Let’s face it: if you ever watched a “high school” series and thought, “Wait, that guy can’t be 16 years old,” you are not just making things up. For a very long time, Hollywood has been guilty of casting adults as high school students—sometimes adults who could easily be mistaken for teachers or parents. At times it does, at times it is laughably unconvincing, and at other times it leaves real teens baffled as to whether they are supposed to resemble that grown-up. So, there is this countdown of the 10 most surprising, funny, and remember-when moments when adults pretended to be teenagers on the screen—and a little bit about why these weird casting decisions are more than just a funny behind-the-scenes moment.
10. Jason Earles – Hannah Montana
When Hannah Montana premiered on Disney Channel, Jason Earles was almost 30 playing Jackson, Miley’s goofy older brother. He was able to maintain the teen facade for years with co-stars who were actual teens. Earles’ being over a decade older than his character baffled many young viewers—and also became one of the show’s inside jokes.
9. Bianca Lawson – Pretty Little Liars
Bianca Lawson has essentially made a career of playing teens well beyond her own teenage years. Now 31, she appeared in Pretty Little Liars as Maya St. Germain, but that was far from the first high school gig for her—she’s appeared as a teen in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Teen Wolf, and others. Lawson’s ageless looks have made her the de facto queen of playing teens across many different generations.
8. Stockard Channing – Grease
Okay, sure, Grease is a classic—but come on, the cast seemed more like they’d attend a PTA meeting rather than study hall. Stockard Channing was 33 when she portrayed Rizzo, the tough-as-nails leader of the Pink Ladies. She certainly seemed to have more “cool aunt” energy than “classmate,” but her acting was unforgettable and solidified her character as a timeless classic.
7. Alan Ruck – Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Cameron Frye was slated to be a senior in high school. Alan Ruck? He was 29. Sure, his youthfulness allowed him to fit in then, but once you know, you can’t unknow—particularly when you know he was more on par with age-wise the actors who played the parents than he was with Matthew Broderick as Ferris.
6. Andrew Garfield – The Amazing Spider-Man
Peter Parker was scripted as an uncomfortable high school teenager, but when Andrew Garfield swung onto screen, he was already 27. His sincere performance rang true, but the age difference caught up to him, particularly in those “teen angst” scenes that seemed a tad too refined on the lips of someone close to 30.
5. Alexa Demie – Euphoria
Euphoria is renowned for depicting high school life with gritty intensity—but in real life, several of its stars are actually way beyond their high school years. Alexa Demie, who portrays Maddy Perez, was 29 when season one rolled around and is currently in her 30s, still acting like a teenager. No surprise the show’s high school corridors resemble more of a catwalk than a sophomore homeroom.
4. Darren Barnet – Never Have I Ever
Paxton Hall-Yoshida is Never Have I Ever’s teen heartthrob fantasy boy—but Darren Barnet was 30 when he played him. Though plenty of his castmates are older than their characters, too, Barnet’s adult features made the disparity particularly obvious. It was like watching someone’s grad-school crush stroll into algebra class when you saw him play 16.
3. Shirley Henderson – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Moaning Myrtle is a 14-year-old ghost who is cursed to haunt Hogwarts’ bathrooms eternally. Shirley Henderson was not actually 14, however—she was 37 when she acted the part. To her credit, her performance was so perfect that most audiences didn’t even notice the enormous age gap—until they checked on it later and were shocked.
2. Stacey Dash – Clueless
Dionne Davenport is high school cool incarnate in Clueless, but Stacey Dash was 28 when the film came out. A full ten years older than her character, Dash performed the role with humor and panache, but her casting demonstrates precisely how Hollywood’s conception of “teenager” tends to carry a driver’s license, a credit card, and a few years’ worth of life experience.
1. Barbra Streisand – Yentl
And the crown is awarded to Barbra Streisand. In Yentl, she played a 17-year-old pupil while being 41 in real life. It’s one of the widest age discrepancies ever in Hollywood casting. Streisand gave an incredible performance, but the fact of a 40-something-year-old playing a teenager is impossible not to double-take at.
Some of that has to do with logistics. Actual teenagers are more difficult to cast because of labor laws, school obligations, and levels of maturity, particularly for projects involving intense or adult themes. But there is a downside: casting adults as teens distorts the way real teenagers perceive themselves. When the “typical” teenager on television appears to have just walked out of a photo shoot—acne-free skin, chiseled jawlines, and the confidence of someone who has already made it through their twenties—it creates unrealistic expectations.
Clinical psychologist Dr. Barbara Greenberg explains that this can send negative messages: actual teenagers may feel they ought to appear older, be more grown-up, or measure up to an idealized form of adolescence. Include programs where “teens” are always at crazy parties or in complicated relationships, and actual teens feel left behind. The net result? A generation of children coerced into meeting the glossy, unreal Hollywood ideal of teen life. Perhaps the time has come for a twist of plot—where teenagers on screen are, finally, acted by teenagers themselves.