portray/938399.md?page=2)