Maybe I’m the ony one that cares about this, but I have become obsessed (not really…ok maybe a little bit) with actors that play teenagers on TV whose first major role was as a teenager on another TV show. Case in point: Vanessa Lengies
Vanessa is 26 years old. Currently she’s on Glee as Sugar Motta and is approximately 16 years old (that comes from some real hard research). That brings her to playing a character 10 years younger than her actual age. Her first major TV role was as Roxanne Bojarski on American Dreams. She was 15 years old on the show when it began. The show began airing in 2002 (10 years ago) which made her 15/16. She was basically the same age as her character.
Maybe Vanessa has been locked in a special room with other actors for when they need to cast a show with teenagers when real teenagers just won’t do.
I find these interesting, too. Like Jenna on Pretty Little Liars, who I first saw playing a teenager on Home and Away when I was a teenager. Now I’m 33, and she’s a teenager again.
It can backfire, though: when they introduced Maya on the same show, I didn’t get why she was treated Emily like a peer when she was clearly at least 15 years older. I don’t think I could take in any of their conversation because the situation seemed so weird. Then I realised they were supposed to be the same age.
It’s like Gabrielle Carteris all over again.
