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Some actors seem to maintain the face and physicality of youth for longer than other people, letting them play young adults or even teens well into their thirties. Emphasis on some, since there are other actors that simply don’t look the part. Adults act better than teens, but they need to fit the bill.
We’ve gathered here a few actors that played teens for a bit too long, traversing high school halls looking more like teachers than students. Some of them were able to trick us for years, but not forever; at some point, it’s time to pass the torch to the new generations.
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Bianca Lawson
Bianca Lawson is the gold standard for this topic. She played high school students in Saved by the Bell: The New Class, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dawson’s Creek, Pretty Little Liars, and Teen Wolf well into her thirties.
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Nicholle Tom
Nicholle Tom was in her twenties for part of her run on The Nanny, yet Maggie Sheffield remained a teenager for much of the series. Her youthful appearance helped extend the illusion longer than most actors could manage.
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Stacey Dash
Stacey Dash spent much of the 1990s and early 2000s playing teenagers. She was 28 in Clueless and continued portraying high school-aged characters long after most actors had moved on.
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Gabrielle Carteris
Gabrielle Carteris was nearly 30 when she started playing Andrea Zuckerman. She remained a high school student for multiple seasons despite being significantly older than the rest of the teenage cast.
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Jason Earles
Jason Earles was almost 30 when Hannah Montana began and continued playing teenager Jackson Stewart throughout the series. He may be one of Disney Channel’s oldest “teen” stars ever.
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Michael J. Fox
Michael J. Fox spent much of the 1980s and early 1990s playing characters significantly younger than himself. Between Family Ties and the Back to the Future films, he remained Hollywood’s go-to teenager well into adulthood.
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Rachel McAdams
Rachel McAdams wasn’t alone in being older than her character, but she became one of the most famous examples. At 26, she played Regina George so effectively that few questioned it.
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Charisma Carpenter
Charisma Carpenter was 27 when she began playing Cordelia Chase on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Even after graduating the character, she spent years playing someone who had only recently left high school.
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Ben McKenzie
Ben McKenzie was 25 when he starred in The O.C., joining a long tradition of twenty-somethings portraying troubled teenagers. The role helped define an entire era of teen television.
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Trevor Donovan
Trevor Donovan joined 90210 at age 30 while playing high school student Teddy Montgomery. Few actors have stretched the definition of “teenager” quite so far.
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Tom Welling
Tom Welling was 24 when Smallville began, and the series spent years depicting Clark Kent’s adolescence. By later seasons, viewers were watching a man in his thirties play a very recent high school graduate.
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James Van Der Beek
James Van Der Beek was 21 when Dawson’s Creek began and spent six seasons playing a high school student and recent graduate. Like many teen drama stars, he stayed younger on screen than in reality.
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Chad Michael Murray
Chad Michael Murray was in his early twenties when he started playing Lucas Scott. After previous teen roles in Gilmore Girls and Freaky Friday, he became one of television’s most recognizable perpetual teenagers.
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Sara Rue
Sara Rue was 20 when Popular premiered and spent multiple seasons playing a high school student. While not as extreme as some examples, she became part of the late-’90s tradition of adult actors filling teen roles.
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Keiko Agena
Keiko Agena played Lane Kim throughout Gilmore Girls, beginning the series at age 27. She spent years portraying a high school student and later a young adult while remaining far older than the character.
The post Actors Who Were Somehow Cast as Teenagers for Way Too Long appeared first on Den of Geek.
