23 Actresses Who Played Moms to Actors the Same Age

Hollywood casting is truly a hit-or-miss situation. Sometimes the casting is so perfect that you couldn’t picture a better ensemble. Then, other times, you’re questioning how no one said anything to stop it from happening. Way more often than it should, Hollywood keeps casting women who are way too young to play adult celebrities’ moms.

We don’t know why, but Hollywood seems to have a mental block when properly casting mothers. At first glance, many seem fine — until you see the actor’s ages. You’d think there would be a sizable difference between the actors, but some are as little as 10 months. From 10 months to 12 years older, we don’t understand why Hollywood has a problem casting moms properly.

And on top of that, sometimes the actresses who play the moms are younger than their on-screen children. We have questions (and you probably do too).

With the latest news of Emmy Rossum being cast as Tom Holland’s mother, despite only being 10 years older, everyone wants to know: “Why does Hollywood not know how to cast moms?” From the X-Files to Alexander, there’s a lot more miscasting than you think.

Check out these actresses who were way too young to be cast in these mother roles below.

A version of this article was originally published on Feb 2022.

Melissa Joan Hart in ‘Would You Kill for Me?’

Image Credit: Photo By: Priscilla Grant/Everett Collection.

Now, fans aren’t freaking out over Melissa Joan Hart playing a mom role that’s scratching heads, the internet is losing it over the fact that she’s playing a grandmother at 47. Now, this isn’t out of the realm of possibility, but it still shocked fans nonetheless.

“I couldn’t be more flattered that people don’t think of me as a grandmother (no matter how possible it is at the age of 47),” the actor told HuffPost. “I’m proud of my performance in the film and it’s fun to see it go viral.”
Brianne Howey in ‘Ginny & Georgia’

Image Credit: photo: ©Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection.

Did you know there’s only around a nine-year age difference between starring actresses Brianne Howey and Antonia Gentry, who play mother and daughter on the show Ginny and Georgia?! We adore Ginny and Georgia, and we had no idea about this.
Elizabeth Debicki in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3’

Image Credit: ph: Jessica Miglio / © Marvel / © Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection.

Okay, so we understand the MCU is based on the comics and that Elizabeth Debicki’s character and her son Will Poulter’s characters were “created,” as we learned in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. However, while Poulter and Debicki play mother-son, they only have a two year age-difference between them.
Emmy Rossum in ‘The Crowded Room’

Image Credit: Gregorio T. Binuya/Everett Collection.

Twitter exploded when word came out that Emmy Rossum would be playing Tom Holland’s mom in the new mini-series The Crowded Room despite her only being 10 years older than him. However, it’s noted that she’ll be in flashbacks from Holland’s early childhood in the show, but it doesn’t make it much less odd.
Amy Poehler in ‘Mean Girls’

Image Credit: Paramount/courtesy Everett Collection.

Get ready y’all because Amy Poehler was only seven years older than her on-screen daughter played by Rachael McAdams in Mean Girls.
Rebecca Toolan in ‘The X Files’

Image Credit: Everett Collection.

We all loved David Duchovny when he played Agent Fox Mulder in The X Files, but we don’t love the fact that Rebecca Toolan was only one year older than Duchovny when she played Agent Fox Mulder’s mom.
Angelina Jolie in ‘Alexander’

Image Credit: Warner Brothers/courtesy Everett Collection.

In the movie Alexander, Colin Farrell was 28 years old at the time and Angelina Jolie, who played his mother, was only 11 months older than him at the time.
Charlayne Woodard in ‘Glass’

Image Credit: Universal / courtesy Everett Collection.

In the 2019 hit film Glass, Charlayne Woodard played Samuel L. Jackson’s mother despite being five years younger than him.
Nicole Kidman in ‘Aquaman’

Image Credit: Priscilla Grant/Everett Collection.

Now people were quite upset that Nicole Kidman was cast as Jason Momoa’s mother in Aquaman, despite only being 12 years older than him — the same age difference as Momoa and his wife at the time Lisa Bonet. Per CinemaBlend, Kidman responded to the criticism by saying, “In the context of the superhero world, it all evens out. Atlanna doesn’t really age.”
Sally Field in ‘Forrest Gump’

Image Credit: Everett Collection.

So when Sally Field played Tom Hanks’ mama in Forrest Gump, she was only 10 years older than him. And apparently, they even played lovers in the 1988 film Punchline, six years before.
Drew Barrymore in ‘Riding in Cars With Boys’

Image Credit: Columbia/courtesy Everett Collection.

In Riding in Cars With Boys, Drew Barrymore played Adam Garcia’s mom despite the fact that she was two years younger than him.
Estelle Getty in ‘Golden Girls’

Image Credit: Touchstone / Courtesy: Everett Collection.

Okay, seriously we were today years old when we found out that Estelle Getty, who played Bea Arthur’s mom in Golden Girls, was literally one year younger than Arthur. Apparently, a lot of time was spent on making Getty look much older than in her 60s.
Angela Lansbury in ‘The Manchurian Candidate’

Image Credit: Everett Collection.

Angela Lansbury was only two years older than Laurence Harvey when she played his mom in The Manchurian Candidate.
Jessie Royce Landis in ‘North By Northwest’

Image Credit: Everett Collection.

Jessie Royce Landis was literally less than a year older than Cary Grant when she played his mom in North by Northwest, only 10 months to be exact.
Carla Gugino in ‘Watchmen’

Image Credit: AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis.

Carla Gugino was only seven years older than Malin Akerman when she played her mother in the 2009 film Watchmen.
Ginnifer Goodwin in ‘Once Upon a Time’

Image Credit: Jack Rowand / ©ABC / Courtesy: Everett Collection.

Remember when we were all obsessed with Once Upon a Time? We know that the plot of the show had a time warp so Jennifer Morrison and Ginner Goodwin were supposed to be around the same age. But that doesn’t make it any less weird when Morrison would call Goodwin, who was one year older than her, “mom.”
Laura Dern in ‘Wild’

Image Credit: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP.

In real life, besties Laura Dern and Reese Witherspoon had to play mother and daughter once for the 2014 film Wild, despite Dern only being nine years older than Witherspoon.
Cher in ‘Mamma Mia’

Image Credit: Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP.

For the Mamma Mia sequel Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Cher appeared as Meryl Streep’s mother. But here’s the thing: Cher was only three years older than Streep.
Winona Ryder in ‘Star Trek’

Image Credit: Dee Cercone/Everett Collection.

In the 2009 Star Trek film, Winona Ryder was cast as Zachary Quinto’s mother, despite only being five years older.
Toni Collette in ‘Little Miss Sunshine’

Image Credit: ©Fox Searchlight/courtesy Everett Collection.

We all loved Little Miss Sunshine, but we don’t remember the fact that Toni Collette was only 11 years older than her on-screen son played by Paul Dano.
Jennifer Coolidge in ‘American Pie’

Image Credit: Everett Collection.

Jennifer Coolidge was only 12 years older than her son in the American Pie movies.
Kelly Rowan in ‘The O.C.’

Image Credit: WB / Courtesy: Everett Collection.

Okay, remember Benjamin McKenzie’s mother played by Kelly Rowan? Well on The O.C. Rowan and McKenzie were only 12 years apart.
Cristin Milioti in ‘How I Met Your Mother’

Image Credit: ph: Ron P. Jaffe / ©CBS / courtesy Everett Collection.

So we know the timelines are all jumbled in How I Met Your Mother, but did you know the Mother, played by Cristin Milioti, and the actress who played the daughter Penny, played by Lyndsey Fonesca, are only two years apart from each other in real life? That’s right, Milioti is only two years older.

We know they filmed Fonesca’s scenes years prior to Milioti, but that’s just a lot to take in.