Actors Who Were Too Old to Play Teens But Did Anyway
The Mathletes Club here at UsedWigs High have compiled a classroom full of actors who were well past their teenage years when they portrayed high-schoolers on the big and small screens. Age calculations are based on when the film was released or the year the character debuted on the TV show. The information was gleaned from IMDB.com.
ACTOR | BORN | FILM/TV SHOW | YEAR | AGE |
Stockard Channing | 1944 | Grease | 1978 | 34 |
Curtis Armstrong | 1953 | Better Off Dead | 1985 | 32 |
Sean Patrick Thomas | 1970 | Save the Last Dance | 2001 | 31 |
Eric Christian Olsen | 1977 | Fired Up! | 2009 | 31 |
Olivia Newton-John | 1948 | Grease | 1978 | 30 |
John Cho | 1972 | Better Luck Tomorrow | 2002 | 30 |
Derek Luke | 1974 | Friday Night Lights | 2004 | 30 |
Alan Ruck | 1956 | Ferris Bueller’s Day Off | 1986 | 30 |
Frank Whaley | 1963 | Swing Kids | 1993 | 30 |
Stacey Dash | 1966 | Clueless | 1995 | 29 |
Gabrielle Carteris | 1961 | Beverly Hills, 90210 | 1990 | 29 |
Ron Lester | 1970 | Varsity Blues | 1999 | 29 |
Gedde Watanabe | 1955 | Sixteen Candles | 1984 | 29 |
Parry Chen | 1973 | Better Luck Tomorrow | 2002 | 29 |
P.J. Soles | 1950 | Rock ‘n’ Roll High School | 1979 | 29 |
Tony Danza | 1951 | The Hollywood Knights | 1980 | 29 |
Glynn Turman | 1946 | Cooley High | 1975 | 29 |
Kerr Smith | 1972 | Final Destination | 2000 | 28 |
Adrian Zmed | 1954 | Grease 2 | 1982 | 28 |
Gabrielle Union | 1972 | Bring It On | 2000 | 28 |
Jeff Conaway | 1950 | Grease | 1978 | 28 |
Antwon Tanner | 1975 | One Tree Hill | 2003 | 28 |
Jon Heder | 1977 | Napoleon Dynamite | 2004 | 27 |
Parminder Nagra | 1975 | Bend It Like Beckham | 2002 | 27 |
Selma Blair | 1972 | Cruel Intentions | 1999 | 27 |
Charisma Carpenter | 1970 | Buffy the Vampire Slayer | 1997 | 27 |
Rebecca Gayheart | 1972 | Jawbreaker | 1999 | 27 |
Lori Singer | 1957 | Footloose | 1984 | 27 |
Sissy Spacek | 1949 | Carrie | 1976 | 27 |
Tobey Maguire | 1975 | Spider-Man | 2002 | 27 |
Denise Richards | 1971 | Wild Things | 1998 | 27 |
Kevin Bacon | 1958 | Footloose | 1984 | 26 |
Jamie Kennedy | 1970 | Scream | 1996 | 26 |
Matthew Lillard | 1970 | Scream | 1996 | 26 |
Skeet Ulrich | 1970 | Scream | 1996 | 26 |
Paul Walker | 1973 | She’s All That | 1999 | 26 |
Scott Wolf | 1968 | Party of Five | 1994 | 26 |
Minka Kelly | 1980 | Friday Night Lights | 2006 | 26 |
Ian Ziering | 1964 | Beverly Hills, 90210 | 1990 | 26 |
Before you fire off the “Hey, dummy you forgot….” email, there are hundreds of 23-, 24- and 25-year-old actors who played teens and we certainly can’t list them all here. I’m sure there’s some creepy website out there devoted to this nonsense. Google it
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Yeah, basically the whole cast of “Grease” was about 30 Years old:
Stockard Channing (34), Michael Tucci “Sonny” (32), Jamie Donnelly “Jan” (31), Olivia Newton John (30), Barry Pearl “Doody” (28), Jeff Conaway (28), Didi Cohn (27), John Travolta (24), Kelly Ward “Putzie” (22), Dinah Manoff “Marty” (20)
Then there was the guy who was the head of the rival gang I think he was about 41.
Also, what was the deal with having about 90% of the cast from Brooklyn?
Rydell High School looks like some waspy L.A. Suburb, and yet there are all these 30 year old “teenagers” from Brooklyn running around.
And what’s the message in this so-called “Family-Film” guys won’t like a girl unless she’s a “Slut”?
One of the stupidest and definately most over-rated movies of all-time.
Yeah, basically the whole cast of “Grease” was about 30 Years old:
Stockard Channing (34), Michael Tucci “Sonny” (32), Jamie Donnelly “Jan” (31), Olivia Newton John (30), Barry Pearl “Doody” (28), Jeff Conaway (28), Didi Cohn (27), John Travolta (24), Kelly Ward “Putzie” (22), Dinah Manoff “Marty” (20)
Then there was the guy who was the head of the rival gang I think he was about 41.
Also, what was the deal with having about 90% of the cast from Brooklyn?
Rydell High School looks like some waspy L.A. Suburb, and yet there are all these 30 year old “teenagers” from Brooklyn running around.
And what’s the message in this so-called “Family-Film” guys won’t like a girl unless she’s a “Slut”?
One of the stupidest and definately most over-rated movies of all-time.
Anthony Cumia & Greg Hughes
Really teenagers pretending to be little girls named Marge.
Anthony Cumia & Greg Hughes
Really teenagers pretending to be little girls named Marge.
Chester – Really a dead dog pretending to be a inline skate.
Chester – Really a dead dog pretending to be a inline skate.
EROCK – AN OVERWEIGHT NOTHING PRETENDING TO BE POPULAR
EROCK – AN OVERWEIGHT NOTHING PRETENDING TO BE POPULAR
Are you guys a couple now? When is the commitment ceremony? Who’s Brad Pitt in the relationship?
Are you guys a couple now? When is the commitment ceremony? Who’s Brad Pitt in the relationship?
I think Jamie Kennedy pulled off the highschool roll in “Scream”. Jamie Kennedy is my favorite actor though.
I think Jamie Kennedy pulled off the highschool roll in “Scream”. Jamie Kennedy is my favorite actor though.
Stockard Channing is older than dirt.
Vic Morrow was 26 and Sidney Poitier was 28 when The Blackboard Jungle was released.
Awesome list. I never have minded actors being older when the performances are great or just the whole film is so stylized, realism doesn’t matter. But for some reason Gabrielle Union has never been convincing to me as a teen – anything I see her in from then, she stands out like a sore thumb. Seems like producers at the time were sure she could pass as a teen authentically, she played one in so many things. And yet I just see a mature woman in those roles, looking at least her age, if not older. Odd casting.
What about Patrick Swayze, he played a high schooler in Red Dawn at the age of 32.
Diana Ross – The Wiz. Her old butt was 33 when she (bought the role and) played Dorothy