15 Times We Thought We Were Seeing Stars on the Screen, but They Were Their Siblings

There can be many reasons why a director will choose to clone an actor — from having a substitute for when the actor is sick to needing to show multiple versions of the character in one shot. Using CGI can be a solution, but sometimes the answer is way easier: they just need to use a sibling of the actor.

Penélope Cruz’s younger sister, Mónica, was her body double in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

Penélope Cruz was pregnant while shooting the fourth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. And in order to not recast her, the director came up with a brilliant idea — Mónica Cruz, her little sister, was invited as a body double for the fighting scenes. The sisters look so much alike that viewers probably wouldn’t be able to notice the difference without knowing this fact beforehand.

Kieran and Rory Culkin shared the role of Jason “Igby” Slocumb Jr. in Igby Goes Down.

Few people know that the star of the movie Home Alone Macaulay Culkin has brothers. Kieran and Rory are also actors. Together they played the same character at different ages in the comedy-drama Igby Goes Down.

Elle Fanning played the younger version of her sister Dakota’s character in I Am Sam.

Siblings Elle and Dakota Fanning have a 4-year age difference, with Dakota being older. In 2001, Dakota got the main role in the movie, I Am Sam, and Elle was cast for the flashback scenes where Dakota’s character was 2 years old.

Chris Hemsworth isn’t the only Hemsworth who played Thor.

The Hemsworth family has 3 brothers who are all actors: Luke, Chris, and Liam. And at one point, they all had something to do with Chris’ famous role of Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Liam was originally the one who was auditioning for the part, while Luke also got to play Thor on screen. In Thor: Ragnarok, he appears in one scene as Thor in a surprise cameo instead of his brother. The brothers are so similar to each other that the fact that it wasn’t Liam was a surprise to many viewers.

Jason London had to take over his brother’s role in I’ll Fly Away for the series finale.

I’ll Fly Away was a TV show where Jeremy London played the role of Nathan Bedford. The series concluded with a 90-hour-long movie, but Nathan in the film was played by Jeremy’s twin brother, Jason, instead.

Xander in Buffy the Vampire Slayer was also played by Nicholas Brendon’s twin brother in season 3.

In season 3 of the popular show, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, the audience got introduced to another version of the main character, Xander. That other version was played by the actor’s twin brother, Kelly Donovan.

Kelly also substituted for his brother in one episode of season 5.

Laverne Cox’s character in Orange Is the New Black was also played by her twin brother.

Laverne Cox is a trans woman who acted in the popular Netflix original series, Orange Is the New Black. At one point, her character, Sophia, was shown in a flashback before her transition. Laverne said that the director of the show, upon finding out that she had a twin brother, M. Lamar, insisted that he come and audition for the role. That’s how he got to star as his sister’s character!

Sarah Connor was played by Linda Hamilton’s sister in one scene in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

In Terminator 2: Judgement Day, in one scene, we see 2 Sarah Connors because the main antagonist disguises himself as one of them. But it wasn’t Linda Hamilton playing both roles — the role of the fake Sarah was played by her twin sister, Leslie.

The role of Alba DeTamble in the movie The Time Traveler’s Wife was played by two sisters.

In the 2009 film, The Time Traveler’s Wife, we see 2 versions of the character, Alba, one in the present time, and one in a flashback. The younger version of the girl was played by actress Hailey McCann’s younger sister, Tatum McCann.

Rami Malek’s twin brother, Sami, got to star alongside him in the movie Buster’s Mal Heart.

Rami Malek and his twin brother, Sami Malek, definitely would not have a problem passing for the same person — Rami even joked that they “looked so much alike that their parents probably lost track of who’s who.” Sami Malek appeared at the beginning of the movie, Buster’s Mal Heart, as his brother’s body double.

Cole and Dylan Sprouse shared the role of Julian in Big Daddy.

The 1999 movie, Big Daddy, was about Adam Sandler’s character adopting a child to impress his girlfriend, and the role of the kid was played by twins Cole and Dylan Sprouse. 20 years after the movie’s premiere, Sandler recalled the time he had to work with the twins and said he was “baffled” at how handsome they are now.

Jill Hennessy’s sister played her role in Law & Order when she was too busy.

Jill Hennessy played the assistant district attorney, Claire Kincaid, on Law & Order from season 4 to season 6, but somewhere in between, she got really busy with another job, so she couldn’t make it to the filming of one of the episodes. Luckily, her twin sister had her covered: Jacqueline Hennessy appeared as Claire Kincaid instead.

Twins Ryder and Evan Londo played the same characters in Sons of Anarchy and Mad Men.

This pair of twins seems to be so talented that they got invited to work on 2 big projects together. They were playing the character, Abel Teller, on Sons of Anarchy for 3 years, from 2011 to 2014, and at the same time, they were playing the character, Gene, on the show, Mad Men, from 2012 to 2015.

Khadijah and Malika Haqq played the same character in their debut film Sky High.

In the Disney movie, Sky High, which was released in 2005, the character Penny has special powers to make clones of herself. This role was played by twins Khadijah and Malika Haqq. The sisters were recalling the audition, saying the director was not looking for twins specifically as they remember seeing single actors in the waiting room, but it seems like it was a good choice to hire them.

Taissa Farmiga played the younger version of her sister Vera’s character in Higher Ground.

Taissa Farmiga is 21 years younger than her sister Vera. The difference in age and similar appearance help the actresses in their work. They have played a mother and daughter or even the same character but at different ages. So, they played the role of Corinne Walker in the movie Higher Ground.

Were you surprised to find out that these actors had twins or siblings who could also act?