10 Movie Stars Who Landed Their Famous Roles By Lying

As the old saying goes, fake it till you make it. We can not stay 100% honest all the time in our life, otherwise, we will die in poverty and loneliness. Everybody lies a little when they’re looking for a job. Some exaggerate their skills and some come up with fake work experiences. Celebrities are no exception. Turned out there were quite a number of stars who landed their famous roles by lying.
So what tricks did these actors use? What did they change in their resumes? To find out the answer to those questions, here is a list of 10 movie stars who landed their famous roles by lying.

1. Tenoch Huerta

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Tenoch Huerta hit a jackpot with his role as the villain in Marvel’s newest movie Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. However, the actor admitted in a 2022 interview that he has to lie a little to get the part. When the director asked Tenoch if he knew how to swim, he responded: “I’ve never drowned.”
The straight answer would be he didn't know how to swim. However, it’s this ambiguous response that got him the part and the chance to carry on with the negotiations. Tenoch did learn how to swim after he got the part though.

2. Morgan Freeman

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Morgan Freeman was not supposed to be in the movie Oblivion. Originally, he was only hired to do the voiceover for the film as his voice is perfect for narrating the story. However, Freeman wanted to have a bigger part in the project, so he told director Joseph Kosinski that he had some throat issues that prevented him from speaking after they hired him. In the end, he got some screen time and a badass character to portray.

3. Robert Pattinson

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After Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Robert Pattinson had some trouble finding new work. After a long time of going unemployed, he lied to the casting directors about his educational background. He told them that he spent his past few years studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, which is one of the best theater schools in the world.
Pattinson also lied to his casting agents that he went to Oxford. He got away with his lies thanks to his English accent, but it quickly lost its charm when more and more English people started moving to Los Angeles. Pattinson then switched to pretending to be an American for his role in Twilight, but people thought he was insane so he stopped.

4. George Clooney

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George Clooney had to lie to get parts at the beginning of his career. He was unable to join the Screen Actors Guild, but without joining it he wouldn’t get a job in the industry. So he did what everybody else at that time did: made up some fake credits to get in. However, his lies were caught in one fateful casting call.
He lied to the director and faked his credit as usual. Unfortunately for him, the casting director actually worked in that movie he talked about and she obviously didn’t remember working with Clooney. He begged her to give him a chance, and she did. She didn’t give him any role, but she did help him to get his SAG card, which only then did his career start to flourish. So technically he got all his famous roles thanks to that one fateful meeting.

5. Anne Hathaway

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Anne Hathaway lied to director Ang Lee that she knew how to ride a horse so she could have a part in Brokeback Mountain. The actress was able to learn horseback riding really fast and she got quite good at it. However, things soon turn bad when nobody informed Hathaway that her horse was a "verbal command horse."
The actress went to a rehearsal in front of 300 extras with experiences working in rodeos, and her horse wouldn't follow her directions. In the end, the horse threw her to the ground in front of everyone, which was very embarrassing for Hathaway.

6. Laurence Fishburne

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Laurence Fishburne was too young for his role of Tyrone Miller, or we might know him as Mr. Clean in Apocalypse Now. So he lied that he was 16 when in reality he was only 14 at the time. The actor recalled his interview with director Francis Ford Coppola, saying Coppola stopped abruptly and asked a secretary if she believed Fishburne could pass for 18. The secretary said yes, and that was how Fishburne got his part.

7. Hugh Laurie

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Hugh Laurie didn’t outright lie to the director that he was an American. He just faked his accent. To get his famous role as Doctor House in the series of the same name, Laurie recorded his audition tape faking the American accent. His performance was so brilliant that the director 100% completely thought that he was an American, not an Englishman. He even said: “See? This is what I want, an American guy.”

8. Whoopi Goldberg

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Whoopi Goldberg started her acting career at the young age of 14. However, she was too young to be hired, so she lied about her age and claimed she was much older. Thanks to her lies, she got into musicals and church choirs like Jesus Christ Superstar. She would later become one of the few EGOT artists, which are people who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Awards.

9. Lisanne Falk

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On the other hand, Lisanne Falk lied to the Heathers casting directors that she was 19 years old even though she was 23 at that time. The actress read the script and just knew that part must belong to her, so she took her chance and risked it all. Her lies were going quite smoothly until she casually told people she was living with her boyfriend.
People were surprised and asked her if her mother allowed that. Falk was exposed and had to confess the truth about her age, but she did such a fantastic job that nobody cared about her real age anymore.

10. Chris Hemsworth

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Chris Hemsworth has been refused many times when he went to auditions in the past. The problem wasn’t about his acting, but it was about his height. Hemsworth is 6'3", but he would lie about his height and say he was a little bit shorter to get parts in movies. Lucky for him, the casting call for Thor gave a height minimum of 6'1", which he passed with flying colors.
Those are 10 stars who landed their famous roles by lying. Unlike these lucky guys, there are other movie stars who lost their chance to play iconic roles due to their terrible auditions. Their stories are embarrassing but kinda hilarious, so let’s find out here.