Movies and TV shows with teens at the center are incredibly popular. However, despite being focused on teenagers, those playing them are often much older. By ageing up their cast, productions skirt the strict time constraints under which actual teen actors can work. Sometimes the casting is seamless and the viewer can hardly tell. At other times, it is very obvious that the actor is further along their journey into adulthood. With some of the discrepancies between ages so shocking, here is a list of exactly how old some ‘teen’ actors were when they played their popular characters.
Meredith Monroe – 28 years old
Meredith Monroe joined Dawson’s Creek during the second season when she was 28 By that point the teen drama was already a ratings winner and after falling in love with the core quartet of Dawson, Joey, Pacey, and Jen, all eyes were on the newcomers. Monroe’s Andi McPhee was a tricky character to pin down.
Andi was a very angsty teenager. She was a serious student, and had an overly bubbly personality. Fans warmed to her when Andi began a romance with Pacey. Their relationship came under threat however, when Pacey’s former flame and teacher, Tamara, came back to town and later Andi was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Rachel McAdams – 26 years old
Whilst Lindsay Lohan was the teen icon that drew audiences to watch Mean Girls, it was Rachel McAdams’ performance that stole the show. Her role as the wicked queen bee of high-school helped propel McAdams into the big leagues, leading her to have the most successful post Mean Girls career of everyone.
As Regina George, McAdams was meant to be playing a junior high-schooler, aged around 16. In reality, McAdams was already a decade older, at 26. The news often comes as a shock as many assume that she was around the same age as Lohan, who was 18 at the time
Stockard Channing – 33 years old
Grease, released in 1978, was one of the pioneers of casting adults in teenage roles. Almost everyone in the film playing a teenager is far older than their characters. The oldest of these is Stockard Channing who played Betty Rizzo.
Rizzo is the effortlessly cool leader of the Pink Ladies, and frenemy of the shy Sandy. A senior in high-school, Rizzo is eighteen years old, but at the time of filming Channing was 33, making her almost double her on-screen character’s age.
Gabrielle Carteris – 29 years old
Tuning in each week to watch the scandalous lives of the young and beautiful in Beverly Hills 90210 was a mandatory event for teenagers. However, whilst the characters on the show were meant to be the audience’s peers, in reality the cast were far from teens.
Although both Tori Spelling and Brian Austin Green were 17 at the start of the show, almost everyone else was in their twenties. Of all of the cast, it was Gabrielle Carteris who was the oldest, joining the show when she was 29 to play sixteen-year-old Andrea Zuckerman.
Trevor Donovan – 28 years old
In 2008, Beverly Hills 90210 was rebooted in the newly named 90210. Whilst the name may have changed, the time honoured tradition of casting fully-grown adults continued. Trevor Donovan joined the show in its second season as tennis-pro in training, Teddy Montgomery, aged 28
Donovan’s casting has come under flack due to his age. It’s a little unfair as Donovan was great in the role, portraying his character’s struggle with his sexuality in a mature and sensitive way. Plus, co-star Michael Steger was two years older than him.
Charisma Carpenter – 27 years old
Although Sarah Michelle Gellar was only a couple of years older than Buffy Summers when she began playing her, co-star Charisma Carpenter was already almost thirty. Carpenter played beloved mean girl Cordelia Chase across both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, from the age of 27.
Although at least ten years older than her on-screen character, Carpenter just about managed to pass as a high-schooler. Now aged 53, Carpenter is still as youthful as ever, suggesting that maybe there is a vampire that managed to fly under Buffy’s radar.
Bianca Lawson – 31 years old
Born in 1979, Bianca Lawson has been playing teenagers since 1993 when she starred in Saved by the Bell: The New Class. Seventeen years later, in Pretty Little Liars, she was still able to pass as a teen on screen.
In Pretty Little Liars she played high-school student Maya St. German. The character was the love-interest of pretty little liar, Emily, and fans were heartbroken when Maya left the show. Since her time on the show, Lawson has hung up the school bag and taken on roles closer to her real age.
Ben Platt – 27 years old
When Ben Platt was cast as Evan Hansen in Dear Evan Hansen, the internet broke. The idea of a 27 year old playing a 17 year old coming of age was seen as hilarious. In reality, it’s the industry norm, but something did not gel for Platt.
The reason for Platt being cast is that the role of Evan Hansen was one that he originated in the stage show. Then aged 23, Platt became the youngest recipient of the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. The film was also meant to be made earlier, but several setbacks delayed production.
Henry Winkler – 40 years old
Looking through pictures from his youth, Henry Winkler has never looked young for his age. His Italian ancestry blessed him with a chiselled jaw and permanent five o’clock shadow. Somehow though, Winkler was cast as the coolest high-schooler ever – Fonzie.
At the time of his casting as the Fonz, Winkler was twenty-nine, and by the end of Happy Days’ ten year run on the airwaves, he was almost 40. Fonzie however, was still mid-twenties, though had thankfully managed to graduate high-school.
Keiko Agena – 27 years old
Although lead actress Alexis Bledel was 19 playing 16 in the first season of Gilmore Girls, Keiko Agena who played her bestie, Lane Kim, was 27. Despite their eight year age gap, the two worked well together as Rory and Lane, and managed to pass for teenagers.
A familiar face through all seven seasons and the reunion series, Lane was a firm fan favourite. Living with her devout Christian mother, Lane’s constant covert subversion of her mother’s rules provided plenty of laughs, and her band, Hep Alien, weren’t half bad.
Gabrielle Union – 28 years old
Bring it On follows Kirsten Dunst’s cheerleader captain, Torrance, in her quest to lead her squad, the Toros, to victory at an annual cheer-leading championship. Her plans are thrown into disarray when she learns that her predecessor stole all the squad’s routines from a rival team, the Clovers.
Clovers captain Iris, played by Gabrielle Union, is not happy about being cheated out of the competition each year and there is a brilliant scene where she lays the verbal smackdown on Torrance. Although both meant to be around 17, in reality, Union was aged 28.
Sissy Spacek – 27 years old
For most, the late Sissy Spacek’s name is synonymous with telekinetic teenager Carrie White. The title character from Stephen King’s debut novel, Carrie, White is a shy and awkward teenager who finds herself ridiculed and tormented at the school prom. What her bullies don’t realise is that she has powers, and her revenge is legendary.
Carrie White is an icon of horror, both in film and literature. In each iteration, Carrie is 16 years old, but Spacek was 27 when she portrayed the teen. Her casting blends in with her peers as co-stars John Travolta and Amy Irving were twenty-one and twenty-three respectively.
John Travolta – 23 years old
Having played a teenager in the aforementioned Carrie at the age of 21, John Travolta kept the trend going two years later when he played Danny Zuko in 1978’s Grease, then aged 23. Travolta joined the cast as the leader of the T-Birds who falls in love with the shy and innocent Sandy.
In Grease, it is Danny that seduces Sandy, and is seen as the older and more experienced character. However, in real life, the dynamic was reversed between Travolta and his co-star Olivia Newton John, with Travolta six years her junior and Newton-John already an established star in the world of music.
Tom Welling – 24 years old
If in the first season of Smallville Clark Kent were to have been 17, then the hiring of 24 old Tom Welling might have been passable. However, Smallville begins at the start of Freshman year making the future Superman just 14 at the time.
For the most part disbelief can be suspended, and only if you stop and think through the logistics of the high-school system does it become an issue. As Clark aged, Welling became more believable in the role and he remains one of the better versions of Superman.
David Yost – 23 years old
Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers may have been aimed at younger children but it featured a group of ‘teenagers with attitude.’ Handpicked by Zordon to protect Angel Grove and the world from the wicked Rita Repulsa, kids across the land wanted to be as grown-up and cool as the teens on screen.
As with many other shows the representation of teenagers wasn’t exactly accurate as even the youngest cast member, Thuy Trang, was 20. The oldest amongst them was David Yost, aka Blue Ranger Billy Cranston, who was 23 when filming began.
Jason Earles – 29 years old
Tween dream show Hannah Montana made some wild casting choices. Whilst Hannah Montana was played by Miley Cyrus who began when she was 14, her co-star, Jason Earles, was frighteningly older, aged 29 during the show’s first season.
Thankfully his character Jackson Stewart was the older brother of Cyrus’ Miley Stewart and not a love interest. One episode did see him pose as Miley’s pop star alter-ego Hannah Montana’s beau, but it was quickly stopped, and due to the characters being related, never went anywhere it shouldn’t have.
Alexa Demie – 29 years old
With the likes of Beverly Hills 90210, Dawson’s Creek, Gossip Girl, and The OC but distant dreams, the new show to get the teens in a tizz is Euphoria. The show has made instant stars of all its cast and elevated Zendaya from already somewhat famous, to a superstar.
Whilst Zendaya is several years older than her 17 year old counterpart, it is her co-star, Alexa Demie, who is furthest from her high school years. On screen her character of Maddy began aged seventeen, but Demie was actually 29 whilst filming the first season.
Shay Mitchell – 23 years old
On Pretty Little Liars, Shay Mitchell played sports-focused closeted lesbian Emily who was one of A’s prime targets. After falling for fellow high-schooler Maya (played by fellow fake teen Bianca Lawson), Emily eventually came out and Mitchell won herself a legion of queer teenage fans.
Whereas Emily was a young girl trying to find herself (and the identity of blackmailer A), Mitchell had already made it through her teenage years. At the start of Pretty Little Liars Mitchell was 23 and worked on the show until she was 30. For at least five of those seasons, Emily was a maximum of 18.
Ben McKenzie – 24 years old
Beginning in the wake of Dawson’s Creek’s swan song, The OC brought the teen drama to a new generation. Racier than anything that had been seen before, and unafraid to highlight some important and upsetting issues affecting teenagers, the show was an instant success.
The OC also learned from its peers and kept the bulk of its young cast age appropriate. Mischa Barton for example, was seventeen when she began playing the 16 year old Marissa Cooper. The eldest actor was the show’s primary star, Ben McKenzie, who was 24 during the pilot.
Ncuti Gatwa – 31 years old
Ncuti Gatwa rose to fame playing gay teen Eric in hit Netflix show Sex Education. The series has presented Gatwa with a perfect springboard, the actor having starred as one of the Ken’s in 2023’s Barbie, and being chosen as the next regeneration of Doctor Who.
Although his Sex Education character is still in school, Gatwa himself is currently 31. He began playing Eric when he was twenty-seven, which will no doubt come as a shock to many who had been fooled by his youthful appearance.
Nicola Coughlan – 31 years old
Perhaps better known to most of the world as playing Lady Whistledown in Bridgerton, it was 90s-set Irish comedy Derry Girls where Nicola Coughlan got her break. On the show she played young school girl Claire.
Born in 1987, Coughlan was 31 when Derry Girls began in 2018. Over double her character’s age of 15, in reality Coughlan was closer to being a teenager in the actual nineties. Still, her portrayal and complexion is confusing enough that hardly anyone noticed the disparity between their ages.
Crystal Reed – 29 years old
As Allison Argent, Crystal Reed was one of the Teen Wolf fans’ favorite characters. As the love interest of titular teenage lycanthrope Scott McCall, audiences adored her. Viewers especially enjoyed the Romeo and Juliet dynamic to their relationship in season one with Scott a werewolf and Allison from a line of werewolf hunters.
Given their adoration for the character, audiences were bereft when Allison died during the season three finale. The death was Reed’s idea however. The actor wanted to pursue other roles and as a then 29 year old, was a bit bored of playing a high school teen.
Jennifer Grey – 27 years old
While Jennifer Grey may have become famous as a character called Baby in Dirty Dancing, the actress was actually 27 during filming. Set in the summer of 1963, Dirty Dancing chronicles 17 year old Baby’s coming-of-age story as she starts dancing with instructor Johnny Castle.
Having Patrick Swayze on her arm as Johnny Castle, Grey was the envy of teenagers and women across the globe. The story of a young girl becoming a woman was seen as aspirational to many, but the fact that Grey was a decade older than her character dulls some of its shine.
Stacey Dash – 28 years old
Released in 1995, Clueless was a thoroughly modern adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma, following a spoiled rich girl, Cher, as she tried to do good. It made a megastar out of Alicia Silverstone, unleashed a load of catchy dialogue into the world, and started some strange fashion trends.
Clueless screamed youth from its every pore with the music, the fashion, and the pop culture references aimed squarely at a teen audience. The cast however, were less youthful. Although Alicia Silverstone was still 19, Stacey Dash, who played Cher’s BFF Dionne, was 28 during filming.
Nicholas Brendan – 26 years old
Nicholas Brendan played Scooby gang member Xander Harris from the pilot all the way through to the finale. Over the series, Xander won fans over with his portrayal of a loveable loser, but upon reflection, fans view the character as being far more toxic than initially believed.
Whereas Buffy the Vampire Slayer co-star Charisma Carpenter could perhaps still pass for her late teens/early twenties, the same could not be said for Brendan. Aged 26 during the pilot season, it was quickly obvious that Brendan was not the mid-teenager he was meant to be.
Kristen Bell – 24 years old
Though now more famous for voicing Anna in the Frozen franchise, it was as teen super sleuth Veronica Mars that Kristen Bell first became a household name. Set in the fictional California town of Neptune, Veronica spent her free periods at school trying to solve the murder of her best friend.
By the time Veronica Mars aired, audiences had learned that teen shows didn’t actually mean a show starring teens, and so, Bell being 24 didn’t phase anyone. The show was savvy enough to populate the supporting cast with actual teenagers, such as Kyle Gallner who was just 18, their inclusion helping Bell blend in.
Olivia Newton-John – 29 years old
In 1975, Olivia Newton-John represented the UK in the Eurovision song contest, coming in second behind Abba who won with their song, Waterloo. This endeavour raised her profile, but it was her turn as shy girl-turned-vixen, Sandy, in 1978’s Grease that made her go stellar.
At the time Olivia Newton-John played Sandy, she was 29, six years the senior of her love interest played by John Travolta. She appears youthful on screen, but that’s not surprising given several of her co-stars were in their thirties.
Emily Kinney – 26 years old
Given its slow-paced stories and gaps between filming, there were very few children and teenagers in The Walking Dead. On occasion the ageing up of the actors playing the characters was disguised with a sudden narrative time jump, but this could only happen when absolutely necessary.
Of the few teenagers on the show, Emily Kenney’s Beth is one that fan’s remember fondly. The youngest daughter of Herschel and kid sister of Maggie, Beth was connected to The Walking Dead royalty. Her short life was full of strife, and the 26 year old Kinney played a relatively convincing 16.
Alan Ruck – 30 years old
The 80s was a wild time for casting teenagers. For some reason, anyone and everyone could be considered for the part of a high-school kid, and this has never been more apparent than in John Hughes’ 1986 classic, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
Lead Matthew Broderick was 24, Mia Sara was just 19, and Alan Ruck, who played Bueller’s best friend Cameron, was 30. To put that into context, Jeffrey Jones, who played Bueller-hating teacher Ed Rooney, was only ten years Ruck’s senior at 40.
Tobey Maguire – 26 years old
In the Marvel comics Peter Parker is bitten by a radioactive spider while he is still a teenager. Wanting to honor the lore, for his first Spider-Man film at least, director Sam Raimi decided to have Peter Parker attend school.
As Peter Parker, Tobey Maguire might have captured the awkward essence of the teen, but try as he might, could not realistically play 17. This was in part because, in reality, Maguire was 26. Thankfully, by the sequel, Peter had graduated and Maguire’s age became less of an issue.
Andrew Garfield – 28 years old
Following in the tradition of the Spider-Man before him, Andrew Garfield was not a teenager when he first donned the red spandex in The Amazing Spider-Man. Instead, he was 28, making him two years older than his predecessor, Tobey Maguire.
Much like Maguire before him, it is impossible to watch The Amazing Spider-Man and suspend the disbelief that he is a high-school senior. Although Garfield has a youthful enough face, there is a big difference between being a young 28 and an old 17.
Shirley Henderson – 37 years old
If it is ludicrously aged actors playing teenagers that you are after, then look no further than the Harry Potter franchise. Whilst the casting department were keen to ensure that the core trio of Harry, Ron and Hermione were age appropriate, they went wild with some of the other characters.
The prime example of their insanity is the casting of Shirley Henderson as Moaning Myrtle. Myrtle is a ghost at Hogwarts, and having died as a student, roams the bathrooms moaning about life as a perpetual teen. In stark contrast, Henderson played the role when she was 37!
Chase Stokes – 31 years old
The Outer Banks is the latest new show to sweep up a young audience. A teen drama masking itself as a treasure hunting thriller, The Outer Banks makes for addictive viewing. Its swirling of teen angst and criminal activity is dangerously addictive, and the super attractive cast and gorgeous sunny setting make the perfect icing.
At the head of the rogues gallery – or should that be Pogues gallery – is John B. Played by Chase Stokes who is currently 31, John B is one of the oldest looking 16 year olds in teen history. The costume team is working their hardest, but even the trusty backwards baseball cap isn’t fooling anyone.
Sean Patrick Thomas – 31 years old
Back in 2001, teens across the land became obsessed with Save the Last Dance. The film followed Sara, played by Julia Stiles, who dreamed of being a dancer. Needing to stand out she sought help learning hip-hop dancing from Derek, a teen with a dark past.
Derek was played by Sean Patrick Thomas whose performance won him the heart of a generation of tween and teen girls. At the time though, Thomas was 31, leaving their daydreams of becoming Mrs. Sean Patrick Thomas exactly that, a dream.
Selma Blair – 27 years old
In 1999, Selma Blair played Cecile Caldwell in Cruel Intentions. The character is perceived as being far younger than her peers, but she is in fact only a year younger than them, two at the most. It is the other characters’ advanced sexual experience that conjures up the idea that there is a wider age gap.
Blair’s performance also perpetuates the idea that Cecile is younger than Kathryn and Sebastian. Somehow the star managed to effortlessly shave at least ten years off of her age to play one of the most convincing teens on screens ever.
Keanu Reeves – 25 years old
Before he became known as Neo or John Wick, Keanu Reeves was Ted ‘Theodore’ Logan. One half of Wyld Stallyns, a band fated to unite all known universes, in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure Ted is granted access to the past via a telephone box from the future in order to help him pass his history class.
Although the story dictates that Bill and Ted are high-school seniors, Keanu was 25 when he first strapped on the air-guitar. Reeves has a reputation of being ageless, and while he still retains his youthful complexion at 59, he couldn’t really pass as a high-school student.
Barbara Streisand – 41 years old
Others may have come close, but it is Barbara Streisand who may have stretched the appropriate age to play a teenager to the limit. As Yentl in the film of the same name, for a portion of the story, the character is meant to be in her late teens.
The shocking truth though is that whilst playing Yentl, Streisand was in fact 41 years old! By the end of the story, Yentl had progressed to being in her mid-twenties, but even then it is still hard to believe the singer-turned-actor in the role.
Timothy Granaderos – 31 years old
The Netflix show 13 Reasons Why dealt with some very tough and traumatic issues across its four season run. The first series was the strongest and recounted the tragic circumstances that led one teenage girl, Hannah Baker, to take her own life.
Due to the show’s traumatic and mature content, the team behind 13 Reasons Why carefully chose a cast of actors who were purposefully older than their characters’ teenage years. They needed people with distance from high-school and in Timothy Granaderos (who played Montgomery de la Cruz) they found one such actor, with him being 31.
Cory Monteith – 27 years old
Upon the release of Glee in 2009, it became an immediate phenomena. The cast were catapulted to fame, had their faces stamped across all kinds of merchandise, and even went on a world tour together. It was an insane time, and the chance to travel the globe was a great opportunity for the young stars.
However, one of the Glee team was older than the rest. Whilst Lea Michelle who played Rachel, and Dianna Agron who played Quinn, were both 23, their primary love interest on the show, Finn, was played by a 27 year old Corey Monteith, who tragically passed away just a few years later.
Judd Nelson – 25 years old
Look up examples of perfect teen movies and John Hughes’ The Breakfast Club will definitely make an appearance. It charts the antics of a group of high-school cliches: the jock, the brain, the princess, the criminal, and the basket case as they have to endure Saturday detention together.
John Hughes was renowned for his directing of iconic 80s teen movies, and although they are all great, few star any teenagers. Even The Breakfast Club has its fair share of ‘grown-ups’ playing high-school seniors, most notably Bender being played by a 25 year old Judd Nelson.
