20 Actors Who Looked Exactly Like the People They Were Portraying

Let’s say you want to shoot a biopic about a famous historical person, what would be your process of casting the main actor(s)? Do you go just by their looks, or do you take into account their experience and skills? As the director, you’d have to thread carefully between those two options. However, sometimes adding just a touch of makeup can change a person from “Eh, I guess he looks like Freddy Mercury” to “Holy heavens, that’s Freddy!”

In Hollywood, biopics are considered to be the most difficult films to make, while also being the most rewarding, especially when done correctly. The main difficulty of making a successful biopic, aside from casting a perfect actor, is probably telling a coherent and engaging story. Thankfully, all those famous people usually have multiple books written about them, so it makes things easier. Anyway, here are 20 actors who looked exactly like the people they were portraying. I’m telling you, these pairings are uncanny!

Val Kilmer / Jim Morrison

Margot Robbie / Tonya Harding

Robert Downey Jr./ Charlie Chaplin

Antonio Banderas / Pablo Picasso

Wood Harris / Jimi Hendrix

Emma Stone and Steve Carrell / Jean King and Bobby Riggs

Jim Carrey / Andy Kaufman

Rami Malek / Freddie Mercury

Rene Zellweger / Judy Garland

Chadwick Boseman / James Brown

James Franco / James Dean

Natalie Portman / Jackie Kennedy

Michelle Williams / Marilyn Monroe

Jamie Foxx / Ray Charles

Ashton Kutcher / Steve Jobs

Gary Oldman / Sid Vicious

Jennifer Lopez / Selena

Naomi Watts / Princess Diana

Denzel Washington / Malcolm X

Cate Blanchette / Bob Dylan