Why are teens in flicks always played by actors in their late 20s?

[drumwolf]

In most movies I've seen about teens, including lots of non-mainstream indie flicks, at least a few of the teen characters look like they're old enough to be in grad school.

I used to think it was because the movie camera effectively takes a few years off the person's age, making everyone look younger than they actually are. Now I think it's just because casting agents want people who look beautiful, not people who look like real teens.

[Stephanie]

1. It's because they want people who can act

And who don't have to follow child labor rules.

[lazarus]

4. GMTA, Steph!

I posted this below, although I didn't think about the child labour rules.

[Stephanie]

6. Right

Teens have to be provided with a tutor, they are only allowed to work a certain number of hours per day, shooting stops when the kids are mandated to break, etc.

What is GMTA?

[Left Is Write]

7. "Great Minds Think Alike."

[Ian David]

2. That way, they can legally appear naked

Plus, you feel less-guilty when you...

well, you know.

[lazarus]

3. Maybe it's also acting ability?

I'm not disparaging actual teens who have acted, some of whom have been quite good (Christina Ricci, Molly Ringwald, LeeLee Sobieski, etc), but it's possible that finding the right person with the right look at the right age who can also act is rather difficult. So they maybe put "the right age" at the bottom of the list, hoping instead for someone who looks close.

Worst case ever: The 40 year old high school students in Grease. Oy, vey.

[Left Is Write]

8. Well, not *quite* 40.

:)

John Travolta was 24, Olivia Newton-John was 30, Jeff Conaway was 28, and Stockard Channing was 34. Stockard Channing was, I believe, the oldest "teenager" in the movie. Dinah Manoff was the youngest, at 20.

[lazarus]

9. Yeah, hyperbole is cool

But some of them looked definitely in their 30s, particularly Travolta and Conaway.

[Left Is Write]

10. I thought Olivia looked her 30 years also.

[KurtNYC]

5. I think it is broader demographic appeal

which you touched on. In marketing studies they found that girls (as in women under 18) looked to females 4 years older than they were for their social cues. In other words 8YOs wanted to be 12, 12YO wanted to drive a car, etc. So that could carry.

And in feature films, two things work against real teens. One the producers want someone proven so that gives an edge to the older actors. And two, there is still a casting couch mentality.

[tjdee]

11. Why are there so many movies about teens?

That's a better question.

Real teenagers end up looking *very* young on tv/film, so then they can't have sex, do drugs, and the other things they have teenagers doing on television. It would be slightly more offensive.

Movies about teenagers are so overdone IMO. Everything's about teenagers these days, which is ridiculous.

[flamingyouth]

12. Gabrielle Carteris was almost 30 when she first appeared on 90210

I think she was 29, playing a high school sophomore. WTF?