30 Actors Who Look Uncannily Like the Real-Life People They Played (31 photos)

When casting a biopic, directors walk a fine line between finding actors who look like their real-life counterparts and choosing performers with the raw talent needed to bring a vision to life. When those two qualities align, the magic is undeniable—giving us unforgettable performances that bring historical figures back to life on screen.





The success of a biopic is a team effort, owing just as much to casting directors and makeup artists as to the stars themselves. Playing a real person is widely considered one of the most challenging—and rewarding—jobs in Hollywood. Because these figures are often public legends, actors must dive into mountains of archival material to nail every nuance of the role.



Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles in "Ray."





Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln in "Lincoln."



Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison in "The Doors."



Robert Downey Jr. as Charlie Chaplin in "Chaplin."



Ben Kingsley as Mahatma Gandhi in "Gandhi."



Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs in "Jobs."



Denzel Washington as Malcolm X in "Malcolm X."



André 3000 as Jimi Hendrix in "Jimi: All Is by My Side."



Jennifer Lopez as Selena Quintanilla in "Selena."



Adrien Brody as Salvador Dalí in "Midnight in Paris."



Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady."



Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb as Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen in "Sid and Nancy."



Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II in "The Queen."



Anthony Hopkins as Alfred Hitchcock in "Hitchcock."



Salma Hayek as Frida Kahlo in "Frida."



Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones as Stephen and Jane Hawking in "The Theory of Everything."



Marion Cotillard as Édith Piaf in "La Vie en Rose."



Charlize Theron as Aileen Wuornos in "Monster."



Geoffrey Rush as Peter Sellers in "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers."



Anthony Hopkins as Pablo Picasso in "Surviving Picasso."



Hilary Swank as Amelia Earhart in "Amelia."



Audrey Tautou as Coco Chanel in "Coco Before Chanel."



Left: Edie Sedgwick and Andy Warhol. Right: Sienna Miller and Guy Pearce.



Hannah Taylor-Gordon as Anne Frank in the miniseries "Anne Frank: The Whole Story."



Jared Leto as John Lennon's assassin Mark David Chapman in "Chapter 27."



James Stewart (right) as Glenn Miller in "The Glenn Miller Story."



Oscar Wilde alongside actor Stephen Fry portraying him.



Sherilyn Fenn as Elizabeth Taylor in "Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story."



Nicole Kidman as Virginia Woolf.



Lawrence of Arabia and actor Peter O'Toole.