23 Actresses Who Played Moms to Actors the Same Age
Hollywood casting is truly a hit-or-miss situation. Sometimes the casting is so perfect that you couldn’t picture a better ensemble. Then, other times, you’re questioning how no one said anything to stop it from happening. Way more often than it should, Hollywood keeps casting women who are way too young to play adult celebrities’ moms.
We don’t know why, but Hollywood seems to have a mental block when properly casting mothers. At first glance, many seem fine — until you see the actor’s ages. You’d think there would be a sizable difference between the actors, but some are as little as 10 months. From 10 months to 12 years older, we don’t understand why Hollywood has a problem casting moms properly.
And on top of that, sometimes the actresses who play the moms are younger than their on-screen children. We have questions (and you probably do too).
With the time news broke that Emmy Rossum was being cast as Tom Holland’s mother, despite only being ten years older, everyone wanted to know: “Why does Hollywood not know how to cast moms?” From the X-Files to Alexander, there’s a lot more miscasting than you think.
Check out these actresses who were way too young to be cast in these mother roles below.
A version of this article was originally published on Feb 2022.
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Carla Gugino in ‘Spy Kids’
So in the Spy Kids film, Carla Gugino played the mom to two kids, who were aged 11 and 9. Now, that age isn’t out of the ordinary, but when you realize more of the storyline, there’s a plot hole; and Gugino even talked about that to Buzzfeed.
“It is so funny because I was 27. It was a really beautiful kind of double-edged sword because I love that movie so much. And the whole experience was incredible, and the movies continue,” she said. “I love Ingrid Cortes. But it was funny because I was 10 years, at least, too young for the role because I was a spy for 10 years and then somehow had children who were like 9 and 11. So it was physically totally impossible.”
Olivia Wilde in ‘In Time’
For those who don’t know, the 2011 film In Time follows a world where time means everything, and everyone has a clock on their arm that counts down how long they have left to live. You can transfer time, steal time, etc; an everyone, no matter if you were really in your 80s, look like they’re in their 20s.
So, Olivia Wilde played Justin Timebrlake’s mother Rachel. We know everyone is supposed to look younger in the film, but Wilde is still three years younger than Timberlake in real life.
Melissa Joan Hart in ‘Would You Kill for Me?’
Now, fans aren’t freaking out over Melissa Joan Hart playing a mom role that’s scratching heads, the internet is losing it over the fact that she’s playing a grandmother at 47. Now, this isn’t out of the realm of possibility, but it still shocked fans nonetheless.
“I couldn’t be more flattered that people don’t think of me as a grandmother (no matter how possible it is at the age of 47),” the actor told HuffPost. “I’m proud of my performance in the film and it’s fun to see it go viral.”
Brianne Howey in ‘Ginny & Georgia’
Did you know there’s only around a nine-year age difference between starring actresses Brianne Howey and Antonia Gentry, who play mother and daughter on the show Ginny and Georgia?! We adore Ginny and Georgia, and we had no idea about this.
Elizabeth Debicki in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3’
Okay, so we understand the MCU is based on the comics and that Elizabeth Debicki’s character and her son Will Poulter’s characters were “created,” as we learned in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. However, while Poulter and Debicki play mother-son, they only have a two year age-difference between them.
Emmy Rossum in ‘The Crowded Room’
Twitter exploded when word came out that Emmy Rossum would be playing Tom Holland’s mom in the new mini-series The Crowded Room despite her only being 10 years older than him. However, it’s noted that she’ll be in flashbacks from Holland’s early childhood in the show, but it doesn’t make it much less odd.
Amy Poehler in ‘Mean Girls’
Get ready y’all because Amy Poehler was only seven years older than her on-screen daughter played by Rachael McAdams in Mean Girls.
Rebecca Toolan in ‘The X Files’
We all loved David Duchovny when he played Agent Fox Mulder in The X Files, but we don’t love the fact that Rebecca Toolan was only one year older than Duchovny when she played Agent Fox Mulder’s mom.
Angelina Jolie in ‘Alexander’
In the movie Alexander, Colin Farrell was 28 years old at the time and Angelina Jolie, who played his mother, was only 11 months older than him at the time.
Charlayne Woodard in ‘Glass’
In the 2019 hit film Glass, Charlayne Woodard played Samuel L. Jackson’s mother despite being five years younger than him.
Nicole Kidman in ‘Aquaman’
Now people were quite upset that Nicole Kidman was cast as Jason Momoa’s mother in Aquaman, despite only being 12 years older than him — the same age difference as Momoa and his wife at the time Lisa Bonet. Per CinemaBlend, Kidman responded to the criticism by saying, “In the context of the superhero world, it all evens out. Atlanna doesn’t really age.”
Sally Field in ‘Forrest Gump’
So when Sally Field played Tom Hanks’ mama in Forrest Gump, she was only 10 years older than him. And apparently, they even played lovers in the 1988 film Punchline, six years before.
Drew Barrymore in ‘Riding in Cars With Boys’
In Riding in Cars With Boys, Drew Barrymore played Adam Garcia’s mom despite the fact that she was two years younger than him.
Estelle Getty in ‘Golden Girls’
Okay, seriously we were today years old when we found out that Estelle Getty, who played Bea Arthur’s mom in Golden Girls, was literally one year younger than Arthur. Apparently, a lot of time was spent on making Getty look much older than in her 60s.
Angela Lansbury in ‘The Manchurian Candidate’
Angela Lansbury was only two years older than Laurence Harvey when she played his mom in The Manchurian Candidate.
Jessie Royce Landis in ‘North By Northwest’
Jessie Royce Landis was literally less than a year older than Cary Grant when she played his mom in North by Northwest, only 10 months to be exact.
Ginnifer Goodwin in ‘Once Upon a Time’
Remember when we were all obsessed with Once Upon a Time? We know that the plot of the show had a time warp so Jennifer Morrison and Ginner Goodwin were supposed to be around the same age. But that doesn’t make it any less weird when Morrison would call Goodwin, who was one year older than her, “mom.”
Winona Ryder in ‘Star Trek’
In the 2009 Star Trek film, Winona Ryder was cast as Zachary Quinto’s mother, despite only being five years older.
Toni Collette in ‘Little Miss Sunshine’
We all loved Little Miss Sunshine, but we don’t remember the fact that Toni Collette was only 11 years older than her on-screen son played by Paul Dano.
Jennifer Coolidge in ‘American Pie’
Jennifer Coolidge was only 12 years older than her son in the American Pie movies.
Kelly Rowan in ‘The O.C.’
Okay, remember Benjamin McKenzie’s mother played by Kelly Rowan? Well on The O.C. Rowan and McKenzie were only 12 years apart.
Cristin Milioti in ‘How I Met Your Mother’
So we know the timelines are all jumbled in How I Met Your Mother, but did you know the Mother, played by Cristin Milioti, and the actress who played the daughter Penny, played by Lyndsey Fonesca, are only two years apart from each other in real life? That’s right, Milioti is only two years older.
We know they filmed Fonesca’s scenes years prior to Milioti, but that’s just a lot to take in.
