19 Times Actors Played Parents To Other Actors Even Though They Were Basically The Same Age

Buzz Feed

16-02-2025

There are times when you're watching a movie or TV show and you think, no way is that actor old enough to be that person's parent.
Then there are times you're just randomly lost in a Wikipedia spiral and discover that actors who do look the appropriate age are actually not much older than their onscreen children.
BuzzFeed
1. Golden Girls
NBC
Estelle Getty was 62 when she started playing 80-year-old Sophia — the mother of 54-year-old Dorothy, who was played by 63-year-old Bea Arthur. Yep, Sophia was younger than Dorothy IRL!
2. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
Universal Pictures
Cher played Ruby, the mother of Meryl Streep's character Donna — despite the fact that Cher is only three years older than Meryl in real life.
3. House of the Dragon
HBO
Olivia Cooke is just 31 and already playing a grandmother — and her onscreen children are not much younger than her. Aegon II actor Tom Glynn Carney is 30, Aemond actor Ewan Mitchell is 27, and Halaena actor Phia Saban is 26.
4. Boyz n the Hood
Columbia Pictures
Lauren Fishburne is only seven years old than Cuba Gooding Jr. but played his father in Boyz n the Hood.
5. Alexander
Warner Bors
Angelina Jolie was 29 — just one year old than her onscreen son in Alexander, 28-year-old Colin Farrell.
6. Riding in Cars with Boys
Columbia TriStar
Drew Barrymore was 26 when she played Beverly from the ages of 15 to 35, while Adam Garcia played her son, Jason, at age 20 — when he was older than Drew himself, at 28 years old.
7. The Nanny
CBS
Ann Morgan Guilbert played Yetta on The Nanny, although she was only five years older than her onscreen daughter, Renee Taylor, who played Sylvia.
8. Bye Bye Birdie
Columbia Pictures
Maureen Stapleton played Dick Van Dyke's mother in Bye Bye Birdie — even though she was only six months older than him.
9. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
United Artists
Dick Van Dyke was a repeat offender — Lionel Jeffries was one year younger than him, but played his father "Grandpa" Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
10. Orange is the New Black
Netflix
Although Aleida was only 14 years older than her daughter Daya, in real life the actor who plays her, Elizabeth Rodriguez, is actually only two years older than Dascha Polanco.
11. True Blood
HBO
Adina Porter played Lettie Mae, Tara's mother, and she is only seven years older than Rutina Wesley, who played Tara.
12. Gone With the Wind
MGM
Barbara O'Neill played Ellen, the mother of Vivien Leigh's Scarlett O'Hara, despite only being three years older than her.
13. Selena
The real-life age gap is only four years between Constance Marie and Jennifer Lopez but they played mother and daughter in Selena.
14. Schitt's Creek
CBC
It's no wonder Alexis believed Jocelyn and Mutt were having an affair — they turn out to be mother and son, but the actors who play them, Jennifer Robertson and Tim Rozon, are only five years apart in real life.
15. Jane the Virgin
The CW
While Xo did have Jane as a teen, the actors who play the mother/daughter duo, Andrea Navedo and Gina Rodriguez, are only seven years apart.
17. Mean Girls
Paramount Pictures
Rachel McAdams was 26 when she played 17-year-old Regina George, while Amy Poehler was just seven years older, playing her mom at 33.
18. The Fresh Prince of Bel Air
NBC
Janet Hubert is only 10 years older than Karyn Parsons and they played mother and daughter as Aunt Viv and Hilary Banks.
19. Brokeback Mountain
Focus Features
Brokeback Mountain takes place over a 20-year period, and Heath Ledger in aged-up makeup still looks too young to play Kate Mara's father — offscreen, he was only four years older than her.