by Hannah MarderBuzzFeedBuzzFeed StaffI'm a Senior Staff Writer based in New York City, where I've been covering classic BuzzFeed-style content since 2020.

Look, I get that there's some wiggle room in casting. The actor doesn't need to be the exact same age as the character they're playing. But sometimes it's so bad, it literally takes you out of the movie or TV show, leaving you thinking, "Were there really no appropriate-aged actors?"

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Hollywood does this for a number of reasons. There's plenty of sexism and ageism in Hollywood, particularly geared towards women. Instead of casting an actual 40-year-old, for example, they'll cast a 25-year-old that better fits current beauty standards. And when it comes to teenage characters, due to child labor laws, it can be difficult to film with actors under the age of 18 (unless they're emancipated)...though this doesn't give them an excuse to cast someone who's 18 or 19, rather than 30, as a teenager.

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Don't believe me that it can actually be that bad? Check out these shocking examples.

NOTE: Some of these ages may be slightly off (but within the year), as we're relying on filming dates from Wikipedia and IMDB. If we used movie release dates, most of these gaps would be even more severe!

Angelina Jolie played a fully adult Colin Farrell's mother in Alexander at age 29. Colin is less than a year younger than her IRL.

Warner Brothers / courtesy Everett Collection

Jennifer Lawrence was only 21 when she played a widow in Silver Linings Playbook — the character was meant to be in her mid-to-late thirties, according to Vogue. Director David O. Russel thought she was too young for the role, but her audition convinced him.

Paramount Pictures

Lawrence actually has a bit of a legacy of playing roles older than her actual age, as Vogue notes — she was only 23 while filming American Hustle. Her character was meant to be in her early-to-mid thirties.

Francois Duhamel/Columbia Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection

And when she played Joy Mangano, a housewife-turned-inventor, in Joy, she was only 24. She portrayed Mangano at ages 34 and up, including into her forties.

20th Century Fox Film Corp /Courtesy Everett Collection

Scarlett Johansson was only 17 while filming Lost in Translation. While, yes, her character was meant to be young (a recent college grad) — and the age gap between her and costar Bill Murray was meant to be large — her being literally underage made it cross over into unbelievable and uncomfortable.

Focus Features / courtesy Everett Collection

Barbra Streisand was 40 while playing Yentl as a student in Yentl. Yentl's exact age is unclear, but she should be somewhere in her twenties — some sources claim Streisand changed the age to 26, which is still 14 years younger than Streisand was at the time.

United Artists / Courtesy Everett Collection

Gabrielle Union played teenage Isis in Bring It On when she was 27. In contrast, Kirsten Dunst was 17, about the right age for her character — putting a ten-year difference between the two, who were supposed to be the same age.

Universal / courtesy Everett Collection

Alan Ruck was 29 when he played 17 or 18-year-old Cameron in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. His costars, Mathew Broderick and Mia Sara, were 23 and 18, respectively, making Ruck the character with the biggest age difference by far.

Paramount Distribution / Courtesy Everett Collection

Stacey Dash was 27 when she filmed her role as Dionne in Clueless. Her character was around 16. She actually continued playing the role in the TV show, which ended in 1999, when Dash was 32.

Paramount / courtesy Everett Collection

10.

This only added to the comedy, but Paul Rudd played a teenage camp counselor in Wet Hot American Summer — when he was 30 or 31.*

Eureka Pictures / Via youtube.com

*This article states he was 30, though if the film's Wikipedia is correct, filming would've begun when he was newly 31.

11.

Twenty- (or even thirty-) somethings playing teenagers is bad enough, but it gets even worse when there are sequels. For example, Andrew Garfield was already 27 during The Amazing Spider-Man, playing 17-year-old Peter Parker. But it got even worse for the sequel, which began with his character graduating from high school (so presumably 18). Garfield was 30 during filming. Emma Stone wasn't quite as bad at 24, but was also older than she should've been.

Sony Pictures Releasing

12.

Speaking of Spider-Man, Tobey Maguire was 26 when he played 17-year-old Peter Parker in 2002's Spider-Man. His costar, Kirsten Dunst, was only 18. Interestingly, Elizabeth Banks was told she was "too old" to play MJ, despite being only 16 months older than Maguire.

Columbia Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection, Columbia / courtesy Everett Collection

13.

Not as bad, but while Tom Holland wasn't too far off from his character's age in Captain America: Civil War, the gap

51 Actors Who Played A WAY Younger Or Older Character