12 Actors Who Played Characters So Well That It’s Hard to Recognize Them in Other Movies

The magic of cinema depends on elements. A substantial one is the actors’ ability to make their characters feel real to the audience. A talented actor is capable of drawing us into the story of their character. But when two characters played by the same actor do not look like each other at all, it means that those roles were well executed. Even more so when you can’t even tell it’s the same actor!

Now I’ve Seen Everything was fascinated by these transformations. Grab your popcorn and enjoy the show!

1. James McAvoy

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was released in 2015. There, McAvoy played Mr. Tumnus. If you don’t watch it closely, you can’t even tell the Scottish actor’s playing the friendly creature. On the other hand, Professor Xavier, his character in the X-Men saga, looks less foreign to us, but the strange thing here is that James actually shaved his head to play the role.

2. Freddie Highmore

That innocent little boy who finds the golden ticket in one of the Wonka chocolates is none other than a young Freddie Highmore. It was Johnny Depp who recommended Tim Burton to cast him. Depp was impressed by his role in Finding Neverland. Then, in The Good Doctor, you can see him as a grown-up and you can tell just how skilled he is.

3. Logan Lerman

The story of The Butterfly Effect, which stars Ashton Kutcher (Evan) as the protagonist, often returns to events from the character’s childhood. The actor playing a 7-year-old Evan is non other than Logan Lerman, the star of Percy Jackson, 9 years later. As you can see from the pictures above, he looks quite different. On one side we see a child and on the other, an adult.

4. Henry Thomas

Elliott, that lonely 9-year-old boy who forges a particular friendship with an alien, was played by a young Henry Thomas. Thirty-six years later, in The Haunting of Hill House, a horror series produced for Netflix, Henry played Hugh Crain, a house salesman who, together with his wife and 5 children, experiences paranormal events in a very particular mansion.

5. Christopher Lloyd

Who knew that the particular Uncle Lucas from The Addams Family — with his bald head, pale skin and dark circles under his eyes — is also Dr. Emmett Brown from Back to the Future? At first sight, it sounds crazy, but when we compare the faces, we see Christopher Lloyd’s features. Movie magic.

6. Joseph Mazzello

From running from dinosaurs to playing bass in the glorious band Queen: Joseph Mazzello played Tim Murphy in Jurassic Park and John Deacon in Bohemian Rhapsody, the story of Freddie Mercury. In real life he is an actor, screenwriter, film director and, after the quarantine of 2020, he is also a youtuber.

7. Max Thieriot

The rebellious teenager in The Pacifier, who looks like a troublemaker but is actually a lover of theater and musical comedy, was played by Max Thieriot, who was 15 years old when this film starring Vin Diesel was released. Dylan Massett, Norman’s (Freddie Highmore) half-brother in Bates Motel, is none other than Max himself.

8. Sarah Jessica Parker

Another case where makeup and acting talent did their thing. The youngest of the three Sanderson sisters, the witches of Abracadabra, is the beautiful actress Sarah Jessica Parker. Very few people would have guessed that the romantic leading lady of the famous Sex and the City series had also acted in a Disney movie.

9. Elle Fanning

In Daddy Day Care, the Disney movie starring Eddie Murphy, there are many children. Among them all, there is a very eccentric blonde girl who even calls her mother on her cell phone in a moment of chaos in the nursery. She was a little Elle Fanning, the young actress who starred in movies like Super 8 and Maleficent.

10. Andrew Lincoln

Truly Love was characterized by having a choral plot with many stars interacting with each other, thanks to its script interweaving various love stories. One of these characters is a young Andrew Lincoln, the same actor who was in charge of playing Sheriff Rick Grimes, who fights against the zombie apocalypse in The Walking Dead.

11. Lisa Edelstein

Lisa Edelstein, known for her role as Dr. Lisa Cuddy, the dean of the hospital on House M.D., had a supporting role in Daddy Day Care. She appears as the eccentric mother of Cris, one of the rebellious children in the nursery.

12. Pam Ferris

Matilda’s school principal, Trunchbull, is certainly an unforgettable character. She was played by Pam Ferris, an actress born in Germany in 1948. But she also appears in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban as Marge Dursley who’s perhaps just as evil; but Harry, like Matilda, uses magic to teach her a lesson.

Who is your favorite actress or actor? In which movies did he/she act?