13 Actors Who Played Older People On The Big Screen And How They Really Aged

Much of the magic of cinema rests with the make-up department, tasked with transforming our favorite actors into the characters seen on screen. On certain occasions, they have to give life to a character much older than they are in real life and, over time, we can see how well the makeup artists got the characterization right.

We, from awesome.clubwe were interested in putting together a list to see what famous actors actually look like when they approach the age of those older characters they played, thanks to the help of makeup.

At age 56, Maggie Smith played Wendy’s grandmother at age 92 in the movie Hook, thanks to the talent of the makeup artists. In the photo, on the right, we can see Maggie on the red carpet at the age of 81.

In 1984, Robert De Niro, then 41, had to convince director Sergio Leone that he could play Noodles as a young man (in his 20s) and as an older man (in his 60s), with a focus on acting for authenticity. to their performance at both ages. The photo on the right shows what De Niro looks like at the age of 67.

At 48, Sally Field has played Mrs. Gump at different ages, including an older version. At the time of filming, she was only ten years older than her son in the film, Forrest Gump, played by Tom Hanks. In the photo on the right, Saly was 71 years old.

In that film, Mel Gibson, then 36, played an aged version of pilot Daniel McCormick. Currently, the actor is looking amazing at his 66 years.

Anthony Hopkins played veteran Colonel William Ludlow when he was 57 in real life. In the photo on the right, the actor was 83 years old.

At age 35, the actress played the elderly Linda Voss, who tells her story for a documentary. While she’s not exactly that much of an older woman today, we can see how time has played in favor of the actress, pictured on the right then aged 61.

When the actor was 28 years old, he returned for the second part of the iconic sci-fi saga Back to the Future. In that film, Michael’s character Marty McFly travels back to the future and meets his 47-year-old self in 2015. At right, the actor is pictured when he was then 58 years old.

Then 48 years old, Marlon Brando was scheduled to give life to Vito Corleone in his 50s, until he was almost 70, which forced him to resort to makeup. In the photograph on the right, we can see what the actor actually looked like at the age of 56.

Linda Hamilton was 35 when she played an aged Sarah Connor for the second Terminator saga — the scene was cut in the final edit. In the photo on the right, the actress was looking great at the age of 63.

Cate Blanchett played Daisy Williams in the renowned film starring alongside Brad Pitt. In this production, the actress brought Daisy to life at different ages. In the image on the left, her character was around 57 years old, while in real life the actress had not even turned 40. In the photo on the right, the actress was 51 years old.

For that film, the actor had to age 88 years to play Jack Crabb, a 121-year-old man. Thankfully, this was made possible thanks to the makeup talent of Dick Smith. On the right, the actor was then 79 years old.

For this psychological drama, the actress played both the young version and the older version of Laura Brown. She was 42 at the time, so the makeup helped give her the time jump required by the film. In the photo on the right, she was 61 years old.

Eighteen years later, Jada returned to the role of Niobe, whose appearance showed the passage of time to those outside the Matrix. After so many years, she is still very beautiful – the current age of the actress is 50 years old.

What other actor do you remember who played an older character? How difficult do you think it would be to act like someone much older than you are?