This Is How These 30 Well-Known People Of World History Looked In Real Life Compared To Their Movie Portrayals
You might have hated history lessons at school, but I am sure you have enjoyed at least one historical film in your life, if not more. Of course, a lot here depends on Hollywood (and other film industries) creating a compelling story that attracts your attention — but also, we really love seeing historical figures up close in situations that our textbooks never described.
A big part of making a film on real-life events and real people is casting. Good acting is important, but the actors also have to resemble the person they are portraying to a certain degree. Because often the audience won’t notice the historical inconsistencies, but they will most likely criticize the looks of actors in movies that tell the story of one well-known person or another.
Throughout the years of its existence, the film industry has handled quite a number of famous events in history, depicting each of them from the director’s perspective. But it is equally interested in big events in the lives of people of art, science, sports, or public figures. For actors, portraying a real person can be more challenging than a fictional character because you can’t build them solely on your vision, but have to do quite a lot of research. However, it can also be a very rewarding experience.
For this article, we collected some of the best examples of actors playing famous people. In your opinion, who did the best job? Do you have another favorite actor playing a historical figure that didn’t make it to this list? Share with us in the comments!
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Morgan Freeman As Nelson Mandela In "Invictus"
They look so much alike that Mr. Freeman's image was accidentally used on a sign in India honoring Mr. Mandela.
Jamie Foxx As Ray Charles In "Ray"
Robert Downey Jr. As Charlie Chaplin In "Chaplin"
Stephen Fry As Oscar Wilde In "Wilde"
A witty intellect playing a witty intellect - Stephen Fry was born to play this role.
Eddie Redmayne And Felicity Jones As Stephen Hawking With His Wife Jane Wilde In "The Theory Of Everything"
Ben Kingsley As Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi In "Gandhi"
Denzel Washington As Malcolm X In "Malcolm X"
This was a fantastic movie. It should be required viewing in history classes
Charlize Theron As Aileen Wuornos In "Monster"
Daniel Day-Lewis As Abraham Lincoln In "Lincoln"
Rami Malek As Freddie Mercury In "Bohemian Rhapsody"
Val Kilmer As Jim Morrison In "The Doors"
Tom Hanks As Mister Rogers In "A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood"
After the movie was released he learned they were actually related!
Meryl Streep As Julia Child In "Julie And Julia"
Gary Oldman As Ludwig Van Beethoven In "Immortal Beloved"
When I see a picture of Gary Oldman I always have to think of Mr. Zorg
Meryl Streep As Margaret Thatcher In "The Iron Lady"
Salma Hayek As Frida In "Frida"
Joaquin Phoenix As Johnny Cash In "Walk The Line"
Cate Blanchett As Queen Elizabeth I In "Elizabeth"
André 3000 As Jimi Hendrix In "Jimi: All Is By My Side"
Helen Mirren As Queen Elizabeth II In "The Queen"
Philip Seymour Hoffman As Truman Capote In "Capote"
Evan Peters As Jeffrey Dahmer In "Dahmer"
Angela Bassett As Tina Turner In "What's Love Got To Do With It"
Adrien Brody As Salvador Dalí In "Midnight In Paris"
Chadwick Boseman As Jackie Robinson In "42"
Hilary Swank As Amelia Earhart In "Amelia"
Bruno Ganz As Adolf Hitler In "Downfall"
Jason Scott Lee As Bruce Lee In "Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story"
His martial arts talent is genius! Bruce was awesome. Check out Gordon Liu also!
Tom Hanks As Captain Chesley Sullenberger In "Sully"
Cate Blanchett As Bob Dylan In "I'm Not There"
Interesting. I just learned there were six actors who played Bob Dylan in this movie, so each actor represented, or showed a different part of his personality.
Kirk Douglas As Vincent Van Gogh In "Lust For Life"
Cameron Britton As Ed Kemper In "Mindhunter"
Shipp Jr. As Tupac Shakur In "All Eyez On Me"
Taron Egerton As Elton John In "Rocketman"
Jennifer Lopez As Selena Quintanilla-Pérez In "Selena"
Bill Hader As Andy Warhol In "Men In Black 3"
Eli Goree As Muhammad Ali In "One Night In Miami"
John Goodman As Babe Ruth In "The Babe"
Nicole Kidman As Virginia Woolf In "The Hours"
A truly spectacular performance. One of her best, probably, and she's had loads of excellent ones.
James Franco As James Dean In "James Dean"
Albert Finney As Winston Churchill In "The Gathering Storm"
John Lithgow did an excellent job of playing Churchill in The Crown.
Chadwick Boseman As James Brown In "Get On Up"
Kristen Stewart As Joan Jett In "The Runaways"
Colin Firth As King George Vi In "The King's Speech"
I can’t see any similarities between their facial features- he’s a good actor but this doesn’t really fit
Ana De Armas As Marilyn Monroe In "Blonde"
Margot Robbie As Sharon Tate In "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood"
Susan Sarandon As Bette Davis In "Feud"
Jeff Daniels As Joshua Chamberlain In "Gettysburg"
Christian Bale As Dick Cheney In "Vice"
Anthony Hopkins As Pope Benedict XVI In "The Two Popes"
Hailee Steinfeld As Emily Dickinson In "Dickinson"
I feel like the actress that played Sue in the same show looked a lot more like the real Emily Dickinson
Uzo Aduba As Shirley Chisholm In "Mrs. America"
Marion Cotillard As Édith Piaf In "La Vie En Rose"
Michael Douglas As Liberace In "Behind The Candelabra"
Benicio Del Toro As Ernesto "Che" Guevara In "Che"
Emile Hirsch As Christopher Mccandless In "Into The Wild"
Johnny Depp As Hunter S. Thompson In "Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas"
Ralph Fiennes As Charles Dickens In "The Invisible Woman"
Anthony Hopkins As Alfred Hitchcock In "Hitchcock"
Naw, no one can do what Alfred Hitchcock could do. He was so great at what he did.
Ashton Kutcher As Steve Jobs In "Jobs"
Geoffrey Rush As Peter Sellers In "The Life And Death Of Peter Sellers"
Such a good movie. Geoffrey Rush did a wonderful job playing a difficult role. Peter Sellers was a force to be reckoned with.
Halle Berry As Dorothy Dandridge In "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge"
Sterling K. Brown As Christopher Darden In "American Crime Story"
And some of them, while also pretty spot on, need the up votes because they're just beautiful people in general 🥰
Nicole Kidman As Grace Kelly In "Grace Of Monaco"
Yasiin Bey As Chuck Berry In "Cadillac Records"
Josh Brolin As George W. Bush In "W."
Nicholas Hoult As J.R.R. Tolkien In "Tolkien"
Lily James As Pamela Anderson In "Pam & Tommy"
Scarlett Johansson As Janet Leigh In "Hitchcock"
Courtney B. Vance As Johnnie Cochran In "American Crime Story"
Daniel Brühl As Niki Lauda In "Rush"
Jessica Lange As Joan Crawford In "Feud: Bette And Joan"
Natalie Portman As Jackie Kennedy In "Jackie"
Leonardo Dicaprio As Tycoon Howard Hughes In "The Aviator"
Taylor Kitsch As David Koresh In "Waco"
Austin Butler As Elvis Presley In "Elvis"
Jesse Eisenberg As Mark Zuckerberg In "The Social Network"
Renée Zellweger As Judy Garland In "Judy"
Zach Villa As Richard Ramirez In "American Horror Story: 1984"
Viola Davis Looks Like As Michelle Obama In "The First Lady"
Javier Bardem As Desi Arnaz In "Being The Ricardos"
He may not have nailed the looks but he sure nailed Desi's personality.
Martin Sheen As John F. Kennedy In "Kennedy"
I never knew he played JFK. I need to see how well he pulled off the New England accent.
Kristen Stewart As Princess Diana In "Spencer"
Aaron Taylor-Johnson As John Lennon In "Nowhere Boy"
Naomi Watts As Princess Diana In "Diana"
I don't think anyone can come close to Princess Diana. She was truly a class apart
Cuba Gooding Jr. As O.J. Simpson In "American Crime Story"
Zoe Saldana As Nina Simone In "Nina"
Nicole Kidman As Lucille Ball In "Being The Ricardos"
Each image has a "Buy Now" link that sends you to the Amazon page where you can order that movie.
John Belushi always looked close to Joliet Jake. Should have made a movie about him and Elwood.
No, not. It would´nt be a success. Who´ll ever want to watch it? And what would they call it? Like "Blues brothers" or somethin´ else lousy
Load More Replies... We're in another century now. Digital deepfakes will replace all look-alikes. Yow.
Maybe. But you can't f**k a deep-fake so why will people be interested?
Load More Replies...
BP cut down the list as usual. But you still can see all entries if you click on the full list below the last entry.
Load More Replies...
I think Jessica Chastain nailed Tammy Faye Bakker. She deserved the Oscar
It's a shame that Ezra Miller is persona non grata in Hollywood now, he'd be spot on to play Buster Keaton in a biopic.
There’s also a movie called I wanna dance with somebody, it’s about Whitney Houston, and the actress who acts as her looks so similar, like almost identical (I haven’t watched it yet tho)
Each image has a "Buy Now" link that sends you to the Amazon page where you can order that movie.
John Belushi always looked close to Joliet Jake. Should have made a movie about him and Elwood.
No, not. It would´nt be a success. Who´ll ever want to watch it? And what would they call it? Like "Blues brothers" or somethin´ else lousy
Load More Replies... We're in another century now. Digital deepfakes will replace all look-alikes. Yow.
Maybe. But you can't f**k a deep-fake so why will people be interested?
Load More Replies... BP cut down the list as usual. But you still can see all entries if you click on the full list below the last entry.
Load More Replies... I think Jessica Chastain nailed Tammy Faye Bakker. She deserved the Oscar
It's a shame that Ezra Miller is persona non grata in Hollywood now, he'd be spot on to play Buster Keaton in a biopic.
There’s also a movie called I wanna dance with somebody, it’s about Whitney Houston, and the actress who acts as her looks so similar, like almost identical (I haven’t watched it yet tho)
