Picking out celebrities that match your characters

Zoe R

Fluffhead! Fluffy fluffy head!
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 30, 2017
Messages
183
Reaction score
31
Does anyone else do this? Sometimes it helps me focus how I'm imagining a character - and sometimes it's really hard to find an actor I think embodies them!

I was looking for a Father to my 26 year old MC and realized Dylan McDermott is old enough, holy crap! I guess I'm that weird age where celebs I had crushes on as a teenager (who were in their 20s/30s then) are now over 50! LOL

Anyone fun you've surprised yourself with?


EDIT: It's late... my title should read, Picking out celebrities WHO match your characters -LOL
 
Last edited:

Curlz

cutsie-pie
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 5, 2016
Messages
2,213
Reaction score
382
Location
here
Yep, all characters are a different version of Tom Cruise ;):e2dance:
 

anakhouri79

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 7, 2016
Messages
174
Reaction score
23
I never have, but one day I realized the male main character of my work-in-progress is described so that he looks exactly like Sami Zayn. Could be worse, I guess!
 

Brightdreamer

Just Another Lazy Perfectionist
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 22, 2012
Messages
12,977
Reaction score
4,510
Location
USA
Website
brightdreamersbookreviews.blogspot.com
If my unwritten novels were made into movies, I'd hope they'd be animated...

My sense of characters is usually more impressions than concrete actor/actress characteristics. Once in a while I see someone who might fit the part, but I don't know that I've ever had a casting choice in mind when I write them (fanfic excepted, of course - and then it's the character, not the actor. Never been as big on actors as the characters they portray, fantasy being much more forgiving than reality.)
 

horrorchix89

Banned
Joined
Jan 11, 2017
Messages
518
Reaction score
47
Location
Arkansas
All of my characters are based on various anime, so there are no celebrities that look like them lol
 

CreativeHeart75

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 31, 2017
Messages
74
Reaction score
3
I do this sometimes but recently I have found myself trying to match them with people I know in RL. I think it's the kind of story I'm writing now.
 

Phantasmagoria

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 30, 2008
Messages
161
Reaction score
33
Location
Cape Cod MA, USA
I don't usually do this, but once I came across a celebrity that fit my vision of a character so well: Gemma Ward, a model I'd never heard of when I was first writing my vampire/shapeshifter novels. I saw a picture of her after I'd already envisioned this girl character whose looks her vampire master altered via magic, to make her beautiful in a particular, kind of cold and haughty way... I was kind of surprised by how very much my Remarra looked like this Gemma Ward person, hah.

Generally my characters don't look model-beautiful, so celebrities don't usually resemble them too closely; this especially goes for my female characters, since female celebrities are practically required to be (a certain type of) beautiful.
 

Mary Mitchell

Go down road, go pub.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 21, 2017
Messages
1,697
Reaction score
174
Location
Ontario Canada
OMG I actually have a Onedrive file of photos of actresses and actresses of varying ages whose typical roles embody particular personality styles. I find it so much easier to characterize one of my own characters when I can mentally see them and hear them speak. When I'm having trouble with a character, I consult the photo file and go, "There--that's who I'm trying to depict."
 

Simpson17866

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 26, 2016
Messages
503
Reaction score
59
I barely know what most of my characters look like, but I would want Vanessa Ferlito (NCIS: New Orleans) to play the vampire in my Urban Fantasy WIP, and I would want Jasika Nicole (Fringe) to play the non-magical terrorist in my intended sequel.
 

Brave Sir Robin

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 11, 2017
Messages
94
Reaction score
18
Location
East Coast, USA
Not necessarily celebrities, but anyone for whom I can find a reasonable amount of pics online. Models, athletes, politicians, musicians. I don't use them so much for my character's description, but for a mental picture of my character as they go about the cheating, killing, saving, lying, protecting, screwing of everyday life in a fictional story. For me, it helps them seem realer.
 

Myrealana

I aim to misbehave
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 29, 2012
Messages
5,425
Reaction score
1,911
Location
Denver, CO
Website
www.badfoodie.com
My husband always wants me to do this, but my characters are always so firmly set in my head, I can't imagine another person as being them. I see them as individuals in my mind's eye, and just like I can't pick out a famous person who could be my mother, husband or best friend, I can't cast someone as these characters.
 

Sweet Escape

Registered
Joined
Dec 4, 2008
Messages
49
Reaction score
6
I do! I also am quite familiar with the concept of using pictures of public figures like actors, models, musicians and sometimes YouTube vloggers that have gained enough popularity for my characters as I also have joined role play games in the past. Such things are done all the time in role play games where people use certain faces for their characters and it gives you a clear idea of how your character looks like. Sometimes it can be a reason to procrastinate, lol and I can get indecisive, but it can be fun to do! Casting your characters as if you are casting for a tv show or movie. It can be tricky though when I am not sure at all how my character looks like and I find myself being a little stuck... But I look at faces that I like I guess. I can overthink it sometimes though, like: Is this person age-approriate for the character? Do I use younger pictures if this person has them available to represent how my character looks like? Then I think I should just do whatever because it is not like anyone will know that I used say for example, the actress Karen Gillan as how I picture my character to look like :tongue
 
Last edited:

silverrose77

Registered
Joined
Mar 17, 2017
Messages
21
Reaction score
1
Not usually, but every now and then one pops up on screen that makes me think "that's him!" Most recently it was Tom Hiddleston in Crimson Peak, minus the whole horror/murder aspect. And it's usually the way the actor portrays a mannerism or attitude in a specific character, not the actor himself that I look at.
 

ESGrace

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 22, 2017
Messages
89
Reaction score
24
I've done this for two different books I wrote - the first one ever (and I looked at stock images haha), and the last one I finished to help separate the two main characters in my head from the two main characters of the previous book. They had some overlapping characteristics so I needed some firm images to get it through my head that they were different.

The coolest/weirdest thing about it was I could pick an actor for my male MC in no time, but I ended up pulling like 5 for my female MC. Definitely a fun exercise that I'll probably do again ☺️
 
Last edited:

Zoe R

Fluffhead! Fluffy fluffy head!
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 30, 2017
Messages
183
Reaction score
31
I do! It can be tricky though when I am not sure at all how my character looks like and I find myself being a little stuck... But I look at faces that I like I guess. I can overthink it sometimes though, like: Is this person age-approriate for the character? Do I use younger pictures if this person has them available to represent how my character looks like? Then I think I should just do whatever because it is not like anyone will know that I used say for example, the actress Karen Gillan as how I picture my character to look like :tongue

I totally got hung up on the age thing... scrivener has a spot to drop photos for your characters so I got a little caught up one night, but somehow I had to find actors that were age appropriate
now vs. finding a celebrity that would have been perfect when they were younger, which is harder especially with YA - I realized I barely know any actors in their 20s lol. (Also prevents my all leading men are Harrison Ford fantasy!)
 

Maze Runner

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 11, 2012
Messages
5,489
Reaction score
609
I have one character whom the whole time I was writing him I was picturing Jeff Bridges, probably because I'd seen Fabulous Baker Boys, and also because Jeff always struck me as a guy who was so nice there'd be people who thought he'd be easily taken advantage of--still when I think of this character, I picture Jeff bridges, though the way he's described in the book is as someone on the tawny side with black, curly hair. In the same book I have a female character whom in my mind was Ashely Judd. No word from Jeff or Ashley if they'll be available for the film adaptation that is sure to come.
 

Kjbartolotta

Potentially has/is dog
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 15, 2014
Messages
4,197
Reaction score
1,049
Location
Los Angeles
I picture Jeff bridges, though the way he's described in the book is as someone on the tawny side with black, curly hair. In the same book I have a female character whom in my mind was Ashely Judd.

Sounds like something I'd watch, er, read.

I do this on occasion, often the characters get irritated or think I'm putting them in a box too easily (yes, I talk to my characters in my head. It's one approach). I have one character that I struggled with because I was going for Space Pirate Badass With Eccentric Charm, I couldn't quite get a sense of her until Laura Dern popped into my head and it all clicked into place. I would always cast Claudia Black in about a million different roles. If I'm writing a male protagonist in a SFF novel, it's probably going to be based on James Marsden or Karl Urban, if I'm writing humor then it's Master Shake from Aqua Teen.

I think the whole exercise of 'casting' is fun, but no one takes it too seriously. But it's interesting how useful it can be as a starting point for figuring out how to make your characters more 3D.
 

Zoe R

Fluffhead! Fluffy fluffy head!
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 30, 2017
Messages
183
Reaction score
31
I have always done this... Gerard Butler's gotten quite a workout.

:e2heartbe Does he have the accent too?


I for sure don't take this too seriously, but it helps me visualize certain things, and of course is a fun way to procrastinate. Also if you show them to a friend reading your draft, you can see if that's the impression they also got, or they imagined someone totally differently.