
Best Cast Younger Versions Of TV & Movie Characters
"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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Buzz Feed
3 hours ago
- Buzz Feed
16 Forms Of Microsexism That Women Deal With Every Day
There are so many aspects that make being a woman hard, and that includes having to deal with sexism, whether on a big or small scale. Recently, we asked women from the BuzzFeed Community to share the acts of sexism they encounter daily, and it'll be almost impossible to get through all of them without getting angry: "Being asked if I'm pregnant just because my stomach is more round. Women can have stress bellies and beer bellies just like men. Personally, I have PCOS, which causes hormonal imbalance. I got asked if I was pregnant four to five times in my two years of working retail. Needless to say, I hate retail." —misaamaneyagami "Multiple times, I've had an idea or solution to a problem that I've shared with a man, only for them to brush me off. But when another man (or their mom) says the same exact thing I did, it's suddenly the best idea ever." "When men ask you what you do for a living, only to follow up with questions like they're trying to quiz you. It's a way of belittling someone. I'll never understand it; I love asking questions to learn more about a new topic, but I'd never ask in a way that implies you don't deserve your job title." "I'm a camp counselor at a music camp for kids ages 7–11. I work in the office, so while I don't directly teach music, I handle administrative work, supervise the kids when they're not in class, and run sign-in and sign-out. The two things I've noticed: first, some parents (especially the male ones) are much more dismissive toward me than my male peers. They speak down to me, roll their eyes, and act like I have no authority, even though I have the highest level of responsibility out of all the counselors my age. Second, despite being in the musical group for eight years, some of the campers still assume I can't play as well as the boys — even those who've been playing for far less time. It's frustrating and discouraging, but I love being a counselor, I love this group, and I love the people. I'll be doing it forever." "I work in a male-dominated department. My specific office has about 20 people, five of whom are women. Two women work from home, so there are only three women present, including me, on a daily basis. Once, when the three of us women were speaking, one of our male coworkers walked into the room and asked, 'Is this a coven?' Another time, I was carrying a large package that was heavy but manageable. One coworker asked if I needed help carrying it, and I said that I had it. He looked at me in disbelief and said he KNEW it was heavy, implying that I was lying about being able to carry it." —Kylie, 23, California "Every spring or so, my male boss would ask only the women in the department to schedule a clean-up day, organize it, and make sure they got the other workers (85% men) to adhere to the schedule and clean up the office and workstations. He did this for how many years in a row, where only the women would be in charge of these days." "One time, during my career, I had a male manager who wanted to put me on a performance plan with 30+ things I'd done wrong in just two months. One of the things he'd pointed out the most was that I was 'too aggressive.' Oh, please. I quit that day!" "While working on a project for our email campaigns, I was collaborating with two other women in an open workspace. We had printed and taped up dozens of emails on the wall to review and discuss them more easily. As we were working, a man walked by and said, 'Ooh, what are y'all talking about? Makeup?' None of us said anything, and he just scurried away." "I'm a private music teacher who works at a K-6 school. Sometimes I've gotten negative feedback for not being 'warm' or 'maternal' enough with the kids, even though I discourage a positive, growth-driven environment and healthy boundaries. Similarly, when I was an administrative assistant, I got told I was 'curt' when on the phone. Again, while doing my basic responsibilities. If women don't adopt warm, gushy personas, we're perceived as cold and rude. Ugh." —Anonymous "When you say you're into sports, cars, or something else 'for the guys,' and they quiz you about it." "I hate that whenever I get angry, people ask if I'm on my period." "My mother-in-law thinks that women only have value when they have children. Mind you, I don't want any." "I'm a female physician. 98% of the time, if I'm in scrubs outside of the hospital, people assume I'm a nurse. Even in the hospital, patients call me nurse multiple times a day, despite introducing myself as the doctor and having a badge that indicates me as such. It's incredibly frustrating. Don't get me wrong, I love my nurses and know they are incredibly important, but I'm a physician and would like to be referred to by my title. It stinks that people (both men and women) see a woman in scrubs and rarely think 'doctor.'" —SG, 28, Alabama "My ex-boss decided to make my chest (and the size of it) a public conversation in the middle of the office. Joke's on him, because he got fired, and I took his job." "I regularly get asked what I spend all my time doing when I don't have children to take care of (or told how I must get bored with all the 'free time' I have). My husband is never asked this. As if a woman's only hobbies should involve entertaining their kids." Lastly: "When my kids are sick, the school calls me and only me. They don't even bother trying to call my husband, even though they have both of our phone numbers. It's me who's expected to drop everything I'm doing, even though I have to commute to a whole other city for work once a month and my husband doesn't." *Sigh.* If you're a woman, what are some everyday forms of sexism that you encounter? Let us know in the comments, or you can anonymously submit your story using the form below.

USA Today
3 hours ago
- USA Today
Dunkin's new ad about a celeb's 'genetics' draws comparisons to Sydney Sweeney
It's becoming the summer of dunkin' on brands. Social media users are scrutinizing a new social media ad Dunkin', starring "The Summer I Turned Pretty" leading man Gavin Casalegno, with people honing in on the actor mentioning his "genetics" while hawking the company's new drink. "Look, I didn't ask to be the king of summer. It just kinda happened," the 25-year-old says in the video shared July 29. "This tan? Genetics. I just got my color analysis back. Guess what? Golden summer. Literally. "I can't help it; every time I drink a Dunkin' Golden Hour Refresher, it's like the sun just finds me," he continues. "So if sipping these refreshers makes me the king of summer? Guilty as charged." USA TODAY has reached out to representatives for Dunkin' and Casalegno for comment. The messaging has divided social media, with some doubling down on their support of the coffee chain while others are drawing parallels to American Eagle's "genes" campaign starring Sydney Sweeney. Meanwhile, a few people are left confused by the ad's script, with one Reddit user writing: "Not a single part of this ad makes sense? It's literally just word salad." One TikTok commenter wrote: "Genuinely what does a drink have to do with genetics???" 'Why are ads so obsessed with genetics all of a sudden?' The promotion of Dunkin's newest offering arrives on the heels of American Eagle's July 23 launch of its new campaign with "Euphoria" star Sweeney, which includes a pair of pants – called "The Sydney Jean" – that raises money for the Crisis Text Line. In one of the promotional videos, Sweeney playfully interchanges the homophones of "jeans" and "genes," with the campaign's messaging indicating that the blonde-haired, blue-eyed actress from Washington has both "great" jeans and genes. Critics of the slogan have said it evokes the discredited philosophies of eugenics and glorifies whiteness. The top-voted comment under Dunkin's TikTok post with Casalegno reads: "Why are ads so obsessed with genetics all of a sudden." Some of the other top-rated messages also posit rhetorical questions of the same nature. "The genetics talk is so damn weird. Sincerely, a white guy," one Instagram comment reads, while another says, "Weird time to drop an ad talking about genetics." People celebrate 'non-woke' messaging There's also a contingent of people who are on board with the coffee that "America runs on." "Guess I'll have to stop by Dunkin and get a drink on my way to go buy a pair of American Eagle jeans! Loving all of this non-woke" messaging," an Instagram commenter writes. Another user seemingly celebrated the release of an ad that reflects similar themes to Sweeney's amid American Eagle's controversy: "I love it! The libs are losing their weak minds." These comments echo the views of President Donald Trump's administration, which chimed in on the discourse when White House Communications Director Steven Cheung, on July 29, wrote on X that "This warped, moronic and dense liberal thinking is a big reason why Americans voted the way they did in 2024." Marcus Collins, clinical assistant professor of marketing at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, previously told USA TODAY that in the case of some brand launches, the scrutiny may be the point. In 2025, the language comes amid a zeitgeist defined by major brands rolling back diversity and inclusive initiatives, according to Collins. "This feels pretty on brand for (companies) these days," Collins said. Contributing: Nicole Fallert, USA TODAY
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Beyoncé's Levi's jeans ad pulled into Sydney Sweeney backlash
A Beyoncé ad for Levi's jeans is being compared to Sydney Sweeney's controversial American Eagle campaign, but other social media users argue the two are far from similar. "Euphoria" star Sweeney is facing backlash as the face of American Eagle's newest campaign. The denim ad and its tagline 'Sydney Sweeney has great jeans' drew sharp criticism online with some users accusing the brand of promoting eugenics. In a campaign video, Sweeney lies in a full denim ensemble as she leans into wordplay: "Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color. My jeans are blue." The camera then shows Sweeney's blue eyes before a message reads, "Sydney Sweeney has great jeans." The criticism wasn't about the denim itself, but the language used. Social media users argued the phrase 'great genes' paired with a blond-haired, blue-eyed star echoed eugenic ideas — the discredited belief in improving humanity through selective breeding. Some also argued it contributed to the glorification of whiteness. Eventually, Beyoncé's recent Levi's campaign, where she poses in a similar position in a denim-on-demin outfit with blond hair, was dragged into the discourse. One user wrote, "So Beyoncé can pose in Levi jeans and it's art… But when a white woman does it, it's a national crisis?" as she shared a photo of the two ads side-by-side. However, many were quick to point out the differences between the two. Another said, "Just going to leave this pic form Beyoncé Levi's campaign right here for those saying Sydney Sweeney with her blond hair/denim/sultry look is racist..." A user responded, "No one said that, what was said though was that the ad's inference that blonde hair and blue eyes are superior." The Grammy-winning singer announced her collaboration with Levi's last fall. She has since released multiple campaigns with the denim powerhouse. But she has never alluded to genes or genetics, focusing solely on the quality and design of the jeans themselves. One social media user, @dukepege, takes this notion a step deeper: "At what point will it be fully understood that proclaiming or implying 'my genes (jeans) are better' is frightening to any race who's ancestors for long generations have had to suffer at the hands of the very same race of people with the same kind of thinking — that their genes are superior?" He added, "No, such statements are not benign; they are echoes of a violent and dehumanizing history and the fact that you involve Beyoncé explains very well how you're still unable to comprehend what's being felt." The conversation comes after Beyoncé was baselessly pulled into another controversy when President Donald Trump accused her of being paid $11 million to endorse Kamala Harris' presidential bid — a payment the the Federal Election Commission has no record of. The Grammy-winning singer concluded her Cowboy Carter and the Rodeo Chitlin' Circuit Tour in Las Vegas on July 26. The 32-stop stadium tour became the highest grossing country tour, earning over $400 million. Follow Caché McClay, the USA TODAY Network's Beyoncé Knowles-Carter reporter, on Instagram, TikTok and X as @cachemcclay. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Beyoncé's Levi's jeans ad pulled into Sydney Sweeney backlash