Best Cast Younger Versions Of TV & Movie Characters
Recently, I asked the BuzzFeed Community which actors were the best-cast younger versions of a character. Here are 28 of their top responses:
"Violet McGraw as Yelena Belova in Black Widow and Thunderbolts."
—Anonymous
"Lindsey Gort as Samantha (Kim Cattrall) on The Carrie Diaries. She looked so much like SATC Samantha and had the Samantha vibe for sure; it was uncanny. I did a double-take in the first couple of episodes of The Carrie Diaries."
—Anonymous, 45, Oregon
"Azriel Dalman in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians TV show! If you told me that Walker Scobell and he were siblings, I'd believe it!"
—rainbowqueen13
"Kyra Adler and Sydney Sweeney as Cassie from Euphoria."
—Anonymous, 18, Nice, France
"I thought Tom Blyth did an amazing job as the younger President Snow in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. He certainly looked the part, but more importantly, he'd clearly studied how Donald Sutherland played the part before him in intricate detail, as he got his mannerisms, voice, and even the tiniest glances and inflections spot on. It wasn't a carbon copy of his performance, but a realistic portrayal of someone who still has many things to experience and a lot of life to live through before becoming the older version of themself. I'm really interested to see how Ralph Fiennes will play the middle-aged version of the character in Sunrise on the Reaping."
—Anonymous, 41, UK
"It's obviously Jaidan Jiron as young Cece (Hannah Simone) in New Girl."
—Anonymous, 33, Washington
"Jack Dylan Grazer as a young Timothée Chalamet in Beautiful Boy."
—Anonymous, 18, New Jersey
"In A League of Their Own, Geena Davis's older version of her [Lynn Cartwright] was so close that I thought it was Geena just made up older!"
—sharpjester79
"Older and younger Kaz Brekker (Fflyn Edwards and Freddy Carter) in Shadow and Bone."
—Anonymous, 28, Tennessee
"Mythic Quest Season 3, Episode 7 — Isla Rose Hall plays a young version of Poppy Li (played by Charlotte Nicdao). The physical appearance is good, but it is the acting that nails it. The mannerisms and voice patterns convince you that you have gone back in time to see Charlotte Nicadao as a child."
—radmagazine667
"Michael Fassbender as Magneto [a role Patrick Stewart originated in X-Men] was pretty much peak in X-Men: First Class."
—sonictiger
"McKenna Grace and Kate Siegel in The Haunting Of Hill House was PERFECT."
—misaamaneyagami
"McKenna Grace as Caroline Forbes (Candice King) from The Vampire Diaries."
—Anonymous, 15, Portugal
The three Righteous Gemstones kids, especially J. Given Wilde as young Danny McBride. He has his cadence and mannerisms absolutely nailed."
—barbiesdreamhouse
"Snow White in Once Upon a Time. Bailee Madison was the perfect casting for the young Snow White. She looks just like a younger version of Ginnifer Goodwin."
—Anonymous, 41, Michigan
"Viola Prettejohn as young Queen Elizabeth (Claire Foy) in The Crown. They look so alike that I genuinely thought they used CGI to de-age her, and my mind was blown when I found out it was actually a completely different person."
—Anonymous, 39, Massachusetts
"Sheldon from Young Sheldon [Iain Armitage] and Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory [Jim Parsons]. They never fail to deliver a good laugh."
—crispyeggplant465
"Melanie Lynskey and Sophie Nélisse from Yellowjackets! But you could say that for the whole cast — the casting director ATE!!!!!"
—Anonymous, 23, Canada
"Colin Ford as a young Sam Winchester (Jared Padalecki) in Supernatural always gave me chills."
—Anonymous
"Harrison Ford in The Age of Adaline. Anthony Ingruber absolutely nailed the voice. If you closed your eyes, I'm not sure if you'd know the difference!"
—buttercupbailey
"On Orange is the New Black, a lot of their casting is pretty spot-on for past iterations of the characters, but Barb and Carol Denning were so accurate, it was spooky. I had to look it up to see if they were actually related to their grown counterparts!"
—Anonymous, 34 Boston, MA
"The younger version of Ray Liotta in Goodfellas (Christopher Serrone), I always thought was a good shout."
—barbiesdreamhouse
"Taylor Henderson as young Winifred Sanderson (Bette Midler) in Hocus Pocus 2."
—Anonymous, 48 GA
"Tiffany Boone and AnnaSophia Robb in Little Fires Everywhere. They were the perfect casting for Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon. Especially Tiffany Boone; she had Kerry's personality and mannerisms down to a T."
—Anonymous, 29, Houston, TX
"Josh Brolin as young(er) Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) in Men in Black III."
—luckycat32
"Ben Savage as a younger Gideon on Criminal Minds. He and Mandy Patinkin could be related."
—Anonymous
"Walker Scobell as the young version of Ryan Reynolds's character Adam Reed in The Adam Project. He characterized him so perfectly, and the two actors are so alike in real life too — just watch Walker's Kraft Mac and Cheese commercial."
—Anonymous
And finally: "The casting of Now & Then was amazing! I feel like the legendary actors they used as the women when they were grown (Melanie Griffith, Demi Moore, Rita Wilson, and Rosie O'Donnell) did such great jobs embodying their younger selves' characters as adults. Their appearances, mannerisms, and personalities were all perfectly matched. The child actors (Thora Birch, Gaby Hoffman, Ashley Aston Moore, and Christina Ricci) were, and are, incredible actresses in their own right. All around, it was such an amazing movie because of the excellent casting."
—awfulhouse65
Which other casting choices would you add to this list? Let us know in the comments!
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