Perfectly understandable
When I first watched Game of Thrones, I thought that Jamie Lannister’s character was played by the actor that played Sawyer in Lost. I also thought that Marjorie Tyrell was played by Allison Hannigan of American Pie and How I Met Your Mother.
I still think that Agent Phil Coulson from the Marvel movies and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was played by Tom Papa, but they keep saying it’s actually Clark Gregg.
My wife and I were watching some TV courtroom drama when she looked at the judge and said, “Isn’t that Ossie Davis?”
I replied, “If it is, he looks great for his age!” Then I looked up Ossie Davis on my phone, and added, “Well, he looks even better for his age than I thought, because he died 15 years ago!”
It turns out that the guy playing the judge was character actor Richard Gant. According to his filmography, he often plays judges and cops.
I meant to mention earlier that I only saw him one time. Perhaps you saw the film “Heathers” as I did and thought, ‘What, is Christian Slater doing his Jack Nicholson impression?’
As I recall, my “Leave It” episode reaction was like “That kid looks familiar,” and then you hear the cadence of the voice and whoa! I can’t find it on video, though.
Some of the comparisons are time sensitive. Like Maureen McCormick and Christine Taylor.
In the future, people may confuse the lead in “Upload” (Robbie Amell) with Tom Cruise. There are certain expressions, angles, etc. when you may think they’re the same person (I’m really looking forward to Season 2 starting at the end of the week).
Ah, the miracle of makeup!
On a related note, over a year ago I started a disambiguation list of people (actors/celebrities) I found confusing–usually, because of their facial appearance (ie, lookalikes and “look-similars”) – but sometimes, because of their similar names (eg, William Hurt, John Hurt, and John Heard, who do not look alike).
I started this as a Word file, typing in the people’s names on a line, and pasting in little photos of their faces underneath. I only expected to have a small list of a page or two…but surprisingly, the list kept growing and growing (especially because I had nothing better to do during the pandemic).
One of the things I learned is: photographs lie. They take the human face and squash it flat, distorting it depending on the particular lighting and angle of the moment. They also capture weird expressions that only last for a fraction of a second, and make them appear permanent. Here’s an example. Someone earlier in this thread had mentioned Hugo Weaving…here he is making an atypical (for him) facial expression, which suddenly makes him look like a young, clean-shaven Rip Torn:
ETA: perhaps that expression is not so atypical for Hugo Weaving…just found another one of him making a similar face (albeit older, and with a beard). Maybe photos don’t lie, and he actually looks more like Rip Torn than I’d originally thought?
ETA: OK, I just looked at some more Rip Torn photos, and here’s the thing–it depends which photo(s) you select. That’s where the inaccuracy sets in. The same two people can range from looking like identical twins…to non-identical siblings…to unrelated individuals, depending on which two photos you’re comparing.
Your reply to mine reminds me of the movie Death Becomes Her. 
Years ago some sibs and I scanned a bunch of old photos (2000+) and the thing I learned was that if the expression or lighting is just so, each of us looks like every other one of us. Does that mean mom never slept with the milkman or is there something perceptual going on there, confirming on what’s similar while discarding what’s different?
I’m trying to remember that movie…I definitely remember the trailers but don’t know if I ever saw it.
I (used to) shoot a lot of photos and I used Google Picasa to edit them. There’s a face detection feature I didn’t know about. If I identify Mrs. L in a photo, it will start asking me about other photos, whether this is her etc. I’m guessing they measure the space between your eyes etc. This may interest you:
I honestly thought your next word there would be “always”.
Well played!
I think part of it is in the photograph itself (lighting, angle, etc.) and the rest of it is in our brains. For example, pareidolia is the phenomenon that cause us to “see” faces in the patterns of objects such as burl wood, or in rocks on the surface of Mars. Maybe family members more often recognize faces as possessing their own their familial traits? I don’t know.
About that Facebook thing: that’s super creepy!
We would expect to see familial traits and in my small (7,000 pop) home town, people often guessed my last name because I reminded them of a sib. But it’s interesting to see what AI brings up as a match.
If you want to dig deeper into it, have you seen this?
Nope, haven’t seen it. But it looks interesting, thanks!
Whenever I see Tanner Pearson, I always think (and accordingly call him) Paul Lemat.
But only when his helmet’s on - mainly that Lemat-like glare, I spose.
I was positive it was Johnny Depp and couldn’t figure out why he’s uncredited 
Just like I couldn’t understand why Bryan Cranston’s appearance in Legally Blonde is never mentioned (the actor’s name is Kyle O’Boyle).
Elizabeth Banks does resemble Rachel McAdams but I was really confused when I couldn’t determine if the woman playing Sal on Modern Family was EB or Chelsea Handler.
Very similar.
And not only do they look similar, but the character of Sal is so bawdy and, well, Chelsea like. I’d finally convince myself it’s EB, based on her appearance, and then Sal would say something outrageous and I’d be undecided again.
The major difference? Chelsea has squinty eyes.
Colin Hanks does.
Colin Hanks celebrates dad Tom Hanks’ birthday with another photo of Michael Keaton
Recently I started watching Good Girls. At first I thought Manny Montana might be Michael Mando from Better Call Saul. While the face is different the hair (including facial hair) is basically the same. And there are similarities in the character and even the name.
Michael Mando was Vic the Dick on Orphan Black, too. He looked just like himself!