There are a bunch of reasons why an actor would lie about their age, and a lot of it has to do with opportunity since many happen to believe, and in some cases rightly so, that ageism is a huge issue in Hollywood. The reality of this is hard to debate, but the counter is that some roles aren’t created for those who are obviously older and can’t play a teenager or middle-aged individual. But lying about one’s age is usually done to get a role that a person wants since some movies are adamant about the age of those that they hire on, as the part might need someone that still looks fairly young. The thing about this is that at one point it was fairly easy to make this happen since things were simpler, the practices used in Hollywood weren’t quite as stringent, and thanks to the lack of technology, people didn’t check things over and over to ensure that a person was old enough to work certain hours. Of course, even now things aren’t perfect and it can happen that a person might be able to hide their age, but underage actors now find it more difficult to lie about their age.
Here are a few individuals that lied about their age to get a role.
5. Laurence Fishburne
If you can believe it, Laurence was only 14 when he was cast in Apocalypse Now. He said he was 16 so that he could be cast as an 18-year old character, which is amazing since somehow he managed to convince people that he was 4 years older than he actually was. But this was even more fortuitous than people think since apparently on the set was a young Emilio Estevez. It wasn’t even known until later that Laurence managed to save the young Estevez from drowning, but this is why his being there was so important, since whether someone else would have noticed this is hard to say. But thankfully he was there.
4. Carla Gugino
Carla actually had to lie and say she was 14 when she was 16 to get a role in the movie Beverly Hills Troop. Hopefully she had her parents drive her to the set instead of driving herself, though thinking about a celebrity driving themselves anywhere is kind of funny, though some do it now and again. But Carla didn’t look all that old at the time so it was allowed to happen, but it is enough to wonder as to whether or not she was found out before the film was over with, or if anyone even cared. She wouldn’t have been the first person to play a role that was a couple of years younger than her actual age.
3. Nicolas Cage
Cage lied about his age to get a role in the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High and even auditioned for the role of Brad initially. He was given the role of Brad’s friend when Judge Reinhold was selected, but this is still one of the many movies that are remembered from his beginning since he wasn’t all that well known for a while before he finally started taking on roles that would make him stand out to the audience. After that happened it wasn’t exactly possible for him to lie about his age any longer, but it also didn’t matter since he was on a roll and didn’t need to. One has to wonder if he ever really did.
2. Rachel McAdams
This is a pretty common practice when it comes to high school movies since the typical tale will use people that are in their 20s or in their late teens and have already graduated from high school a while back. Why this is the case is hard to say sometimes but for one reason or another it tends to happen quite a bit, and Rachel McAdams was one of the many people in their 20s that snuck into the role she took in Mean Girls by lying about her age, though she didn’t lie and say that she was still a teenager since that would have been a little awkward. It’s enough to make one think that high school roles are prized somehow in Hollywood.
1. Jessica Chastain
Jessica doesn’t exactly lie about her age, she just doesn’t tell anyone since she wants to be able to play various roles without having to worry about if she’s too old or too young. Her way of thinking indicates that she doesn’t believe in ageism, which is all well and good, but the fact is that she’s beyond playing high school roles, and she’s still a bit too young for elderly roles, so she still has a wide variety of roles she can play. It’s fine that she doesn’t want to be pinned down by her age, but like it or not, unless one uses CG or heavy makeup or prostheses, there are only so many roles that a person can play.
Why lie in the first place if age is just a number?
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