There are so many films that I couldn’t include because there was no (1) single teenager.
Now, we already know that Hollywood famously calls adults to play teenagers. This makes sense with work restrictions for children under 18, but honestly, sometimes the cast is just ridiculous.
To celebrate the times when teenagers were actually cast in teen roles, here are 27 times teen films really cast teenagers!
When Mean Girls was released, Lindsay Lohan was 17 and Amanda Seyfried was 18. Rachel McAdams was 25, and the rest of the teens were in their 20s.
Paramount / © Paramount / Courtesy Everett Collection
Lohan was also 17 when Freaky Friday it went out.
Amanda Bynes was 19 when She is the man was released – for about a month.
DreamWorks / courtesy Everett Collection
Kirsten Dunst was 18 when may come was released and Eliza Dushku was 19 years old.
Everett Universal Collection / Courtesy
Gabrielle Union was ten years older than Kirsten.
Hilary Duff was 16 when A story of Cinderella it went out.
Warner Brothers / courtesy Everett Collection
This may not be a surprise, as Hilary was already a Disney Channel star when she was a preteen. In contrast, Chad Michael Murray was 22 years old.
Selena Gomez was also 16 when Another Cinderella Story it went out.
Warner Premiere / courtesy Everett Collection
Drew Seeley, who played his love interest, was 26 years old.
Alicia Silverstone was 18 when Clueless left, and Brittany Murphy was 17.
Paramount / courtesy Everett Collection
Stacey Dash and Paul Rudd were almost 10 years older.
Austin Abrams was 18 and Justice Smith 19 when Paper cities it went out.
Michael Tackett / 20th Century Fox / courtesy Everett Collection
But Q’s best friends were the only ones in the film to play close to his real age.
Logan Lerman was 18 when he played Percy Jackson in Percy Jackson and the Olympians: the lightning thief.
Fox 2000 Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection
The rest of the cast was in their 20s or older.
Keir Gilchrist was only 18 when it’s a funny story left, and Emma Roberts and Thomas Mann were 19 years old.
KC Bailey / Focus Features / Courtesy Everett Collection
If you don’t remember, Thomas played Craig’s best friend, Aaron.
Jennifer Love Hewitt was 18 when Can not wait left, and Ethan Embry and Charlie Korsmo were 19.
Columbia Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection
Kat Graham was 19 17 Again.
Warner Bros. Pictures
It turns out that no one was 17 years old 17 Again.
Michael Cera was 19 Juno.
Fox Searchlight / courtesy Everett Collection
Anthony Michael Hall and Molly Ringwald were 16 Sixteen candles.
Everett Universal Collection / Courtesy
Michael Schoeffling, who played Jake, was 23 and Haviland Morris was 24.
They were also 16 years old The Breakfast Club!
Universal Pictures Collection / courtesy of Everett
Judd Nelson was almost a decade older. Emilio Estevez and Ally Sheedy were 22 years old.
Winona Ryder was 17 Heather, while Christian Slater was 19 years old. Shannen Doherty was also 17!
New World Pictures / Courtesy of Everett Collection
Lisanne Falk was 24 and Kim Walker, 20.
Bella Thorne was 17 The DUFF.
Guy D. Alema / Lionsgate / Courtesy of the Everett Collection
Mae Whitman and Robbie Amell were 26 years old.
Morgan Turner was 18 Jumanji: Welcome to the jungle.
Sony Pictures Release
Everyone was 20 or older – Ser’Darius Blain was actually 12 years older than Morgan.
Hayden Panettiere was 19 years old for about a month after I love you Beth Cooper it went out.
Joseph Lederer / Fox Atomic / Courtesy of the Everett Collection
Haylie Duff and Tina Majorino were 18 when Napoleon Dynamite debuted at Sundance.
Fox Searchlight, Fox Searchlight / Courtesy Everett Collection
Most of the rest of the cast was much older. Jon Heder, who played Napoleon, was 26 years old.
Most adolescents in 10 things I hate about you were played by real teenagers!
Touchstone Pictures / Courtesy of the Everett Collection
Julia Stiles was 18 when it was released. Heath Ledger turned 19 for a few days. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was 18 and Larisa Oleynik was 17.
At the Twilight, Kristen Stewart was 18 and Taylor Lautner was just 16.
Josh Hutcherson was 19 Hunger Games.
Murray Close / Lionsgate / Courtesy Everett Collection
Amandla Stenberg was 13 (she should have been about 12), and some of the other tributes were also teenagers (Alexander Ludwig was 19 and Isabelle Fuhrman was 15), but of the main characters, Josh was the only teenager.
Cynthia Davis was about the age of her character Brenda, 17, in Cooley High, as well as Corin Rogers, who played Pooter.
American International Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection, American International Pictures
Corin Rogers was also about 17 years old.
Jacob Latimore was 18 when The maze corridor it went out. Blake Cooper, who played Chuck, was 12 – but he was supposed to be very young.
Ben Rothstein / 20th Century Fox Netherlands / Courtesy Everett Collection, 20th Century Fox
The clearing was supposed to be entirely composed of teenagers, but it appears that there were only 2 of them.
Ryan Gosling was the only football player under the age of 20 Remember the Titans.
Walt Disney Co./courtesy Everett / Everett Collection
He was 19 years old. Kate Bosworth, who played Emma, was 17.
Redge Green and Dedrick D. Gobert were around 19 when they played Little Chris and Dooky in Boyz in the Hood, respectively.
Columbia Pictures
However, most of the main characters were older!
And finally, basically all high school students in Princess’ diary they were 17 or 18 years old!
Walt Disney Collection / Courtesy Everett
Anne Hathaway, Heather Matarazzo, Robert Schwartzman and Erik von Detten were 18 years old. Meanwhile, Mandy Moore was 17. Disney tends to be very good at casting teenagers!
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