14 Movie Stars Who Played Their Own Parents Onscreen
In the movie world, it's quite normal when actors portray the relationship between parents and children, or themself in a younger version, which requires look-alike actors for that movie role. So, no one can play a younger version role better than the child of these actors.
Mamie Gummer and Meryl Streep look almost identical. Max Winkler and his dad Henry have astonishingly similar traits. Melissa Rivers could easily pass as her mother Joan. Let's take a look at some movies that these movie stars who played their parents. Scroll down and check them out!
The Rock made a guest appearance as his father, Rocky Johnson. The superstar wrestler of the 70s alongside Tony Atlas became the first Black champion in WWE history. In the show, Red (Kurtwood Smith) takes Eric (Topher Grace) and his friends to a wrestling match, where they meet Rocky.
Rocky tells Red that his son (The Rock) is going to be "the hottest man in sports Entertainment."
Michael needed more acting experience when he signed on to play the young Soprano. The first thing he had to do was get acquainted with a performance he had never seen.
"I was just a kid when he made it," said Michael. "I would go to the set and ask him what it was about, and he'd say, ‘Oh, it's about this guy who's in the mob and kind of goes to therapy.'"
The green actor will also have to watch some of his late father's movies in preparation. (Michael was 14 years old when his father died suddenly in 2013.)
“It was an intense process. Because, as an actor, I had to watch this guy who created the role, to look for mannerisms, voice, all those things I would have to echo,” explained Michael. “But then I'd also be seeing my father. I think what made it so hard was I had to do it alone. I was just sitting alone in my dark apartment, watching my dad all the time.”
This scene could be Alice's first appearance on 30 Rock. However, Fey, who has called her daughter "the funniest person in my family," is responsible for the acclaimed show's most famous line, "I want to go there."
Gummer and Streep, who share an uncanny resemblance, also played mother and daughter onscreen in the sensational 2015 film Ricki and the Flash.
“I am among four other people on the planet that would not be actually intimidated by my mom, the others being the other people I'm related to. It was a really wonderful experience,” Gummer talks about working with her mother. “Honestly it was, it was really profound and one that I will treasure.”
Straight Outta Compton was Jackson's first feature film. When the movie started production, Ice Cube didn't interfere too much with his son's starting work but would help if needed.
“He would call me every day to ask how I was feeling and let me know where his head was during that scene in real life,” said Jackson Jr. “That helped me to add to it and make it real. But my whole process with this film is Gary Gray (the director) taking the time and the technique to mold me into something nice. I appreciate Gary - he has given me some confidence that I can take into my next venture and beyond.”
Ice Cube said that seeing his look-alike son portray his teenage self was like “Back to the Future.”
“I’ve seen him rap my songs before onstage with me,” added Ice Cube. “So to see him do this on the big screen, it was great. I wasn’t surprised that he was so good, because I knew how good he was.”
Even though it was only a small role, Rivers had to consider whether she would be comfortable playing her beloved mother who passed away in 2013.
The appeal of working with an A-list cast that featured Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence helped shake Rivers. However, she admits that applying makeup to look like her mother is a strange experience."I think I was more confused during the hair and makeup tests than when I got to the set," Rivers said.
In a strange meta move, LaBeouf plays his father James (his real-life name is Jeffrey) in the 2019 TV series. He even used a slight method of wearing nose plugs during production so that he could mimic his father's nasal voice.
“What was very clear from the script was the relationship between father and son: the exploring and competition between them; the expectation of masculinity; the frustration and the shame of the father as well as the love and the need for approval from the child and the position he found himself in, needing to actually pay his father for chaperoning him,” said director Alma Har’el. “All of that, combined with my own inclination for this topic - because I too am a child of an alcoholic - made for perfectly ripe material for me to want to dive into.”
“He told me, what’s important right now is that Hiram the character is very different as a kid as he is as an adult; he’s not going to be like me. So make it your own thing,” said Consuelos. “You see what kind of guy [Hiram] was, and it makes the eventual person he becomes all the more tragic - and a bit poetic, I think.”
Bacon makes his directorial debut in Loverboy. Both of their children, Sosie (who impressed in Smile, 13 Reasons Why, and The Mare of Easttown) and Travis had small roles in the 2005 independent drama about a possessive mother.
Sosie plays the 10-year-old version of her mother's character Emily.“Directing the kids, was a little bit different. It's weird to have your kids go to a darker, emotional place,” stated Bacon in 2006. “It's something we vowed we would never do. They never showed any interest in it anyway. This is just a situation where the part that Sosie [Bacon] played was kind of a no-brainer. I put on my director's hat. The director overruled the father.”
DeVaughn talks about how he's prepared to play his father. “[There were] secret recordings when I’m talking to him, [and I] put my phone in my pocket asking him some things I didn’t know,” Nixon revealed. “But really what it was, was the physical aspects. I had to cut weight, get down at his weight, and mimic his style of play. I had an ugly shot when I first started training. Our trainer, Idan Ravin, actually helped me craft my shot and mimic my dad’s shot.”
The Final Chapter is the sixth and final installment of the Resident Evil series. The project has become a family affair. Ever's father, Paul W.S. Anderson serves as the series' screenwriter and director.
Anderson revealed in a 2020 interview that she's not allowed to watch the R-rated action-thriller series. “I haven’t seen any of them!” said Anderson. “Not even the one I’m in! My parents won’t let me see them yet. I actually had my eighth birthday on set. They brought me a big cake which I got to share with the crew during our lunch break. There were zombies singing ‘Happy birthday,’ which was super weird and funny.”
Wallace talked about how it felt to paint a portrait of his father. “It was nerve-wracking. I was really scared,” revealed Wallace. “Playing your dad as a kid is scary when you’ve never had a conversation with your dad. Of course, my grandparents and my mom are always telling me, ‘You look just like him, you act just like him, you do all the same things,’ so it only made sense for me to play him. I was up for the challenge.”
However, it wasn't the last time Perry portrayed the same character as her Emmy-winning mother. Perry also played a younger version of Mary Cooper in The Big Bang Theory prequel to Young Sheldon.
Perry was asked if her mother had any suggestions for her playing Mary Cooper. “She's an actress too good and empathetic to take notes for other actors!” Perry replied. “She has been really supportive of me all this time and I feel fortunate to have shared this with her in that way. At the end of the day, she's a parent and she's happy to see her baby is fine.
The younger Winkler did not choose to stay on the acting side of Hollywood. Instead, like his father, Max pursued directing and producing. He's had great success backstage in TV shows like New Girl and American Horror Story.
Mamie Gummer and Meryl Streep look almost identical. Max Winkler and his dad Henry have astonishingly similar traits. Melissa Rivers could easily pass as her mother Joan. Let's take a look at some movies that these movie stars who played their parents. Scroll down and check them out!
#1 Dwayne Johnson In 'That '70s Show'
Source: Fox / Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons
The Rock made a guest appearance as his father, Rocky Johnson. The superstar wrestler of the 70s alongside Tony Atlas became the first Black champion in WWE history. In the show, Red (Kurtwood Smith) takes Eric (Topher Grace) and his friends to a wrestling match, where they meet Rocky.
Rocky tells Red that his son (The Rock) is going to be "the hottest man in sports Entertainment."
#2 Michael Gandolfini In 'The Many Saints of Newark'
Michael Gandolfini had a big shoe to fill when he landed the role of his father's signature character Tony Soprano in the prequel film The Many Saints of Newark. The 2021 crime drama is set in the 1960s and 70s when Tony was still a rebellious teenager, a few years away from becoming the head of the New Jersey mafia family.
Michael needed more acting experience when he signed on to play the young Soprano. The first thing he had to do was get acquainted with a performance he had never seen.
"I was just a kid when he made it," said Michael. "I would go to the set and ask him what it was about, and he'd say, ‘Oh, it's about this guy who's in the mob and kind of goes to therapy.'"
The green actor will also have to watch some of his late father's movies in preparation. (Michael was 14 years old when his father died suddenly in 2013.)
“It was an intense process. Because, as an actor, I had to watch this guy who created the role, to look for mannerisms, voice, all those things I would have to echo,” explained Michael. “But then I'd also be seeing my father. I think what made it so hard was I had to do it alone. I was just sitting alone in my dark apartment, watching my dad all the time.”
#3 Alice Richmond In '30 Rock'
The meta elements of 30 Rock, a sitcom about making sitcoms, took to the next level in a 2012 episode called “Mazel Tov, Dummies.” Tina Fey's character Liz Lemon has a childhood flashback about her real-life 7-year-old daughter Alice Richmond. There's a quick way to get young Lemon to roll her eyes at a wedding. Rolling eyes has become a staple for adult Liz Lemon.
This scene could be Alice's first appearance on 30 Rock. However, Fey, who has called her daughter "the funniest person in my family," is responsible for the acclaimed show's most famous line, "I want to go there."
#4 Mamie Gummer In 'Evening'
Source: Focus Features / Focus Features
Gummer and Streep, who share an uncanny resemblance, also played mother and daughter onscreen in the sensational 2015 film Ricki and the Flash.
“I am among four other people on the planet that would not be actually intimidated by my mom, the others being the other people I'm related to. It was a really wonderful experience,” Gummer talks about working with her mother. “Honestly it was, it was really profound and one that I will treasure.”
#5 O’Shea Jackson Jr. In 'Straight Outta Compton'
Source: Universal Pictures / New Line Cinema
Straight Outta Compton was Jackson's first feature film. When the movie started production, Ice Cube didn't interfere too much with his son's starting work but would help if needed.
“He would call me every day to ask how I was feeling and let me know where his head was during that scene in real life,” said Jackson Jr. “That helped me to add to it and make it real. But my whole process with this film is Gary Gray (the director) taking the time and the technique to mold me into something nice. I appreciate Gary - he has given me some confidence that I can take into my next venture and beyond.”
Ice Cube said that seeing his look-alike son portray his teenage self was like “Back to the Future.”
“I’ve seen him rap my songs before onstage with me,” added Ice Cube. “So to see him do this on the big screen, it was great. I wasn’t surprised that he was so good, because I knew how good he was.”
#6 Melissa Rivers In 'Joy'
Source: 20th Century Fox / PBS
Even though it was only a small role, Rivers had to consider whether she would be comfortable playing her beloved mother who passed away in 2013.
The appeal of working with an A-list cast that featured Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence helped shake Rivers. However, she admits that applying makeup to look like her mother is a strange experience."I think I was more confused during the hair and makeup tests than when I got to the set," Rivers said.
#7 Shia LaBeouf In 'Honey Boy'
Source: amazon
In a strange meta move, LaBeouf plays his father James (his real-life name is Jeffrey) in the 2019 TV series. He even used a slight method of wearing nose plugs during production so that he could mimic his father's nasal voice.
“What was very clear from the script was the relationship between father and son: the exploring and competition between them; the expectation of masculinity; the frustration and the shame of the father as well as the love and the need for approval from the child and the position he found himself in, needing to actually pay his father for chaperoning him,” said director Alma Har’el. “All of that, combined with my own inclination for this topic - because I too am a child of an alcoholic - made for perfectly ripe material for me to want to dive into.”
#8 Michael Joseph Consuelos In 'Riverdale'
Michael Consuelos made a guest appearance as a younger version of his father Mark's character Hiram Lodge in Season 3 of Riverdale. Elder Consuelos gave his son good advice on how to approach Hiram.
“He told me, what’s important right now is that Hiram the character is very different as a kid as he is as an adult; he’s not going to be like me. So make it your own thing,” said Consuelos. “You see what kind of guy [Hiram] was, and it makes the eventual person he becomes all the more tragic - and a bit poetic, I think.”
#9 Sosie Bacon In 'Loverboy'
Kevin Bacon and his wife Kyra Sedgwick decided to break their rules about what their kids perform on their projects. Bacon ra mắt đạo diễn trong Loverboy.
Bacon makes his directorial debut in Loverboy. Both of their children, Sosie (who impressed in Smile, 13 Reasons Why, and The Mare of Easttown) and Travis had small roles in the 2005 independent drama about a possessive mother.
Sosie plays the 10-year-old version of her mother's character Emily.“Directing the kids, was a little bit different. It's weird to have your kids go to a darker, emotional place,” stated Bacon in 2006. “It's something we vowed we would never do. They never showed any interest in it anyway. This is just a situation where the part that Sosie [Bacon] played was kind of a no-brainer. I put on my director's hat. The director overruled the father.”
#10 DeVaughn Nixon In 'Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty'
Source: HBO / Angela George/Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA 3.0
DeVaughn talks about how he's prepared to play his father. “[There were] secret recordings when I’m talking to him, [and I] put my phone in my pocket asking him some things I didn’t know,” Nixon revealed. “But really what it was, was the physical aspects. I had to cut weight, get down at his weight, and mimic his style of play. I had an ugly shot when I first started training. Our trainer, Idan Ravin, actually helped me craft my shot and mimic my dad’s shot.”
#11 Ever Gabo Anderson In 'Resident Evil: The Final Chapter'
Source: Sony Pictures Releasing / Sony Pictures Releasing
The Final Chapter is the sixth and final installment of the Resident Evil series. The project has become a family affair. Ever's father, Paul W.S. Anderson serves as the series' screenwriter and director.
Anderson revealed in a 2020 interview that she's not allowed to watch the R-rated action-thriller series. “I haven’t seen any of them!” said Anderson. “Not even the one I’m in! My parents won’t let me see them yet. I actually had my eighth birthday on set. They brought me a big cake which I got to share with the crew during our lunch break. There were zombies singing ‘Happy birthday,’ which was super weird and funny.”
#12 Christopher Wallace Jr. In 'Notorious'
Source: Bad Boy / Fox Searchlight Pictures
Wallace talked about how it felt to paint a portrait of his father. “It was nerve-wracking. I was really scared,” revealed Wallace. “Playing your dad as a kid is scary when you’ve never had a conversation with your dad. Of course, my grandparents and my mom are always telling me, ‘You look just like him, you act just like him, you do all the same things,’ so it only made sense for me to play him. I was up for the challenge.”
#13 Zoe Perry In 'Roseanne'
Actress Zoe Perry played a younger version of her mother Laurie Metcalf (Roseanne's older sister) and Jackie Harris (Roseanne's older sister) in a 1992 Halloween episode of Roseanne.
However, it wasn't the last time Perry portrayed the same character as her Emmy-winning mother. Perry also played a younger version of Mary Cooper in The Big Bang Theory prequel to Young Sheldon.
Perry was asked if her mother had any suggestions for her playing Mary Cooper. “She's an actress too good and empathetic to take notes for other actors!” Perry replied. “She has been really supportive of me all this time and I feel fortunate to have shared this with her in that way. At the end of the day, she's a parent and she's happy to see her baby is fine.
#14 Max Winkler In 'Arrested Development'
Max Winkler, Henry Winkler's son, played a younger version of his father's goofy lawyer Barry Zuckerkorn in three episodes of Season 4 of Arrested Development.
The younger Winkler did not choose to stay on the acting side of Hollywood. Instead, like his father, Max pursued directing and producing. He's had great success backstage in TV shows like New Girl and American Horror Story.
Share this article
Advertisement