10 Actors Who Played Younger Versions of Their Parents on TV
Jake Cannavale has gone from Bobby Cannavale’s child to his costar in the new Prime Video series Scarpetta. The father-and-son duo plays the same character at two different ages in the crime drama, which starts streaming on Wednesday, March 11.
“I’d say the biggest challenge is … once you do all this work with your counterpart off-screen, you kind of have to trust that they’ll do that on set and vice versa,” Jake previously told TV Insider with a laugh. “I remember every time I was not working and my dad was on set, I’d be thinking like, ‘Dude, you better do what we talked about, or I’ll come down there.’”
Check out more celebrity offspring who played younger versions of their famous folks below — including at least one who still had to try out for the role!
Scarpetta, Series Premiere, Wednesday, March 11
Jake & Bobby Cannavale, Scarpetta
Jake plays the 1998 iteration of Detective Pete Marino in Scarpetta — opposite Rosy McEwen as a younger version of Nicole Kidman’s titular medical examiner— while Bobby plays the character in the present day.
Wyatt & Kurt Russell, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters
Wyatt told USA Today he resisted the urge to imitate his famous father’s onscreen mannerisms as he played a younger Lee Shaw on Monarch, since decades separate the two versions of the monster investigator.
Alice Richmond & Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Richmond had a brief appearance in the 30 Rock Season 7 episode “Mazel Tov, Dummies,” playing a 7-year-old Liz Lemon and nailing her mother’s eye roll. But Fey told Seth Meyers in 2017 that Alice, 12 years old by that point, found the hit comedy “too weird” to watch.
Quinn, Eamonn & Titus Welliver, Bosch & Bosch: Legacy
Quinn played a child version of Titus’ Harry Bosch in the first three seasons of Bosch, and then older brother Eamonn took over the role for the Bosch: Legacy Season 1 episode “Bloodline.”
DeVaughn Nixon & Norm Nixon, Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty
In his preparation to portray his NBA star father in Winning Time, DeVaughn had to drop 30 pounds, add muscle, and pick up a basketball for the first time since high school, as he told Variety.
Zoe Perry & Laurie Metcalf, Roseanne & Young Sheldon
Perry played Laurie Metcalf’s Jackie Harris in flashbacks in two episodes of Roseanne and then played a younger version of Mary Cooper, her mother’s Big Bang Theory character, as a main character of Young Sheldon.
Dasany Kristal Gonzalez & Dascha Polanco, Orange Is the New Black
Polanco played Dayanara Diaz in Orange Is the New Black, but for flashbacks in Season 5’s “Tied to the Tracks,” it’s her real-life daughter in the part. They’re not the only OITNB family act: Laverne Cox and twin brother M. Lamar shared the role of Sophia Burset on the show.
Sean & Mark Harmon, NCIS
Sean played a younger Leroy Jethro Gibbs in seven episodes of NCIS, as his famous dad played an older Gibbs. For NCIS: Origins, however, Sean ceded the role to Austin Stowell and served as an executive producer alongside Mark.
Michael & Mark Consuelos, Riverdale
Though Michael ended up playing the teenage counterpart of his dad’s Hiram Lodge in two episodes of Riverdale, he still had to audition for the part. And he said on Live With Kelly and Mark that “a bunch of people who could have been brothers or cousins” also tried out.
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