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It’s such a strange thing to be a twin, speaking from experience. It’s something that transcends race, gender, class, and sexuality, that strange 1 in 250 probability that two people will be born from the same mother at the exact same time, with one in three of those pairs having almost exactly the same face. Being a twin, identical or not, comes with its own exclusive set of challenges, bonuses, and tribulations that set it apart from any other sibling relationship.


Having someone constantly in your formative years who is the same age as you, someone who it’s so easy to be compared to and looped together with. Your closest friend, your arch-rival, or both concurrently. There can be resentment, but also understanding, competition and teamwork, the need to be joined at the hip but the desire to be as far away from each other as possible. There is so much there to be mined for narrative tension for, say, a film or TV series, and there are myriad examples of this being put into practice spread across all mediums and genres. The life of twins can be seen as comical, tragic, or terrifying, and we’ve been given our latest example in the new Prime Video series, Dead Ringers. However, when you watch many of these films, you’ll notice something rather odd, with all this talk about accurate representation, it’s strange to see that twins rarely, if ever, get the same treatment.

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RELATED: Top 10 Twins Who Became Acting Duos


Two Performances for the Price of One

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Image via Prime Video

This is not to say twins are some marginalized class of people or anything, as much as we’re seen as a bit of an oddity, but to people outside very intimate connections, being a twin is more of a fun fact than anything. But when it comes to movies and shows about twins, the casting is pretty consistent and straightforward: Hire one actor, get them to play both twins. Dead Ringers is a good place to start, Rachel Weisz being cast as both twins in the psychological thriller, with Jeremy Irons playing both twins in the 1988 film in which it is based. Both versions of The Parent Trap used the same method just with updated technology, even real-life twins, such as Reggie and Ronnie Kray of Legend both being portrayed by Tom Hardy, or Armie Hammer as the Winklevoss twins in The Social Network.

It’s clear that this is a favorite method for Hollywood in what few movies there are about identical twins. Non-identical, seen in shows such as Young Sheldon and films such as The Skeleton Twins is even easier, just cast two actors, regardless of relation, who sort of, kind of look alike. Though, you don’t have to do that either, looking at you, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito.

Science Fiction, Double Feature

fred and george weasley wearing matching outfits in harry potter

There are, of course, exceptions to the rule, actors who got their claim to fame right next to their twin sibling. Many are on television, with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen and Dylan and Cole Sprouse getting their start on sitcoms Full House and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody respectively, along with Tia and Tamara Mowry of Sister, Sister and Twitches fame. Fred and George Weasley were appropriately cast in the Harry Potter films by James and Oliver Phelps, along with miscellaneous and minor twin characters usually being cast by twin actors you rarely hear from outside that one role.

Along with that, there are certain character archetypes and tropes that go unnoticed for twins. The idea of always wanting to be side by side, attached to the hip and constantly collaborating in mischief, twins can at time be pranksters of some kind, switching themselves around to confuse others, there’s even an element of horror in two people looking and acting the same. There’s also a certain predilection for dressing twins in the same clothes but in different or opposing colors which translates into real life. They are either total opposites or exactly the same, but they never feel like real people. Look at the twins, they look the same, isn’t that silly and quirky?

There are very practical, even obvious reasons for both sides of the question: Where are the actual twin actors? Both for why there are so few, and why one actor is usually hired to play two siblings. As far as the latter goes, to be cynical would be to say it costs less to duplicate one actor than cast and pay two, not to mention easier to do in lieu of scouring the world for a pair of twins who could play the role. It also allows a performer to stretch their acting muscles, playing two characters that both are similar, but have their own idiosyncrasies that make them individuals, and you do have to be a pretty darn good actor to make it feel like there’s chemistry between yourself and yourself.

The Realities of Twins in Hollywood

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen

Then of course comes the question of why there are so few actual twin actors. There are a decent amount of actors out there that actually are one of a pair, Eva Green, Laverne Cox, Scarlett Johansson, Rami Malek, Vin Diesel, it would be insane to think that just because you don’t see them, they don’t exist. Big shock, they’re just regular people living their own separate lives. Just because genetic code is shared, doesn’t mean ambitions are, and it absolutely doesn’t mean skills are shared. My sister can’t draw even if I can, just as I don’t share her gift of acting normally at a social gathering. Many people just don’t want to be actors, or don’t want to be famous. As for the twins that have taken up acting together, it is important to note that they started their careers as children when they’d be keener to take up show business together, with some continuing together, and some working on their own projects.

It feels like a foregone conclusion, that twins are regular human beings with separate hopes and dreams. But we are regularly seen, especially in childhood, as The Twins, rather than our own people, which can bring about a lot of small complexes about our individualities and relationships. Not all of us want to be considered a double feature for the rest of our lives, even though some have found a great amount of success with it. To be a twin is like no other family connection, it’s deep, and sometimes it causes conflicts that can turn into full rifts. It’s always fascinating when a story like that is brought to life on screen, and while it would be nice to see more actual twin actors in movies and television, the awareness of people just wanting to do their own thing makes inaccurate casting in this case less of a massive concern.

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