History’s most mind-melting celebrity doppelgangers

Brad Pitt

What do American actor and producer Brad Pitt and Swiss psychologist and psychoanalyst Hermann Rorschach have in common? Uhh, probably not that much more than some fantastic hair and looks that could kill.

If the man with the good looks sounds familiar, it’s because he was the genius behind the looks test – the Rorschach Test, that is.

Though he only lived to age 37, Rorschach’s left a significant legacy, especially in the famous inkblot test that has become a stalwart in psychological testing. Significant as Rorschach’s impact on neurology and psychology was and still is, the world could always use a second Brad Pitt, because you know… Brad Pitt.

Orlando Bloom

Long before movie lovers had the hunky action hero Orlando Bloom to ogle, Romania gifted the world a prototype of the Bloom we know today in the form of Nicolae Grigorescu.

Born in 1838, Girgorescu grew to be a key figure in helping found modern Romanian painting.

Girgorescu honed his craft while studying at the Barbizon School, blending his taste for pointillist and impressionist styles alongside other pioneers of the period like Jean-Francois Millet and Gustave Courbet.

It’s a shame Bloom wasn’t around for Girgorescu to paint up a “self” portrait. That certainly would’ve made his life a bit easier.

Macaulay Culkin

Everyone’s favorite holiday hero, Macaulay Culkin, delivered a pair of Christmas classics in Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, but his childhood doppelganger is a long way away from being America’s most adored (and adorable) adolescent.

Culkin — in all of his ‘90s glory — sure does look a lot like a certain someone from overseas.who’s name comes up in the news from time to time. Has this supposed “Chicagoan” manage to gain America’s love and affection only to reveal that he’s Russian all along? No, he couldn’t have been puttin one over on us, could he? Wait a sec…he gets lost in New York then meets the future Mr. Prez at the Plaza Hotel…

*Slaps cheeks* AAAAAHHH!

Queen Latifah

Queen Latifah is a jack of all trades when it comes to the arts. She raps, writes her own lyrics, acts and even serves as producer.

She’s also a world-renowned essayist and author, who is definitely actually Zora Neale Hurston and not actually Queen Latifah. Whoa.

Hurston, who wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God, an incredibly influential African-American author who helped spearhead the Harlem Renaissance, paving the way for so many artists to grow and prosper in a world of opportunity.

Queen Latifah may not be busting out any American classics, but she sure is continuing Hurston’s overwhelming success in the arts.

Leonardo DiCaprio

Boys around the world could only dream of having the looks and charm of Leonardo DiCaprio. The beloved actor has been in countless classics since his childhood, but this heartthrob has apparently been around way longer than when he burst onto the Hollywood scene in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? in 1993.

Yup, turns out Leo was already carving out a well-rounded body of work back in the ‘60s(?) in his role as Judy Zipper: Grade School Girl.

Though the footage of his work as grade school girl Judy Zipper has never surfaced, it was surely crucial in developing Leo into the legendary actor we know.

Ellen DeGeneres

Hardcore fans of Ellen DeGeneres have been following her journey since way before she was a talk show host when she was working as a comedian.

Talented of a comic as she was — and she totally crushed — even the most diehard fan may not realize that DeGeneres’ greatest work was as a poet and essayist.

Of course, when DeGeneres was putting pencil to paper (and absolutely NOT pen), she was going by her pen name, Henry David Thoreau.

That’s right — the shining star of daytime television also happens to be the transcendentalist who authored the American classic, Walden. Now if she’d only bring back the beard.

Charlie Sheen

No doubt, Charlie Sheen does not care what anyone says or thinks. He does what he wants and lives his life freely.

Fun fact: Sheen has always been a man who isn’t afraid to stir up controversy when it comes to living freely. Just look at the pre-Civil War era Charlie Sheen. Winning!

This Charlie Sheen before Charlie Sheen man is famed abolitionist John Brown, who led a famous slave rebellion and raid on Harper’s Ferry. Was Brown, the famous and heroic martyr, reborn as the free-spirited Sheen? Probably not, but it totally feels like he’d be the guy for the role if Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure had made a pit stop.

Chuck Norris

Someone once joked that the chief export of Chuck Norris is pain. What that person must’ve meant is that Chuck Norris is the chief export of paint, because there is no way that he and Vincent van Gogh are not one and the same.

It actually makes a lot of sense that the mean-mugging post-Impressionist painter is also a world-class karate expert. What another bearded man with that iconic stoic expression could possibly be tough enough to sever his own ear?

It wasn’t that Norris was the Dutch painter in a past life before dying — he merely lived as the famous artist before being reborn as a fighter.

Matthew McConaughey

In 2016, reddit user EmberRainbow posted a picture, stating, “My great-great-grandfather looks just like Matthew McConaughey.” This person was NOT messing around with the comparison, because the marvelously mustachioed man they call great-great-grandpa may as well be a time-traveling Matthew McConaughey mirror. (Or maybe it was a Lincoln town car with ‘Back to the Future’ capabilities).

Actually, this makes a lot of sense. McConaughey is no joke when it comes to acting, and what better way to hide than behind a whole host of masks right in plain sight? We never would have guessed! Acting like an actor so the world doesn’t know he’s truly a man from the future’s past. Genius.

Jimmy Kimmel

It’s hard to put into words just how incredible late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s personal journey has been. This though, this is just… wow. Some believe that most of Kimmel’s progression from his early days as a comedian was simply from chopping off his hair. But that doesn’t explain his skin’s healthy glow. The late-night talk show host’s identical twin seems to have lived around the Victorian Era, a time that his comedic style would not be as appreciated as it is today.

There’s no doubt that Kimmel underwent an unreal transformation since his time starring on his variety of Comedy Central shows. Whether dressed to the nines to host a talk show or in a dress to host The Man Show, we’re on board with all forms of Kimmel.

Jack Black

In some parallel universe out there, Jack Black and Paul Revere are not two separate entities in space and time, but one in the same. That world in which JP Blevere exists is either absolute chaos or funnier heaven than we can dream.

Honestly, America probably would’ve been in some serious trouble if that was Black riding on his horse, as, unlike Revere, he probably would have literally been shouting, “The British are coming!” throughout Massachusetts rather than riding in secrecy.

That may have kept the American Revolution from being a success, but boy would it have been a great goof.

Michael Jackson

Before Michael Jackson’s premature death at the age of 50, he cemented a legacy that made him one of the biggest icons in music and pop culture that defined the late 20th century. It didn’t quite leave the world with the same acclaim as the King of Pop, but this Egyptian bust sure inspired his look with eerily similar facial features.

An Egyptian bust was found by fans after the death of the king of pop, the one and only, Michael Jackson. Looks like MJ time-traveled back to 1050 BC to hold a concert in Egypt, and voila! They made him a statue so they could worship their new god!

John Travolta

In what has to be one of the most impressive hard sells in eBay’s history, we are given a glimpse at a Travolta in Time.

In 2011, this vintage picture had the fantastic headline “Original 1860s AMBROTYPE John TRAVOLTA REINCARNATION?”

With a subheading that reads, “A very young John Travolta Scientologist TIME TRAVELER?” you can’t say this person didn’t have a knack for sales. Best of all is that with Scientology’s firm belief in reincarnation, this eBay item is merely reaffirming what John Travolta may have believed.

Who knows, maybe Travolta ended up being the proud owner of this vintage Travolta piece.

Alec Baldwin

There’s no arguing that Alec Baldwin has found his comedic niche in “Saturday Night Live doubling” as a certain POTUS. It doesn’t matter how spot on his SNL impression is, nothing beats his impression of another US president, and he doesn’t need to mutter a single word to nail it.

Millard Fillmore, America’s 13th president, and Baldwin are one in the same. If Baldwin had a magic mirror to look back in time to see what his future looks like, boom. This fella. Bonus points for Baldwin, who can take solace in knowing he’s a lock for the job should there ever be a feature film on Fillmore made.

Since Fillmore is often regarded by academics as one of the worst presidents in US history, he’s probably been drooling at the thought of making this movie for years.

Matt Damon

Does everything in the world somehow always stem from reddit? Rhetorical question — of course it does.

In this instance, the Internet can thank Redditor coffeeandtrout (yum?) for delivering a lovely piece of pseudo-history of Matt Damon’s wedding on February 1, 1961.

Okay, so this is actually a photo from coffeeandtrout’s parents’ wedding day, which begs another big question. Is “trout” the dad’s surname and “coffee” the mom’s surname and “and” is how they did it back in the day before hyphens were a thing? The safe answer is yes, that’s obviously the answer. Very cut and dry. Glad we cleared up that mystery about Matt Trout-Coffee-Damon.

Paul Giamatti

Paul Giamatti has taken on countless roles in an acting career that has taken him from the stage to the silver screen since 1990. Despite having played a number of historic roles, including his award-winning performance in the eponymously named HBO series, John Adams, Giamatti has only starred in one Shakespeare play.

Only acting in one Shakespeare play doesn’t sound newsworthy until realizing that he is essentially William Shakespeare incarnate. The crazy hairline. The fire facial hair. Just throw on a gold hoop earring and the image of Giamatti and Billy Shakes will be one in the same. That, or just blast Shakespeare with the Blue Man Group treatment.

Shia LaBeouf

One of the biggest crimes of today is that some of the greatest minds and brightest thinkers are passed off as “broken brains” who are helpless or hopeless. One of, if not the most famous example of that is Albert Einstein, who was once said to be “unteachable” in an infamous school report.

The echoes of Einstein ring strong when talking about actor Shia LaBeouf. Sure, the lovable Disney Channel actor seems to have let a few screws turn loose as he grew into his silver screen stardom, but is that not to be expected in an artistic genius?

Comparing the minds of LaBeouf and Einstein may be a wee bit of a stretch, but they sure do look eerily similar (and we already know Shia can rock the wild hair like our main man, Al).

Peter Dinklage

Diego Velazquez was one of the most influential painters of the Spanish Golden Age. Among his many masterpieces is his portrait of Sebastian de Morra, the court dwarf and jester to Philip IV of Spain.

Thanks to television’s modern magnum opus, Game of Thrones, looking at Velazquez’s masterpiece feels like looking at a fictional period piece of Peter Dinklage’s portrayal of Tyrion Lannister.

Even though the Lannisters are of a royal lineage, which the court jester certainly is not, the stoic gaze of de Morra feels eerily similar to the stoicism Dinklage exudes throughout his portrayal of Lannister.

As if we needed any more convincing that Dinklage crushes it in this role, this should suffice.

Justin Timberlake

Justin Timberlake is THE man in Hollywood: He can sing, dance, act, produce. The list goes on.

As for the bizarre, bearded rendition of JT on the left, there isn’t exactly as much information on this handsome blast from the past.

The only info on this mystery man is that this picture is reportedly a mugshot from the late 1800s. Some say he rocked someone’s body to death, others believe he was booked for stealing that suit and tie, and a few even claim he was jailed for a crime of passion after his girlfriend was tearin’ up his heart.

The world may never know.

Keanu Reeves

The only thing that could have possibly made Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure any better is if their time (and space) travels took them to France in 1875 to crash this painting of actor Paul Mounet, aka Monsieur Old Timey Reeves.

Acclaimed French water-colorist Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel is responsible for the portrait of the long-haired acteur extraordinaire se ressembler Reeves.

Mounet spent his career on-stage in an array of Shakespeare plays, acting in silent films and as a professor at the Paris Conservatoire. All Reeves needs to do is have his own little stint in academia and the prophecy will be complete.

Johnny Depp

Shout out to our extended reddit fam for letting us into this little-known branch of the family tree. It turns out that the great grandfather of redditor mwjstone14 is actually none other than Johnny Depp.

From the chiseled jawline to that magnificent flow, these two are doing their best impression of one another.

This shines some new light on the mysterious life of Mr. Depp. Could it be he’s actually a time traveler, possibly even an ageless wonder?

It sure would put some credence to a number of his roles like Ichabod Crane in Sleepy Hollow and Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

Jennifer Lawrence

At a glance, this side by side of Jennifer Lawrence and her ridiculously spot on lookalike appears to be someone having fun with Photoshop, changing a color photo to black and white to make it look historic. Actually, even after staring at these two headshots for a while, it still all looks like J-Law.

The lady on the left is actually Egyptian actress Zubaida Tharwat.

While Tharwat enjoyed a long, successful acting career, we won’t make the leap and say Lawrence is a modern version of her Egyptian predecessor, as Tharwat went the distance with five marriages in her lifetime. We will agree, however, that we see “the most beautiful eyes in classic Egyptian cinema” in Lawrence.

Nicolas Cage

This historic photo is believed to trace back to around the time of the American Civil War. The weirdly Nicolas Cage looking man is reportedly Lt. Robert M. Smith of the Confederate Army. This portrait was reportedly taken some time after the war in the 1870s, meaning Nic Cage may have been doing some vamp slaying himself.

Lieutenant Smith was reportedly captured by the Union Army and held prisoner by the Union. So actually, Lt. Cage may have been on the wrong side of Honest Abe’s vampire quest.

Jokes aside, crazy as Cage is in half of his movie roles, we’d like to believe he’d have been on the right side of history. (Unless it was the Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Slayer version, he’d actually have made a pretty epic Southern vamp.)

Mark Zuckerberg

Here we were thinking that Mark Zuckerberg is “new money” rich, making his fortune on the biggest social media platform in the world. Turns out, he has been running things like royalty since way back in the Baroque era. Classic Zucks.

This portrait by the great Diego Velazquez looks more like some kind of historical caricature of the powerful king than anything. Spain gets a king who’s a patron of the arts, and this is how he gets repaid.

Fortunately, most of the other pictures look a lot less like a cartoon version of the Zucks and a lot more like… a person.

Conan O’Brien

Long before Conan O’Brien took his late-night talk show talents from New York to the West Coast, the comedic great was raised in Brookline, Mass before attending Harvard. That puts O’Brien very close on the map to his scary similar historical self.

The nearby neighbor in time is Civil War veteran turned senator Marshall Harvey Twitchell. For some reason, O’Brien doesn’t exactly give the vibe that he would’ve fared as well in the trenches with the Vermont infantrymen. A joke can only do so much when trying to “knock ‘em dead.” Yeah, that definitely would’ve been a tough crowd to work with.

Eddie Murphy

In 1999, Eddie Murphy starred in the dramedy, Life. Murphy’s character, Rayford “Ray” Gibson, is a pickpocket who is wrongly convicted of murder in 1932. All that really matters is that 1932 part, because Murphy’s character and this mystery man are one in the same.

Between the old school style and that identical marvelous mustache, the resemblance between Murphy and throwback Murphy are so uncanny, the photo looks like it could’ve easily passed for some background prop.

Let’s just hope the fate of this fella was a little less harsh than being tossed in the infamous Parchman Farm for life; like Murphy’s character.

Robin Williams

Robin Williams was a comedic genius and was incredibly influential as both a stand-up comedian and actor. The same can be said of Russian zoologist and Nobel Prize recipient Ilya Ilich Mechnikov, whose work is widely considered to have helped found the science of immunology. Not the comedic part, just the genius.

Ironically, the closest Williams gets to Mechkinov (doctor-wise, at least) is in Patch Adams, which is arguably one of the worst contributions to film he ever took part in. Don’t take our word for it, we’re just basing this off the overwhelmingly negative reviews by critics and Patch Adams, and you get the point.

Jimmy Fallon

By far one of the most jarring side-by-sides on the list is American comedian, actor and television host Jimmy Fallon and Turkish revolutionary Mahir Cayan. These two probably couldn’t have lived any more separate lives, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’re straight-up twins.

While Fallon has kept busy in a variety of comedic entertainment roles, Cayan was steeped in political dissonance, most famously creating the theory of artificial balance.

Maybe the eeriest parts of these uncanny lookalikes is that Fallon was born a mere two years after Cayan’s premature death in 1972. If this is Cayan reincarnate, life sure is a bit more light-hearted.

Larry David

From Seinfeld to Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry David has made an entire career out of talking about absolutely nothing and getting as many people around him angry or upset in the process. His historical doppelganger, William Lloyd Garrison, rubbed a lot of people the wrong way in his line of work too, though he spoke on quite an important issue.

Garrison was an abolitionist known for his work as an editor for The Liberator newspaper. Not only was he one of the major voices who spoke out against slavery, in the 1870s, he turned his attention to support the women’s suffrage movement.

Something about David’s way with words suggests he’d have made enemies in a way Garrison couldn’t imagine.

Maisie Williams

This blast from the past looks eerily similar to a girl from an even earlier time (in a much more fictional place). It turns out Maisie Williams—Arya Stark, as many of us know her by—of Game of Thrones lived a different past life other than her magically medieval one.

In 2016, Reddit user Gamble_MK9 posted a picture of their grandmother in 1936 – the resemblance is uncanny. Knowing the trippy way GoT plays with space and time, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see that this person’s grandma is the future past of our present-day Williams.

That’s easy enough to follow, right?

Dave Franco

The power of the Internet delivered a lookalike we wouldn’t mind seeing another 10 or 20 of sooner than later. The discoverer of Not Quite Dave Franco But Definitely Dave Franco came across the old photograph while hanging out at a friend’s house.

Turns out the friend’s uncle lived a life of Franco before Franco did. If there’s anything we can take away from this older version of the younger Franco it’s that he would still look dapper in a military uniform. Okay, we probably didn’t need a historical clone to prove that, but it never hurts to have proof.

John Krasinski

Since John Krasinski called it a wrap on The Office he’s taken under a new action hero persona with star roles in 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi and the Jack Ryan series. But are these heroic characters really so new?

Based on this 1835 portrait by Christen Kobke suggests Krasinski has been doing this hero thing for much longer under the pseudonym Carl Feilberg.

Feilberg was an Australian journalist who was an integral voice in the fight for human rights for Aboriginal people. Whether its present-day Krasinski or his historic doppelganger who fought harder than anyone for indigenous human rights, how can we not love seeing this face?

Maggie Gyllenhaal

A fun little tidbit most people don’t know about Maggie Gyllenhaal is that she began her acting career in the 1910s, playing the role of an author, using the pen name Rose Wilder Lane. That’s right, Jake Gyllenhaal’s big sis actually spent a lifetime writing alongside contemporaries like the great Ayn Rand before calling it “life” just nine years before starting her own.

Lane’s literary life has left its mark in a big way. Her mother, Laura Ingalls Wilder, authored the famous Little House on the Prairie. Not to be outdone, Lane’s works made a significant contribution to the foundation of libertarianism in the States.

Adrien Brody

Award-winning actor Adrien Brody has an accomplished body of work that is second to none in the acting world, but as moving as he has been when the cameras are rolling, none of his feats compare to that of his mirror image from another time.

This painting that looks like a geriatric Brody is actually the famous philosopher from England, John Locke. The many theories and writings of Locke served as the inspiration to the brightest minds in the Age of Enlightenment and even came to help create a skeleton of the United States Declaration of Independence.

Brody’s still got some years to put his two cents in on politics and philosophy before he looks like our late-aged Locke.

Anne Hathaway

Spanish painter Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes was a key figure in the romantic movement. Goya was considered one of the greatest portraitists of his time, but with this particular piece, it looks like he was painting the future.

This 1804 portrait, simply titled An Officer, appears to be a portrait of a mustachioed Anne Hathaway.

It as an admirable effort by Goya, who did his best Nostradamus impression trying to imagine what Hathaway might look like in a couple of hundred years. Just a little too much mustache for our modern Hathaway. Then again, maybe this would’ve been our beloved actor before getting a wax was a thing.

Steve Martin

Finding a Steve Martin lookalike is not exactly a once in a lifetime thing. There have literally been contests dedicated to who looks most like the famous comedic actor. Bill Nye (yes, the Science Guy) even won one of those contests when he was younger!

Not even Bill Nye is as epic as this doppelganger. Someone’s great-great-grandmother is the spitting image of Martin, and the photograph looks like she just heard the news and does NOT look like she’s taking the comparison well.

Can’t really argue her reaction to her future male reflection, probably feels better to look like a twin of the same sex.

George Carlin

This white-haired pair share two things in common: They look like the same dude, and they both have brilliant minds.

The man on the right is naturalist and biologist Charles Darwin, who we can thank for his contributions to understanding the science of evolution.

The man on the left is a brilliant mind of a very different type, as George Carlin’s career as a comedian focused on critiquing social and political issues. Carlin stood right at the head of the counterculture movement in the 1960s and beyond.

We have a whole lot to thank for both of their contributions in pointing out the absurdity of dated views and pushing us toward progress.

Tom Hiddleston

The theory that Keanu Reeves never ages is a popular one, as seen in our lifetime and his various historic depictions of him through the centuries.

London has its own accented version of an ageless actor with Tom Hiddleston, who has been apparently been acting for WAY longer than believed.

According to this awesomely costumed picture of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, Hiddleston was apparently carving out an acting career with Shakespearean performances in his past life too.

Tree was an acclaimed English actor, eventually taking over as manager of His Majesty’s Theatre in Westminster, London (interestingly enough, the same place Hiddleston was born.