Where Knowledge Junkies Get Their Fix
David K. Israel
Who’s your celebalike?
by David K. Israel - October 29, 2007 - 8:06 AM

Thankfully, I’m no celebrity. But that doesn’t stop people from confusing me with Adam Sandler, Jason Biggs, Ben Stiller, Jerry Seinfeld or even, once, Seth Green. Now, would you confuse any one of those four guys for another? By asking me for Jerry Seinfeld’s autograph in Ikea (verily I say unto thee) are you actually saying I’m really just a familiar, funny, Jewish face? When confusing me with Adam Sandler on the beach in Malibu is it because you know he lives there – so, naturally you’d expect to run into him there while using the public toilet? (Once again, I jest not.)

Almost all of us have been compared to one celebrity or another at one point in our lives. Almost all of us have a celebalike or two – that’s my word for the celebrity you get compared to most often. It can be annoying, it can be fun, it can even be annoyingly fun. Now there’s a Web site that capitalizes on our obsession with celebalikes: MyHeritage.com.

davidthumb_03.jpgThe main purpose of the site is to build a family tree, but they’ve also got this cool face recognition tool with thousands of photos of celebs in their database. After uploading your mug into their database, the site spits out your top matches in real time.

1.jpgI’m not so sure how accurate it is because my wife always says I look like the male version of Katherine Keener, yet the site insists my top female match is Courtney Cox. (Top male pick: David Schwimmer…oy.) I guess a lot of it depends on what photo you upload. Regardless, it’s pantloads of fun, and a sure-fire way to kill time when things are slow around the office.

21.jpgSo give it a whirl and then come back and tell us how accurate it is. We also want to know who your celebalike is. Let us know and give us a link to your flickr/photo page so we can see for ourselves. (start with www.flickr.com/etc, NOT http:…)

And remember: Even celebrities get confused for celebrities. Leonard Bernstein was on a plane once and a man asked for his autograph. Only it wasn’t Bernstein’s autograph the fellow wanted, it was Kenny Rogers’!

So how ‘bout you???

Comments (30)
  1. Wild site. Reminds me of those Bourne moives or something out of the future. Yeah, you do look like Schwimmer, but what’s so wrong with that? Could be worse! My top match was Lucy from I Love Lucy.

  2. Actually, I think you look more like Noah Wyle. I tried to link to a picture in his imdb page, but it didn’t let me put a link. Anyway, go a few pictures in before he grew the beard and I think its very close.

  3. My matches: Asia Argento & Fergie
    my male match: John Mayer

  4. Definitely Noah Wylie!

  5. That was cool, but a little strange. My top three matches were:

    1. Carson Daly (68%)
    2. Cuba Gooding Jr. (64%)
    3. Luciano Pavarotti & Barry Williams (tied at 52%)

    What an odd creature I must be.

  6. Unbelievably, my match is William H Macy.

    It doesn’t look like it to me, but the morph is cool! See it at technoyid.blogspot.com/2007/10/my.html

  7. wow. Mine came back 88% Kate Beckinsale and 77% Bridget Moynahan. Way to pump up my ego for the day!

    I may have to start checking in at that site when I’m having a bad morning from now on.

  8. #1 Anna Paquin
    #2 Audrey Tatou
    #3 Jean Seaberg

    Grace Kelly came in at #7. I must be a looker!!

  9. well, the site gave me natalie imbruglia–but usually i get sarah jessica parker. i’m not sure how to take that, since half of the people i meet tell me that she’s not the most attractive woman.

    …the people who tell me i look like her are usually of the opposite opinion, i hope.

  10. Female: Katie Holmes 96% and I have no male matches.

    I think it depends on the way your face is positioned in the photograph. I wonder how may photo’s are in the database it searches. . .

  11. i have a photo of myself and ben stein, and it says ben stein looks like michael douglas and i look like kate winslet. it’s extremely flattering, on both counts.

  12. I got

    Topher Grace 76%
    Renny Harlin 70%
    Tarkan 66%
    Alfred Molina 64%

    No female matches but I think it’s because of the facial hair.

  13. Blonde Kate Winslet, which is not surprising because any time someone sees a picture of me, they say I look like her.

  14. My two matches were Liz Tyler and Grace Kelly…I’m with Maeve, definitely and ego boost!

  15. Ai Otsuka! i’m not even asian!
    My only male match is Philip Kirkorov… so i don’t know what to make of that…

  16. What’s REALLY weird is that whenever I meet new people they swear they know me from somewhere of have a cousin, friend, coworker, etc who looks like me. I’ve even encountered people insisting that they’ve already met me when they TOTALLY have not!
    I guess someone in my ancestry really got around!!!

    I’ve been told many times that I look like a young Jodie foster or Audrey Hepburn.

    MyHeritage said I look like Mary-Kate Olsen. I guess its the big eyes.

  17. Kirsten Dunst, Rose McGowan and Tina Turner… (do I even have to comment on that?)

  18. The two celebrities people tell me I look like: Drew Barrymore and Anne Hathaway.

    The two celebrities My Heritage says I look like: Howard Dean and Hilary Clinton.

    I am too ashamed to post evidence.

  19. I got Ashley Tisdale. Who is Ashley Tisdale?

  20. Well, I’m flattered:

    1.) Jessica Alba (GAWD I wish!)
    2.) Josie Maran
    3.) Reese Witherspoon

    Hubby’s number one was Steven Seagal. Puke, but what really had me laughing was his very last match…Gladys Knight. I can’t bring myself to tell him. ;)

  21. Angielina Jolie! No way - only 77% but it was my top match. Never would have guessed her so I join in the others about the ego boost!

  22. As a child, I looked just like Amy Carter (as a child). As an adult, Bette Midler has been mentioned, which isn’t so bad, but my favorite was when a very drunk and very old black man told me “You look jusht like my very favorite actressh, Barbra Shtreishand”. I really think it must be my nose.

  23. Adam Sandler-alike was the first that came to me when seeing the author’s face. However, the author’s a better looking version.

  24. i got 83% scarlett johansson, that made my day. then i ran it again and i got 37% camilla parker bowles. ouch.

  25. Wow. Kate Bush. …And Jojo.
    Hey, and Tori Amos!

    Odd!

  26. Jessica Stam, Goldie Hawn, and Mary-Kate. Though almost everyone thinks I look like Nicole Kidman, though I’ve gotten the Goldie Hawn thing before. Hm…

  27. I can’t do the site but over the years two people have said that I resemble (a young) Ringo Starr. I’ve mentioned that to four people who replied, “I don’t see it.”

    David, you resemble the guy who reminds me of Noah Wylie.(ha ha)

  28. Let’s see, I’m a 49 year old white, jewish guy with no hair, and I have equal probabilities (86%!) of being either Annette Benning or Mick Fleetwood. One of my closest friends, an early 40s Chinese man, gets equal (76%) probabilities of Fiona Apple or Clint Eastwood…

    Oh yes, this is useful…

  29. I ran 3 different photos and got completely different results; my highest matches were:

    1. George Peppard (leader of the A-Team lol)
    2. George Harrison
    3. Tom Petty

    1. Gael Garcia Bernal (sweet, I hear he’s hot)
    2. Jonathan Taylor Thomas (hah…)

    1. Martin Scorcese (?)
    2. Ang Lee (?)

    I agree with Dan (#28). Quite accurate, indeed.

  30. I did this one and i’ve done another celebrity face-matching thing before too and they both gave me the same result:

    Ashley Olsen.

    I am an overweight, bearded man. I’m not sure how these work but I demand a recount.

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