Oldest Actors to Play Teens in Movies and TV
30 Actors Who Were Way Too Old to Play Teenagers on TV and in Movies
The Dear Evan Hansen trailer got a lot of attention for the awkward appearance of star Ben Platt, who, at age 27, is playing high school student Evan, just as he did in the Broadway version. While Platt's appearance is the the one that's making headlines right now, he's far from the first actor to play a teenager while actually being a decade or more older. It's got us wondering: who are some of the oldest actors ever to play teen characters?
We've sifted through tons of teen-focused TV shows and movies to try to find some of the most egregious examples of the gaps between characters and the actors playing them (for TV stars, we've based the ages off of the actors' ages when their characters first debuted on screen). You might be surprised to see which of your favorite actors played teenagers well into their 20s or 30s — or maybe not.
1 Keiko Agena as Lane Kim on Gilmore Girls: 27 Years Old
2 Selma Blair as Cecile Caldwell in Cruel Intentions: 27 Years Old
3 Alison Brie as Annie Edison on Community: 27 Years Old
4 Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase on Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 27 Years Old
5 Leonardo DiCaprio as Frank Abagnale Jr. in Catch Me If You Can: 27 Years Old
6 Darren Barnet as Paxton Hall-Yoshida on Never Have I Ever: 29 Years Old
7 Cory Monteith as Finn Hudson on Glee: 27 Years Old
8 Scott Porter as Jason Street on Friday Night Lights: 27 Years Old
9 Tammin Sursok as Jenna Marshall on Pretty Little Liars: 27 Years Old
10 Arden Cho as Kira Yukimura on Teen Wolf: 28 Years Old
11 Chase Stokes as John B in Outer Banks: 28 Years Old
12 Stacey Dash as Dionne Davenport in Clueless: 28 Years Old
13 Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man: 28 Years Old
14 Trina McGee as Angela Moore on Boy Meets World: 28 Years Old
15 Gabrielle Union as Isis in Bring It On: 28 Years Old
16 Gabrielle Carteris as Andrea Zuckerman on Beverly Hills 90210: 29 Years Old
17 Jason Earles as Jackson Stewart on Hannah Montana: 29 Years Old
18 Meredith Monroe as Andie McPhee on Dawson's Creek: 29 Years Old
19 Ashleigh Murray as Josie McCoy on Riverdale: 29 Years Old
20 Henry Winkler as Fonzi on Happy Days: 29 Years Old
21 Trevor Donovan as Teddy Montgomery on 90210: 30 Years Old
22 Alan Ruck as Cameron in Ferris Bueller's Day Off: 30 Years Old
23 Nicola Coughlin as Clare Devlin on Derry Girls: 31 Years Old
24 Laura Dreyfuss as McAfee Westbrook on The Politician: 31 Years Old
25 Timothy Granaderos as Montgomery de la Cruz on 13 Reasons Why: 32 Years Old
26 Stockard Channing as Rizzo in Grease: 34 Years Old
27 Rachel McAdams as Regina George in Mean Girls: 26 Years Old
28 Sean Patrick Thomas as Derek in Save the Last Dance: 30 Years Old
29 Bianca Lawson as Maya St. Germain in Pretty Little Liars: 33
30 Ben Platt as Evan Hansen in Dear Evan Hansen: 27 Years Old
