9 TV Characters Who Were Obviously Too Old For Their Teenage Roles

On teen dramas and sitcoms, the people playing teenagers are rarely in their teens. While it might not matter at first that the actors and actresses aren’t in high school, over time it becomes more and more apparent that they are significantly older than the character they are portraying. Here are 9 TV characters who were obviously too old for their roles:

9. Paul Wesley

Paul Wesley’s character Stefan Salvatore on The Vampire Diaries was over 160 years old, but since he was turned into a vampire when he was just 17, that’s how old he stayed. Wesley, however, was 27 when he landed his role, and while his character wasn’t supposed to age, he most definitely did. He never looked like a teenager, and as seasons of TVD passed, that became more and more apparent.

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8. Cory Monteith

Cory Monteith was a bona fide adult when he landed the role of Finn on Glee. Finn was supposed to be 16, but Monteith was 27, which is quite the difference. At the time of his death, he was 31 and he had still been playing a high school student, which by then was even more of a stretch. He was cute, but he just didn’t look like a teenager.

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7. Jason Earles

Jason Earles was 29 years old when he began playing 16-year-old Jackson Stewart on Hannah Montana, which means that by the time the show was on its last season, he was 34! While he definitely didn’t look like he was in his late 20s and early 30s during the shows run, he definitely didn’t look like he was a teenager. The show really should have cast someone younger.

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6. Taylor Kitsch

Taylor Kitsch was playing a sophomore in high school when he was 25. During his tenure on Friday Night Lights as Tim Riggins, he never looked like a teenager. As his character headed towards graduation, he looked more and more like he was already an adult who had left his teen years behind long ago.

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5. Gabrielle Carteris

Gabrielle Carteris played 16-year-old Andrea Zuckerman on Beverly Hills, 90210 when she was 29 years old! She actually lied to about her age to get the job. She told them that she was over 21, which was true – very true! Unfortunately, she didn’t look like a high school student, and as the show went on, it became even more obvious how much older she was than the rest of the cast cause they all looked significantly younger than her.

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4. Tom Welling

Tom Welling was 24 years old when he played 14-year-old Clark Kent on Smallville. It was quite the stretch, and as his character finished high school, it became more and more apparent that he didn’t look like a teenager, but more like he’d already graduated college, probably cause he was getting closer and closer to being in his 30s!

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3. Charisma Carpenter

Charisma Carpenter is gorgeous, but she did not look like a 16-year-old when she landed the role of Cordelia Chase on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She was 27 at the time and as her character went from Buffy to Angel, it became more and more apparent that she was never in her teens when she starred on Joss Whedon’s shows and was clearly in her 30s while she was on Angel.

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2. Trevor Donovan

Trevor Donovan was way past his teen years when he played a teenager on 90210. He was 31 when he landed the role of Teddy Montgomery, so he had been out of high school for well over a decade. Donovan didn’t have any issues playing someone significantly younger. He considered the role to be a “do over” for him. He got a second chance at high school! “It’s a lot of fun……it’s like a do over….I was quiet and shy in high school… and not rich like Teddy Montgomery is,” he told The Teen Drama Whore.

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1. Benjamin McKenzie

When Benjamin McKenzie landed the role of Ryan Atwood on The O.C., he was 24-years-old – not exactly a teenager. For the first couple of seasons, it didn’t seem as noticeable; however, by the third season, he looked much older than the rest of the cast. Maybe it was the hairstyle change. He had chopped off the mop in favor of a crew cut, which made him look more like a college graduate who had been working for the past four years as opposed to a teenager about to finish high school.