Here are the stars who didn’t look anything like the real life figures they were pretending to be.  No amount of makeup, lighting, or CGI could help in these cases.

Ray Liotta as Joe Jackson - Field of Dreams

Take your pick with Ray Liotta.  In two years he made two classic films—Field of Dreams and Goodfellas.  Neither the real “Shoeless Joe” nor Henry Hill resembled Liotta in the slightest.

But the portrayal of Jackson is our pick, and not just because of their faces.

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Image via Universal Pictures/Fatima - Heritage Auctions, Public Domain

Shoeless Joe Jackson, who was famously banned from baseball for allegedly throwing the 1919 World Series, was a left-handed hitter.  He threw right-handed.

In Field of Dreams, Liotta bats righty and throws lefty! Pretty big error as far as we’re concerned. At least they got his position correct: left field.

Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs - Steve Jobs

The iconic founder of Macintosh had a distinct look—in both appearance and style.  The black turtle neck and jeans combo will forever be associated with Steve Jobs.

But no amount of stylizing Michael Fassbender could fool us into thinking we were watching the man he was supposed to be.  In fact, the role almost wasn’t his.

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Images via YouTube

Before Danny Boyle took over for David Fincher as director, the part was going to be played by Christian Bale.

And Christian Bale with longer hair and a beard looks like Steve Jobs’s long lost brother! Fassbender plays the part brilliantly, but seeing Bale in the role would have been surreal.

Gary Cooper as Lou Gehrig - The Pride of the Yankees

Sometimes casting a silver screen legend as a sports legend gets you into a little bit of a pickle.  When you know each person’s face so well, it’s not as easy to suspend your disbelief.

When The Pride of the Yankees came out, Gary Cooper was on top of Hollywood.

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Images via RKO Radio Pictures/Wide World Photos - eBayfrontback, Public Domain

Lou Gehrig had achieved great fame as a New York Yankee.  Then he achieved even more in his untimely death, succumbing to ALS, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

The appearance of each man was very much ingrained into the public consciousness in 1942.  And they looked nothing alike. Cooper was also a lousy baseball player.

Julia Roberts as Erin Brockovich - Erin Brockovich

If this list were about bad performances by actors playing real people, we wouldn’t dare put Julia Roberts on it.

Any movie lover old enough to remember the ‘80s and ‘90s knows that that smile (and that laugh) is like no other.

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Images via Universal Pictures/United States Congress, public domain

That includes Erin Brockovich.  Thankfully for audiences, not many knew who Brockovich was, so we were able to get lost in Roberts’s performance.  In fact, she took home Best Actress in a Leading Role for her work in the film.

But have a look at the real life whistleblower.  See a resemblance? Of course you don’t.

Cuba Gooding Jr. as O.J. Simpson - The People vs. O.J. Simpson

The “trial of the century” came to life again in a series that managed to make John Travolta look like Robert Shapiro.  We believed we were watching Marcia Clark and Johnnie Cochran—even the great Kato Kaelin!

Not everyone was convincing, however.

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Images via FX Networks/Peter K. Levy from New York, NY, United States - George Sand, Public Domain

Even the best makeup folks in town couldn’t turn Cuba Gooding Jr. into O.J. Simpson.  This doppelgänger failure was too distracting to accept him as the defamed double murder suspect, whether in the Bronco or the courtroom.

The rest of the casting was spot on, especially the guy who played Larry King (Larry King played Larry King).

Hugh Jackman as P.T. Barnum - The Greatest Showman

If they held a P.T. Barnum lookalike contest, you might see Jim Broadbent or John C. Reilly faring quite well.  Go ahead, look them up if you have your doubts.

But Hugh Jackman??  Why would they cast him as the Barnum & Bailey Circus founder?

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Images via 20th Century Fox/Brady-Handy Photograph Collection (Library of Congress), Public Domain

Well, he can sing, that’s why.  Oh, and he’s a movie star, and this was a huge movie.  Jackman relishes the role, giving it his all and belting out big songs from beginning to end.

There’s no indication that the real Barnum could sing, but we know what he looked like.  And he looked like not Hugh Jackman.

Cate Blanchett as Bob Dylan - I’m Not There

I’m Not There is an experimental film casting several actors as the iconic folk musician.  None look much like the real Bob Dylan.

Asking us to suspend our disbelief and buy Cate Blanchett, of all people, as Dylan?  That’s a bit of a stretch.

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Images via The Weinstein Company/Chris Hakkens, CC BY-SA 2.0

Critics and the Academy didn’t care.  Blanchett was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her work in the film.

It’s ambitious casting, no doubt, but no woman wants to be told she resembles Bob Dylan.  And not many actually do. Among the many: Cate Blanchett.

Leonardo DiCaprio as J. Edgar Hoover - J. Edgar

Leo has made a career out of choosing quality projects.  Oftentimes, he finds himself playing a figure of history.

He convinced us he was Howard Hughes seven years prior.  Even Catch Me If You Can was passable, if only because most didn’t know what the real guy looked like.

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Images via Warner Bros. Pictures/Marion S. Trikosko, U.S. Library of Congress, Public Domain

For this film, the makeup team had their work cut out for them. It didn’t go well.

DiCaprio looks nothing like J. Edgar Hoover ever looked.  Also, the old man makeup is just atrocious. Leo looks like a young man dressing up like an old man.  Citizen Kane did it a hundred times better… in 1941.

Tom Cruise as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg - Valkyrie

Tom Cruise has one of the most recognizable faces in the world.  A bona fide American movie star, Cruise is equally tremendous internationally.

So casting him as an historical figure is a tall task, particularly if we know the face of the man he’s playing.

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Images via MGM Distribution Co./Unknown, Public Domain

Claus von Stauffenberg is not exactly a household name.  The German officer who attempted to assassinate Hitler was made more famous when this movie was released.  So were his pictures.

As far as looks go, there’s not much of a resemblance.  Combine that with Cruise’s standard American accent and you wonder if they even tried.  The other accents were at least European.

Emilio Estevez as Billy the Kid - Young Guns, Young Guns II

There’s only one confirmed photo of the infamous outlaw Henry McCarty, sometimes known as William H. Bonney… most commonly known as Billy the Kid.  Much of his life is cloaked in legend, like many tales of the Old West.

One thing is certain, however: it doesn’t look like Emilio Estevez in that picture.

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Images via 20th Century Fox/Ben Wittick, Public Domain

Take a look at Emilio—his boyish charm and clean-cut appearance.  The filmmakers made no attempt to dirty him up.

The real Billy the Kid, who reveled in his notorious reputation, might be offended that such a well put together young man like Estevez was chosen to play him.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson as John Lennon - Nowhere Boy

Here we have a case of a little known actor—at the time, anyway—playing one of the most recognizable figures of the twentieth century.

Not only does everyone know John Lennon’s voice; we also know his face.  Young or old, short hair or long. He’s that iconic.

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Images via Icon Entertainment International/PRESSENS BILD, Public Domain

In Aaron Taylor-Johnson, it’s the lack of resemblance that’s striking.  These two, from their hair styles to their eye color, from their noses to their mouths, have nothing in common.

Could they have made Taylor-Johnson look any more like Lennon?  Certainly. Little effort was made here, and it impacts the movie.

Tom Hulce as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Amadeus

Hulce was lauded for his performance as the titular character.  He was even nominated for Best Actor. And the movie won eight Oscars in all, including Best Picture.

Obviously we don’t have any photos of Mozart.  Artist renderings are the best we have to go on.  In this instance, they’re more than enough.

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Images via Orion Pictures/Barbara Krafft, Public Domain

What’s more important in a biopic: looking like the person you’re supposed to be, or knocking the performance out of the park?

As movie lovers, the latter is more meaningful.  But for the purposes of this list, the casting was a misfire.  See for yourself!

Milla Jovovich as Joan of Arc - The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc

The French martyr Joan of Arc has been dead for almost six hundred years.  What the teenage leader of the French army actually looked like is anyone’s guess.

Thankfully, we have some works of art to help shed a little light on the matter.

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Images via Columbia Pictures/Public Domain

Actress Milla Jovovich was cast in the role.  With bleached blonde hair, blazing blue eyes, and a face covered in makeup (we assume), she’s got no parallels to the works of art, including this one.

But in Hollywood, you’ve got to sell a product.  Jovovich, it was determined, could do that best, despite her physical appearance.

Benjamin Walker as Abraham Lincoln - Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

We’re not sure if the filmmakers cared too much with this one.  Did they really intend to match the sixteenth president’s look in a movie where he’s killing blood sucking monsters with an axe?

Fortunately for history buffs, Daniel Day-Lewis virtually became Lincoln later that year.  Benjamin Walker did not.

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Images via 20th Century Fox/Nicholas H. Shepherd, Public Domain

Though his height isn’t far from the mark (Walker is 6’2”, Lincoln was 6’4”), it’s the face that gives us some troubles.  They’ve both got dark hair. That’s as far as it goes.

Also, the real Lincoln never killed any vampires; he only debated them.

Taraji P. Henson as Katherine G. Johnson - Hidden Figures

Hidden Figures is a feel-good movie.  The story of the pioneering women of NASA hits all the warm and fuzzy marks.

Then you go research the real story and discover that not only did some of these characters not exist, but the ones who did looked a whole lot different.

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Images via 20th Century Fox/NASA; restored by Adam Cuerden, Public Domain

Leading the way is Taraji P. Henson, whose Katherine Johnson is the affable protagonist of the film.

One look at them side by side is enough to tell you that these two could never be mistaken for one another.  It’s a sweet movie, nonetheless.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Bruce Willis - Looper

This one is cheating.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt is not playing Bruce Willis, per se, but he’s supposed to be the younger version of him.  It seems the filmmakers thought it would be easier to make Gordon-Levitt look like Willis rather than the other way around.

Gordon-Levitt was about thirty when he shot Looper.  Here’s a still of Willis at around the same age in Blind Date.

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Images via TriStar Pictures

These two guys bear no resemblance to each other.  And in this makeup, Gordon-Levitt’s face nearly falls into the uncanny valley.  The movie is great, but the choice to do this made for an unnerving experience.

Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing - The Imitation Game

We looked up the stats.  It turns out no one in human history has ever looked like Benedict Cumberbatch.  This remarkable feat means he’ll stand out in any role he plays.

It also means playing historical figures will raise some eyebrows.

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Images via The Weinstein Company/Unknown author, Public Domain

Cumberbatch is excellent in The Imitation Game.  He found himself nominated for Best Actor thanks to that great performance.

But this list isn’t about great acting.  Look at Cumberbatch, then look at the real Alan Turing.  What do they have in common? If you answered, “They’re both people,” you’re right.  There is no other right answer to that question.

Mel Gibson as William Wallace - Braveheart

Since 13th century photos are unavailable, we have to rely on speculative art on this one.

A tall, bearded, short-haired, chainmail-wearing knight is most often what we see.  But considering much of what we know about the real Wallace was written by a poet named “Blind Harry,” anything is possible.

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Images via Paramount Pictures/Library of Congress, Public Domain

Gibson and company didn’t lack self-awareness, so they addressed it with humor.

Before the battle of Stirling (fought on a bridge, historically), Wallace is chided by the Scots for his appearance, which was nothing like what they had heard—a seven foot stature and an ability to shoot fire and lightning from his eyes and… other places.

Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe - My Week With Marilyn

Playing Marilyn Monroe is like playing a president.  We know her face so well that almost no one could convince us we were looking at the real Marilyn come back to life.

Many have tried, some with better success than others.  See Susan Griffiths in Marilyn and Me.

Michelle Williams is one of our finest actresses working today.  And she’s solid in this role. Does she become Marilyn in it? No, she doesn’t.

Here she is next to a photo of Monroe at the exact time Williams is depicting her.  Twins they most certainly are not.

Nicolas Cage as Charlie Kaufman - Adaptation.

If you’ve seen the movie, you know this is a fictitious version of Kaufman’s life.  He even has a twin brother (also played by Nicolas Cage) that Kaufman does not actually have.

But Cage, in one of his best performances, just doesn’t have those physically transformative abilities that other actors seem to possess.

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Images via Sony Pictures Releasing/de CC BY-SA 3.0

Never mind the fact that Cage is tall and (usually) muscular.  You’d never mix him up with the diminutive, bookish screenwriter.

Cage is Cage.  Sometimes he’s good, sometimes he’s not as good.  But he looks how he looks, and that’s that.

Michael Shannon as Elvis Presley - Elvis and Nixon

Elvis Presley is one of the most recognizable figures in the history of entertainment.  Have there been more impersonators of any other celebrity? Not likely.

So when Michael Shannon was cast to play Elvis in a movie—not a Halloween party—many were left scratching their heads.

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Images via Amazon Studios/Ollie Atkins, Public Domain

Shannon is one of those guys who looks like no one else.  His face was formed to play villains and troubled men. And he does it deliciously well.

“The King,” troubled as he may have been, was no villain.  Nor did he look like one. This movie got the costume right, but everything above the neck was a problem.

Angelina Jolie as Christine Collins - Changeling

Is there an actress in Hollywood with more striking features than Angelina Jolie?  Her face is known throughout the world. Attempts to change her appearance, or make her more homely, have not gone well.

The good news with this one is that few know what the real Christine Collins looked like.

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Images via Universal Studios/Unknown author, Public Domain

But there she is, right next to Jolie in Changeling, the story of Collins’s harrowing ordeal in search of her missing son.

The movie turned out great, thanks in large part to Jolie’s powerful performance.  But she was never going to look like the woman she was playing, no matter how hard they tried.

John Wayne as Genghis Khan - The Conqueror

Here’s one that would never happen today.  John Wayne was a mega movie star and could play whomever he wanted.  If the studios sought a big name for their picture, he’d be at the top of every list.

Maybe finding a Mongolian actor to play Genghis Khan was just too difficult.

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Images via RKO Radio Pictures/Unknown author, Public Domain

Or maybe they were counting on Wayne’s name to make the movie a hit.  Surprisingly, the film did well at the box office. Critics hated it, however.  And Wayne, who lobbied for the role, was criticized for taking it.

Even a blind man could see that this choice was a disaster.

Margot Robbie as Elizabeth I - Mary Queen of Scots

There are enough surviving paintings of Queen Elizabeth I to give us a pretty good idea of what she actually looked like.  Cate Blanchett played her well - twice, in fact. Did she look like her? Not really.

But Margot Robbie?  That one’s not even close.

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Images via Focus Features/Unknown author, Public Domain

Robbie looked more like Tanya Harding (I, Tanya) than she did Elizabeth.  Curiously, the hair and makeup department only bothered to make her face whiter and change her hair.

If the title of the film didn’t set us in a particular era, we might not even know who Robbie was supposed to be.  Hence, she belongs on this list.

Denzel Washington as Frank Lucas - American Gangster

Playing the more widely known and photographed Malcolm X, Denzel Washington was his spitting image.  That’s a rarity in Hollywood—a big star actually resembling a well known figure.

Cast as the more obscure baddie Frank Lucas, Washington delivers another powerhouse performance.  He just doesn’t look like the guy.

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Images via Universal Pictures/United States Government, Public Domain

Ironically, Chiwetel Ejiofor, who plays Huey Lucas in the film (Frank’s brother), looks more like Frank than Washington does.

But Ejiofor isn’t the star that Washington is.  And in a $100-million movie, star power is more important than matching history perfectly.

Nick Nolte as Thomas Jefferson - Jefferson in Paris

Nick Nolte was a strange choice for this role.  The filmmakers figured they could stick a wig on the guy and no one would know the difference.

Problem is, there are trusted works of art depicting our third president of the United States.  In none of them does Nick Nolte come to mind.

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Images via Buena Vista Pictures/Charles Willson Peale, Public Domain

Other actors have tried their hand at playing Jefferson.  Among them, Charlton Heston and Kevin Kline. But Nolte is our pick for the furthest from the mark, and you can see why.

For what it’s worth, the movie is all conjecture, and nobody liked it.

Robert Redford as Harry Longabaugh - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Robert Redford has one of the best known faces in the history of cinema.  His golden locks are rather iconic as well.

Anyone who has seen Bob Woodward knows that Redford could not be further in appearance from him (All the President’s Men).  But we went with a lesser known figure.

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Images via 20th Century Fox/DeYoung Photography Studio, Library of Congress, Public Domain

Harry Longabaugh is a name few are familiar with.  Most have heard of the Sundance Kid, however.

If you had to cast the role based on that photo, Redford’s name probably wouldn’t be on it.  And yet, Sundance is a name synonymous with Redford a half a century after the movie’s release.

Robin Williams as Patch Adams - Patch Adams

Robin Williams looked more like Teddy Roosevelt (Night at the Museum) than he did Patch Adams.  (And he didn’t particularly look like Roosevelt, either.)

Have a look at these two. Why in the world would Williams be the choice to play the eccentric doctor?

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Images via Universal Pictures

Well, few could balance comedy and drama quite like Robin Williams.  And fresh off his Best Supporting Actor turn in Good Will Hunting, the studio took full advantage.

Who better to deliver upsetting medical news than one of American’s greatest comedians?  He was great in the role. Just don’t try to make the case that they look alike. These two couldn’t even be distant cousins.

Jon Voight as Howard Cosell - Ali

Jon Voight is a chameleon of the cinema.  He’s played many historical figures, George Washington and Pope John Paul II among them!

In Ali, he takes a crack at legendary sportscaster Howard Cosell.  The problem with Cosell, as with many others on this list, is that he had a look all his own.

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Images via Columbia Pictures/ABC Television, Public Domain

Because Voight doesn’t naturally bear any resemblance to Cosell, they opted to cover him in makeup and prosthetics to achieve Cosell’s appearance.

The result was something terrifying.  Sometimes movie tricks have the wrong effect.  Here, they managed to make Voight look less like a person, and more like a person wearing a person mask.  Yikes.

Johnny Depp as J.M. Barrie - Finding Neverland

Johnny Depp has gone the extra mile many a time to disguise himself.  He’s almost unrecognizable in Black Mass playing Whitey Bulger. And his performance in Ed Wood is so out there, you forget you’re watching Johnny Depp.

A Scottish brogue isn’t enough to fool us in this one.

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Images via Miramax Films/George Charles Beresford - The National Portrait Gallery, London, Public Domain

The real J.M. Barrie, author of “Peter Pan,” is not a face we immediately know.  There he is, next to Depp. Does Depp look anything like Barrie? Nope.

So who does Depp look like in the role?  Easy: Johnny Depp. Other than the accent, he does nothing to disappear into the role.  A strange choice considering the actor in question.