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These 12 Actors Have Pulled Double Duty by Playing Twins Onscreen

08/05/2020 - 12:20 AM

In the upcoming HBO adaptation of I Know This Much Is True [1], Mark Ruffalo [2] stars as twin brothers: literally acting opposite himself. He's the latest in a long line of actors who have played twins on screen, thanks to the magic of film (and the hard work of body doubles). While some of these dual roles have earned their actors tons of acclaim, others have been, let's say, much less acclaimed. Ahead, we're rounding up a dozen of the most memorable times that individual actors played a set of twins. Keep reading to see where you can see your favourite actors playing two characters at once!

Nicolas Cage in Adaptation

Cage actually received an Oscar nomination for his dual role in 2002's Adaptation. He plays a struggling screenwriter (working on the adaptation of the title) whose life gets turned upside down when his twin brother moves in with him.

Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin in Big Business

Two sets of twins in one movie, played by two actresses. Keeping up? Midler and Tomlin each play one set of twins in this comedy about a hospital mix-up at birth that results in two sets of twins accidentally getting mix-and-matched. As adults, the two sets of sisters cross paths and meet their real twins, and the whole thing unravels.

Adam Sandler in Jack and Jill

Playing twins can be awards bait, but it can also be a complete disaster. Sandler played a set of fraternal twins (complete with goofy wig and prosthetics) in this critically-panned comedy about the increasingly fraught relationship between ageing twins.

Tom Hardy in Legend

Hardy played a real-life set of twins in Legend back in 2015. He played Ronald and Reginald Kay, two real gangsters who were powerful in the criminal underworld of London in the 1960s. In real life, the Kay twins were celebrity criminals, but were eventually caught and imprisoned for life.

Christian Bale in The Prestige

The fact that Bale is playing twins in this twisty thriller about magicians comes as one of the biggest twists in the movie. He first appears to be playing one magician who's capable of seemingly impossible feats, but it turns out that he's able to do all these tricks because there's actually two of them pretending to be one man.

Armie Hammer in The Social Network

Hammer's breakout role came in the Facebook founding drama. With the help of a body double, he played both of the Winklevoss twins, two Harvard classmates of Mark Zuckerberg's who sued him, claiming he stole the ideas they'd asked him for help with and turned those ideas into Facebook.

Eddie Murphy in Bowfinger

In this 1999 satire of celebrity culture, Murphy played a set of twin brothers: unstable superstar Kit Ramsey and his shy, not-famous twin brother, Jiff. Murphy has played multiple characters in other films he's done, but this is the only one where he actually plays twins.

Leonardo DiCaprio in The Man in the Iron Mask

Adapted from a classic novel, The Man in the Iron Mask focuses on King Louis XIV, a brutal king of France, and his twin brother Philippe, here portrayed as the rightful king who's been usurped by his brother. The dual roles were his first roles after skyrocketing to fame in Titanic [3], although this movie definitely did not get the same level of positive reviews or box office.

Hayley Mills in The Parent Trap

In the 1961 original version of The Parent Trap [4], the young star played snobby Bostonian Susan Evers and tomboyish Californian Sharon McKendrick, two girls who clash at summer camp and come to realise they're long-lost twins. Mills was able to film scenes "opposite" herself thanks to the work of a body double and a film compositing process.

Lindsay Lohan in The Parent Trap

The 1998 remake introduced Lohan to the world for the first time, kicking off her film career. In this version, the twins she played were Annie, a snooty Brit (complete with accent!), and Hallie, a laid-back California girl.

Lisa Kudrow in Friends

We all know Kudrow's iconic role as Phoebe, but you might remember that she also played Phoebe's twin sister, Ursula! Ursula only shows up in a handful of episodes, but she definitely leaves a memorable impression.

James Franco in The Deuce

Franco plays a set of Mafia-associated twins in this 1970s-set crime drama. He plays Brooklyn brothers Vincent and Frankie Martino, a bartender and a gambler respectively, who agree to become fronts for mob activity in New York.


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