These Actors Played Teenagers When They Were Certainly Not
What’s the old showbiz adage? “Never work with kids or animals?” Apparently, for some productions, that includes teenagers.
While film and TV often feature child actors in age-appropriate roles, there are numerous examples of adults in their 20s returning to high school.
Ans sure, playing younger can be funny. For example, 2001’s Wet Hot American Summer is supposed to take place at a teenage summer camp, though most of the cast was obviously in their 20s and 30s (Bradley Cooper, who made his film debut in the comedy, was 26). But in the following head-scratching cases, these older actors end up playing teens.
John Travolta (21) on Welcome Back, Kotter
Everett Collection
Welcome Back, Kotter first hit the airwaves on Sept. 9, 1975, starring Gabe Kaplan as the titular Mr. Kotter as he teaches the unruly group called The Sweathogs. The gang’s leader is Vinnie Barbarino, aka a 21-year-old John Travolta.
While it makes sense that the character, who isn’t so bright, might be held back a few grades, Travolta was well into his 20s in 1975. But, so was the rest of the gang: Robert Hegyes, aka Juan Epstein, was 24; Freddie “Boom Boom” Washington, aka Lawrence Jacobs, was 22; and Ron Palillo, the man behind Arnold Horshack, was 26!
Matthew Broderick (24) in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
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One of the most iconic teenagers of the 1980s wasn’t. Matthew Broderick, born in 1962, was 24 when Ferris Bueller’s Day Off hit the theaters in 1986. Mia Sara, who played Ferris’s girlfriend Sloane, was 19, but his best friend, Camerson Frye—aka Alan Ruck—was 30?!
P.J. Soles (29) in Rock ‘n’ Roll High School
(c) New World Pictures/ Courtesy: Everett Collection.
With the word“high school” in the name, you would think that the lead actress would be close to high school age. But P.J. Soles was almost in her 30s in the 1979 rock comedy.
Soles played Riff Randal, the biggest fan of punk rockers The Ramones, clashing with Principal Togar, played by Mary Woronov, who was only seven years older than Soles.
Michael J. Fox (24) in Back to the Future and Teen Wolf
Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection
In the ’80s, Michael J. Fox was the epitome of the all-American teenager—even though he was old enough to rent a car, buy liquor, and enjoy all the privileges of adulthood. Born in 1961, the Family Ties star spent much of his twenties playing high school kids, his youthful looks and sharp talent keeping him in teen roles well into adulthood. In 1985, the actor starred in two landmark ’80s films: Back to the Future and Teen Wolf, both of which he played an intrepid high school kid who was placed in a fairly unique situation. Even in his late 20s, when Back to the Future: Part III premiered in 1990, Fox was still convincingly portraying a teenager.
James Dean (24) in Rebel Without A Cause
Everett Collection
It’s surprising how many teen archetypes are played by people in their 20s and 30s. You can say that the 29-year-old Marlon Brando was appropriate to play Johnny Stabler, leader of the Black Rebels Motorcycle Club, in 1953’s The Wild One. Maybe the character’s older?
But in 1955’s Rebel Without A Cause, James Dean portrays Jim Stark, explicitly a teenager. But Dean, born in 1931, was 24 at the time. Likely, because we never got to see him grow old—he’d be killed in a car accident later in 1955—we always envision him as forever young.
Audrey Hepburn (32) in Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Everett Collection
When you look as ageless as Audrey Hepburn did, you can play a teenager well into your thirties. The 32-year-old Hepburn portrayed 19-year-old Holly Golightly in 1961’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Even when Hepburn died in 1993, she still retained some of Holly’s vigor.
Gabrielle Carteris (29) on Beverly Hills, 90210
© Aaron Spelling Prod. / Courtesy: Everett Collection
Perhaps the best-known example of older actors playing teens (at least in the ’90s) is Gabrielle Carteris in Beverly Hills, 90210. Carteris was 29 when she joined the cast, something she did her best to hide from the show’s producers and the public.
“I actually talked to a lawyer about how could I sign these contracts and lie about my age and still be able to do the show. ‘Is it OK?’ And, ‘Yes, it is, as long as you just say you’re over 21,’” she told Access Hollywood in 2011.
Stockard Channing (34) in Grease
© Paramount Pictures/ Courtesy: Everett Collection
Let’s be fair: everyone was too old to play high schoolers in 1978’s Grease. And while this can work if you play it as a joke, Grease played it straight. Which made it weird, considering everyone’s ages.
John Travolta was 24, Olivia Newton-John was 30, and Didi Conn (aka “Frenchy”) was 27. But Stockard Channing was 34 when she played Betty Rizzo on the big screen.
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