“Exactly alike” might be stretching it just a bit but Martin Freeman and Topher Grace do manage to share some similarities in their look when you put them side by side. Aside from the age different and other obvious things that set them apart however is the 4-inch height difference. Freeman stands about 5’7″ where Grace is 5’11”. That’s not a huge size discrepancy when you’re talking about how people stack up to each other but when you put them side by side it would certainly be noticeable. However there is enough of a resemblance that they could almost be family if you really thought about it. Of course then you look at them a little closer and the eye starts to notice different things that could be explained away by genetics.
Their face shape is roughly the same.
Thanks to the difference in their age Freeman’s jaw line is a little softer and not as defined as Topher’s, but the face shape is similar. The set of their lips, their nose, and even their eyes would suggest a closeness, and even their ears and skull shape could be compared. But when you look at the outer differences that set them apart it becomes a little easier to really set them apart. Obviously the two aren’t related so let’s throw that out there and stop confusing people for the moment, but if Freeman was several years younger they would likely look even more alike than they do now. Of course when it comes down to appearance once could say that a lot of people tend to resemble one another for a large number of reasons. But when it comes to other things then we need to take a much closer look at who they are and what they’ve done.
Their acting styles are quite different.
It’s not at all fair to call one of them a bad actor and the other a master because quite honestly in their own right both of them have done a great job with the parts they’ve been given in the past, or have at least done the best they could. Topher is a far more energetic actor in that he’s seen to act with a lot more emotion at times that doesn’t always come through as well on the screen and sometimes makes him look rather silly, for lack of a better word. His role in Spider-Man 3 probably shouldn’t have gone to him since the part of Eddie Brock/Venom needed someone what wasn’t quite so much of a cocky young photographer eager to prove himself. Anyone that read the comics could have seen this, but he did his best at the very least. He’s been great in other roles, particularly when he was playing himself in Ocean’s 11 and 12. He even turned in a great performance as Eric Foreman on That 70’s Show.
In contrast Freeman has had roles he probably shouldn’t have been cast into but there are so many that he’s done that have worked out great that those he shouldn’t have seem to be lost to memory. For instance, his portrayal of Bilbo Baggins was one that managed to wipe the memory of a lot of people when he put in such a great performance as the hobbit from the Shire for three whole movies. The big difference in their acting styles is that while both of them can work off of emotion, Topher seems more like a wild force of nature while Freeman is a bit more reserved and less apt to fly off the hook at times. Even in those moments when emotion gets the better of him Freeman still finds a way to preserve a large portion of his energy and ride out a scene without the need for frantic, wasted movement. It’s a question of different acting styles to be certain since both men have a very different approach to their characters.
When comparing the two you can easily find that it becomes a mismatch since their acting styles are completely different and their level of fame is very different as well. Where Topher has been kind of up and down in his career Martin has been steadily rising and with the Hobbit movies he managed to reach a new level of his career that set him on a path towards other roles in some of the best movies of the decade. Topher has kind of just been ‘there’ for some time but his career has seen some real highs as of late and in the past several years. It’s hard to equate one man with another simply because they are that different, no matter how much they look alike and how much people might like to compare celebrities.
At a first glance they do look a lot alike, but the closer you move in the more differences you can see.
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