How Well Can You Tell White People Apart?

By Dustin Rowles | Posted Under Seriously Random Lists | Comments (66)

It feels like a lot of the major Hollywood stars of today — Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise, George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, etc. — are aging past their blockbuster action movie primes, and there’s a vacuum that has to be filled. Lately, there’s a lot of younger actors and actresses rising up and filling in the gaps, and for many of you — especially those who don’t spend an inordinate amount of time in theaters — it’s probably difficult at times to both keep up and make the distinctions between all those newbies. But summer blockbuster season is approaching, and there’s a lot of faces you’re probably going to be seeing a lot, if you haven’t already. Today, I want to try and help you concretize their faces in your minds. All these new young white people — they’re not always easy to tell apart. To demonstrate that, I’m going to give you a series of 11 images, with two of these newcomers (more or less) on each, and in the survey question below each, try and see if you know who is whom?

And though it should go without explanation, I’ll give it anyway: Picture A is the person on the left; Picture B is the person on the right.

Garret Hedlund vs. Sam Worthington: One of these men starred in Tron: Legacy and the other starred in Clash of the Titans. Which one is Sam Worthington?

Chris Hemsworth vs. Liam Hemsworth. These two men are brothers. One will star in Thor, while the other will star in Hunger Games. Which one is Liam Hemsworth?

Colin Egglesfield vs. Matthew Goode: One of these men starred in last year’s Leap Year, while the other will star in this summer’s Something Borrowed. Which one is Colin Egglesfield?

Lily Collins vs. Emily Browning: One of these women was in The Blind Side and will be in Priest while the other was in Sucker Punch. Which one is Lily Collins?

Gemma Ward vs. Abbie Cornish: One of these women will be in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and the other was in Sucker Punch. Which one is Abbie Cornish?

poll by twiigs.com

Olivia Wilde vs. Summer Glau: One of these women will be in Cowboys and Aliens while the other is set to star in Knights of Badassdom. Which one is Olivia Wilde?

Jessica Chastain vs. Bryce Dallas Howard: One of these women will be starring in the upcoming adaptation of The Help while the other was in the last Twilight film. Which one is Bryce Dallas Howard?

Amber Heard vs. Blake Lively: One of these women will be in The Green Lantern while the other was recently in Drive Angry 3D. Which one is Amber Heard?

Scout Taylor-Compton vs. Rooney Mara: One of these women was in the Halloween remakes and the other was in the Nightmare on Elm Street remake. Which one is Rooney Mara?

Jennifer Lawrence vs. Brit Marling: Both of these women are new indie darlings. One will be in X-Men: First Class and the other is in Another Earth. Which one is Brit Marling?

Felicity Jones vs. Gemma Arterton: One of these women was recently in The Tempest while the other was in Clash of the Titans. Which one is Gemma Arterton?

poll by twiigs.com

Each Time You Like, Share, Tweet or Stumble a Pajiba Post, An Angel Does the Paul Rudd Dance

← A Tale of Two Sisters: Eve and Irene Curie | Dear "Glee," Why Must You Suck At Everything? Ten Better Ways To Stereotype. →

Comments

I know Chris Hemsworth from Thor and Heard from "Top Gear." As for the rest, it's a complete toss-up.

Posted by: Tracer Bullet at April 6, 2011 3:21 PM

I started to play. And then I realized I didn't care. Sorry Dustin.

Posted by: JuiceinLA at April 6, 2011 3:24 PM

The only one that stumped me was Gemma Ward vs Abbie Cornish. I never heard of the first, and have seen maybe two pictures of the latter. Probably over at GFY.

Posted by: Julie at April 6, 2011 3:26 PM

damn. now i feel like a big ole racist.

Posted by: gp at April 6, 2011 3:27 PM

For Gemma Ward vs. Abbie Cornish, the answer is neither:

Those are both pictures of Amanda Seyfried.

Posted by: JP at April 6, 2011 3:27 PM

A better question, perhaps unexplainable, is WHY was Sam Worthignton allowed to star in any movie?

Posted by: logan at April 6, 2011 3:27 PM

I knew Amber Heard was in that movie because they discussed it on Top Gear and I still chose the wrong photo. Otherwise I was guessing and have no idea if I chose any of them correctly.

Posted by: pxilated at April 6, 2011 3:33 PM

Damnit, Honkies! Look different! Move around or something! It's like a Cracker Factory up in this bitch!

Posted by: Kballs at April 6, 2011 3:34 PM

Why am I suddenly craving tapioca and a nice nap with Lawrence Welk on in the background?

Posted by: branded at April 6, 2011 3:35 PM

I have seen Abby Cornish in several movies now and really liked Bright Star. I would not recognize her if she slapped me across the face. I find her so completely interchangeable with so many other people looks-wise.

Posted by: Nimue at April 6, 2011 3:37 PM

Um...I don't know who any of these people...

Posted by: Candee at April 6, 2011 3:41 PM

BUT WHO WILL FIX THE PAXTON/PULLMAN CONUNDRUM?! WHO???!!!

Posted by: Julie at April 6, 2011 3:45 PM

The only ones I actually recognized were Glau and Wilde. Not because all white people look alike to me, it's just that you know, I'm old and shit.

Posted by: TheBlackMenace at April 6, 2011 3:45 PM

Julie, Bill PULLMAN went to college with my cousin Andy. Bill PAXTON is the one who didn't go to college with my cousin Andy. HTH.

Posted by: Ray Ray at April 6, 2011 3:48 PM

Oh, sure, I can pick them out of a pair in multiple choice like this. Here's the real test: line 'em all up and make us match the name to the face. In that case, I wouldn't have been able to guess nearly so well.

Posted by: Anna von Beav at April 6, 2011 3:49 PM

Well - I know who Sam Worthington is, but those pic links are broken, so ~poof~ another brain cell is dead.

I know Gemma Arterton, and Summer Glau. ~poof~

And that's it for ... wait... who am I?

Posted by: IneptFake at April 6, 2011 3:51 PM

Blake Lively just isn't that attractive, is she?

Posted by: Jay at April 6, 2011 3:51 PM

What about Jared Leto and Kurt Cobain! I can never tell those two apart! Tee-hee!

Posted by: Sofia at April 6, 2011 3:52 PM

Hayden Christianson was emoting too much Logan.

Posted by: mrcreosote at April 6, 2011 3:56 PM

Thank you Ray Ray. You are now dead to me.

Posted by: Julie at April 6, 2011 3:57 PM

I have no idea who either person in the last picture is. All I see is Weirdly Photoshopped Zooey Deschanel and Random Brunette.

Posted by: nosio at April 6, 2011 3:58 PM

With the exceptions of Bryce Dallas Howard, Summer Glau, and Olivia Wilde, I have never seen anything any of those people have been in, let alone be able to recognize them or actually know their names. Wait, was Gemma whatshername in that horrible movie where Rupert Everett looks like Camilla Parker-Bowles that I watched only because Colin Firth co-stars?

Posted by: Three-nineteen at April 6, 2011 3:59 PM

But seriously, Jessica Chastain and Bryce Dallas Howard are the same photo, right?

Posted by: OldSchool60 at April 6, 2011 4:04 PM

i recognised the name and face of glau and worthington, and face of thor. I drew a blank for everyone else's face and name.

and it seems white people do all look alike, since for most sets, i would swear it was just 2 pictures of the same person, and we were all being funned with.

Posted by: idleprimate at April 6, 2011 4:24 PM

Who the heck are all these people? I think I got one right.

Posted by: lubeg at April 6, 2011 4:27 PM

Oh, Go Fug Yourself, how you give me epic skills at depressingly trivial things. I need to go away from the computer now.

Posted by: Anne (no longer in Reno) at April 6, 2011 4:31 PM

Those were quite easy. Well the ones that I have actually heard off.

Posted by: YesPlease at April 6, 2011 4:36 PM

If you mistake River Tam for some wannabe sci-fi girl with no fighting skills she will kill you with her brain.

Is Gemma Ward or Abbie Cornish playing Lucrecia Borgia on "The Borgias"? Or is that Amanda Seyfried's kid sister?

Posted by: Holly at April 6, 2011 5:21 PM

At the risk of attracting the ire of all you cynical people, it does make me laugh how pleased with yourselves all sound of not knowing who these people are.

I think I got all of them right because on the most part they are similar looking but obviously different people and I knew who at least one of them was. And I feel ok with that. The results would also seem to show that most people did know who they were as well - so apparently it's only the people who didn't know commenting.

It would be a shame if people felt they needed to pretend they didn't know who people were to fit in with Pajibans who seem to pride themselves on quite the opposite philosophy.

Posted by: sevenstories at April 6, 2011 6:03 PM

You missed a golden opportunity to play F**k, Marry, Kill.

Posted by: John W at April 6, 2011 6:15 PM

So now you are claiming there are two Hemsworth brothers?

Posted by: greer at April 6, 2011 6:21 PM

I think sevenstories may have a point, but so does Anna von Beav. We love not knowing who these assholes are, but if it were a list of names next to a row of pictures, I would only have gotten one right. Summer Glau. Thank you, Firefly.

Posted by: Melody O at April 6, 2011 6:43 PM

bryce dallas howard (white people with their ridiculous names) is pretty damn hot. i need to go see a therapist or something about my redhead thing

Posted by: sailboat at April 6, 2011 6:44 PM

Thank you Google!

Posted by: MissRos at April 6, 2011 7:33 PM

I haven't seen a new movie since inglorious basterds, and I was still able to tell nearly every one of them apart. Maybe you guys have Prosopagnosia?

Posted by: wonderbreadhead at April 6, 2011 7:34 PM

For some reason i get Dennis Quaid, Kevin Costner, and Michael Keaton all mixed up.

Posted by: Sarah at April 6, 2011 7:35 PM

Sadly, I got them all correct. And yet I can't remember where I left my phone.

Posted by: Sean at April 6, 2011 7:36 PM

This was shockingly easy.

Posted by: Marcela at April 6, 2011 8:38 PM

Or you can look at it this way, if any of these white people are the stars of tomorrow, well then we are in a shit load of trouble.

Posted by: Pookie at April 6, 2011 9:05 PM

Gemma Ward is in movies now?
I doubt she'll last long as an actress.

I got every question right because I knew who at least half the people were. It would have been a lot harder to match names to faces.

Posted by: Uda at April 6, 2011 9:28 PM

Julie! -

Do you listen to Doug Loves Movies?

Posted by: John G. at April 6, 2011 9:28 PM

I'm convinced the picture of Felicity Jones is actually a picture of Jessica Lowndes.

Posted by: Ryan at April 6, 2011 9:41 PM

I agree with Anna, I think I got a lot of these right with this set up. Not sure I could identify most of them on their own.

How do you all know what the right answers are? Is there an answer key somewhere.

Posted by: Abby at April 6, 2011 9:46 PM

I did get most of these right. If I couldn't recognize the one on the left I usually knew the one on the right. But if you asked me to provide names for them separately without clues I would be lost.

I was thrown by he Hemsworth brothers (Mary-Kate and Ashley)and the ginger girls. Bryce Dallas Howard has been cloned. Cloned.

I did feel bad because I recognized Sam Worthington. The most BORING white man under 40 in Hollywood (I looked it up). I wish I recognized the other guy instead.

Posted by: greer at April 6, 2011 9:57 PM

Maybe the reason I only recognized Summer Glau is because she is the only one with any bit of character in her face. The rest of them all look the same...can any of them act?

Posted by: Jules at April 6, 2011 10:07 PM

The vast majority of those people are not famous enough to deserve distinction of any form.

Posted by: godzilla_foil at April 6, 2011 10:10 PM

Chris Hemsworth is known around my brain as "The Hemsworth I Want to Climb". So that one was easy.

After that I got too bored of all these bland faces to care. I knew Olivia Wilde from House, and Boobs Legsley thanks to the Fug Girls. But other than that? zzzzz.

Posted by: Figgy at April 6, 2011 10:23 PM

Felicity Jones vs. Gemma Arterton. I have only heard their names, I have not seen either of them before, and I still don't know which is which...but I swear I thought that girl on the right was Ashley Green. And I am totally ashamed that I know who that is!

Posted by: Drea at April 6, 2011 10:50 PM

OK, many of these were easy for me because I am Australian. And therefore these are not random white people but quite famous white people...why do you hate Australians, anyway?

Posted by: redfeather at April 7, 2011 2:39 AM

Are you KIDDING me? I still get Natalie Portman and Kiera Knightly mixed up. Shit.

I only knew Bryce Dallas That's Where She Was Conceived Thanks For Making Me Imagine Opie's O Face Howard.

Most of the others I've never heard of. And I don't care what you think of that fact, seven stories.

Posted by: Snuggiepants at April 7, 2011 3:09 AM

Emily Browning is good. So is BD Howard and of course Summer Glau. Their roles often suck, but maybe some Pajiban screenwriters can get on that?
The guys pretty much all melt into generic Hollywood eyecandy to me, but then again I'm old.

Posted by: cinekat at April 7, 2011 3:40 AM

Only 1 thing comes to mind... sandwich...

Posted by: Sarah J-town at April 7, 2011 4:13 AM

I'm not sure if I just have a better memory for faces than the ordinary person, or if I just watch too much movies and TV, but these are not hard to tell apart at all, with maybe the exception of the Hemsworth brothers. But even then, you just need a quick second look and you're good.
There's only one pair of actresses that I have real trouble with, and that's Rosamund Pike and Gretchen Mol. I know the first was in An Education and the latter in 3:10 to Yuma and Boardwalk Empire, but I keep mixing them up.

But Jessica Chastain and Bryce Dallas Howard could easily play identical twins, holy shit.

Posted by: Vanessa at April 7, 2011 6:05 AM

The only one I knew was Summer, the rest are like a vast ocean, at dawn, during a storm, but not a Summer storm.

Posted by: karen at April 7, 2011 6:13 AM

Don't ask me, man. I can't even keep Keith David and David Keith straight.

Posted by: The Mutt at April 7, 2011 8:02 AM

Damn, Bryce Dallas Howard is hot. And so is the chick that looks exactly like her. This is the requisite "Who cares, I'd bone 'em both" post, btw

Posted by: ASterisk at April 7, 2011 8:15 AM

I got all of these right. I had the Aussie advantage though... yes, we do breed them attractive here!

Posted by: Jess at April 7, 2011 8:30 AM

I'm not proud of the fact that I can't tell these people apart. For the most part, I've never heard of most of them. But I loved Firefly and I can't tell which one is Summer Glau. Then again, I don't recognize myself in photos, either.

Posted by: BWeaves at April 7, 2011 9:21 AM

I have the Fug Girls to blame for the fact that I know who Jennifer Lawrence is. I had never heard of her before they featured her during awards season wearing that red dress that looked like a Baywatch bathing suit. Thanks Heather and Jessica!

Posted by: Carolina Girl at April 7, 2011 9:51 AM

The Keith David/David Keith makes my head go crazy.

Julie, you do have a point about the 2 Bills....

Posted by: Teresa at April 7, 2011 10:03 AM

Jessica Chastain vs. Bryce Dallas Howard
Aren't they both in The Help?

Posted by: SouthernFriedFatty at April 7, 2011 10:07 AM

why are Zooey Deschanel and Emily Blunt not on this list?

http://images.cheezburger.com/completestore/2009/7/18/128924135423759516.jpg

or Zooey and Katy Perry?

Or Stana Katic and Misha Barton? Often mistaken for eachother even during awardshows!

Posted by: lauwer at April 7, 2011 10:30 AM

Methinks the answer is in the question.

Posted by: nix. at April 7, 2011 9:48 PM

I went 2 years thinking two acquaintances of mine (white blonde-haired men) were the same person whose names I kept getting wrong. It was very confusing the first time I saw them in the same room together. So no, I wasn't able to tell any of these people apart either.

Posted by: Tits McGee at April 7, 2011 11:37 PM

Although I agree that many Caucasians look the same, I have to admit that I got this 100% right. But I'm Asian, so I suppose you could just mark it down as an 'Asians are good at testing' stereotype. =/

Posted by: keikoreo at April 10, 2011 7:08 AM

Amber Heard? Lesbian, yes? That's how I knew her.

Posted by: Annie_Reckson at April 10, 2011 5:41 PM

Pajiba

Pajiba: Reviews, Commentary, Angst

How Well Can You Tell White People Apart?

Comments