7 Actors Who Fibbed To Get The Roles

Elise Feyrer

Who among us hasn't exaggerated their qualifications on a resume? The odds of becoming a famous actor or actress are one in a million, so it's not surprising that many famous people on this list embellished their resumes to land roles. Check out these well-known actors who lied to acquire movie roles without passing judgment.
One well-known actress on this list pretended to enjoy horses while being allergic to and scared of the animals. Another actor boasted he had amazing volleyball abilities, but when it came time to serve and volley, he looked like a fool in front of the film’s cast and crew. Multiple actors have fabricated riding credentials. Significantly more than one may assume. The stories of these and other Hollywood heavy hitters who fibbed their way to the top are worth reading.

1. Mila Kunis

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To get the job of Jackie Burkhart on That '70s Show, Mila Kunis acknowledged in 2012 on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno that she had lied about her age. Everyone who tried out for the role was required to be 18 or older. When Kunis was 14, she was in eighth grade. She told Leno, "While I was 14 years old, I lied and said I was a bit older. I lied and said I would be 18 when I wasn't, but it's not entirely false."

2. Eddie Redmayne

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Make believe till you make it... or die trying. To land the role of Elizabeth I, Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne lied to director Tom Hooper and said he had extensive experience riding horses. The disastrous scene saw Redmayne riding a big stallion surrounded by 40 other stuntmen on horses with Helen Mirren waiting in the wings.
"They gave the order to "take immediate action," and I dove headfirst at a rate of 100 kilometers per hour. Almost the entire team and I were slain. "On Conan O'Brien's late program, Redmayne made the announcement. You're a f*cking liar, Redmayne," Tom Hooper says via a massive loudspeaker as he appears from behind Helen Mirren.

3. George Clooney

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George Clooney must join the Screen Actors Guild if he wants to have any hope of landing respectable assignments in Hollywood. He lied about being in the film Cat People during his audition. Clooney lied to a casting director who happened to be in charge of casting Cat People, which led to him being passed over for the role. You couldn't be hired without being a member of the Screen Actors Guild, so everyone made up fake credits to join. You could do whatever you wanted since nobody had internet.

4. Laura Fraser

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Laura Fraser lied to studio executives when they asked if she spoke German to land the role of Lydia Rodarte-Quayle, the high-powered executive and black marketeer on AMC's Breaking Bad. The Scottish actress eventually revealed that she had lied to get the part after being cast and making an appearance on the show. Fraser does not speak German beyond a few elementary school lessons.

5. Laurence Fishburne

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At 11, Laurence Fishburne made his acting debut on the daytime serial opera One Life to Live, in which he played Josh Hall. After a while on One Life to Live, he decided to move on to a new role, that of Tyrone Miller/Mr. Clean in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse. At that time, he was just 14 years old. I don't see how a 14-year-old youngster could be cast as a soldier in that brutal Vietnam War film.
His words were false. When asked by Coppola how old he was, Fishburne lied and said he was 16. From 1976-1978, the actor lived in the Philippine jungles while filming the movie and shared set space with such Hollywood greats as Martin Sheen, Dennis Hopper, Marlon Brando, and Robert Duvall.

6. Chloë Grace Moretz

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Those who believe a young woman can't trick an old director are just plain wrong. During her audition for the role of Isabelle in Martin Scorsese's 2011 film Hugo, Georgian-born Chlo Grace Moretz fooled the Academy Award–winning director into thinking she was British.

7. Robert Pattinson

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The name Robert Pattinson is synonymous with Hollywood. The British actor struggled to find employment for years until he was cast as Edward Cullen in the Twilight films. After two years of trying to make it as an actor in Los Angeles, he eventually became desperate and fabricated some information.
Pattinson lied on his résumé and claimed to have studied at RADA and Oxford. He would sometimes pretend to be an American further to distinguish himself from the sea of other British performers. Whether it was Pattinson's talent as an actor or his invented history, he was cast as Cedric Diggory in 2005's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and his career took off.