By Terri Leigh
Have you ever been mistaken for someone else? Do you have a celebrity lookalike? The only time I’ve ever been in a situation where I was informed of my apparent doppelgänger was in an awkward teenage long distance relationship.
This is going back a number of years to the height of the Beverly Hills 90210 era and before the emergence of the internet and cell phones. (Side note – remember the episode where Brenda is left stranded late at night outside a locked building she volunteers at? It was a pretty stressful situation when she had no way of contacting help … that episode doesn’t exist with the use of a cell phone)
I was a freshman in high school and I was casually seeing a guy I met at a wheelchair basketball game in a city an hour from where I lived. Needless to say, our ‘'relationship'’ was short in a long distance kind of way. We’d chat on the phone from time to time and he’d tell me how much I looked like Jennie Garth (Kelly from 90210) and I’d tell him how much he looked like Chris O’Donnell (this was at the height of Chris’ mid-90’s sex symbol phase, he was on a lot of Tee n magazine covers).
But the thing about phone conversations before Face-Time and Skype was that you relied on your unreliable memory to remind you of what the person on the other end of the phone looks like. After three months of this, we decided to go on our first and last date, which was a horribly disappointing revelation to both of us. I realized he really looked nothing like Chris O’Donnell, and a 15-year-old Jennie Garth is just NOT Jennie Garth, if you know what I mean. It sure didn’t stop him from forgetting my actual name and referring to me as Jennie all night.
It was all very awkward and I’ve never looked at Jennie or Chris the same way.
This week’s Five deals in the world of look-alikes and doppelgängers. Including the one we’ve been raving about from the South American U20s …
#5 Ruben Bentancourt / Edinson Cavani
If you haven’t been watching the South American U20s from Argentina this month, you’ve been missing out on some superb football. It’s been exciting to watch tomorrow’s stars showcase their talents from countries other than Brazil and Argentina.
The final stage is currently underway … Chile, Peru, Uruguay all with impressive performances. One of the standout players so far for the Uruguayans has been Edinson Cavani, who has amazing stamina flying back and forth between Argentina and Napoli, playing for both club and country. He also appears to have landed a transporter and refuses to share the technology with the rest of us.
I’m actually referring to 19-year-old Ruben Bentancourt. He broke into the competition with a stunning performance against Peru in the group stage. Not only for his skill but his visual likeness to his older Uruguayan counterpart who leads the Serie A with 17 goals scored. The resemblance is uncanny. I feel for the play-by-play commentators when Bentancourt graduates to the senior squad and starts playing alongside Cavani for Uruguay. One of them will have to cut their hair.
#4 Brayan Perea / Stephen El Shaarawy
Speaking of Italy’s top scorers ... Colombia forward Brayan Perea bears a striking resemblance to Stephen El Shaarawy, but this one is all about the hair. The notable style is what has us doing a double take when Perea is on the pitch for Colombia. After the competition, the 19-year-old winger returns to parent club Deportivo Cali.
#3 Sami Khedira / Dave Grohl
The German international has a very distinct ‘chic-grunge’ look about him. Now when you minus the chic, and perhaps add a few pounds, Khedira is Dave Grohl. Or at least a post-Nirvana, early-Foo Fighters, 25 pounds lighter Dave Grohl .
#2 Cesc Fabregas / Zachary Quinto
When Zachary Quinto isn’t killing it as a quirky young Spock in this spring’s newest Star Trek movie or creeping me right out in American Horror Story, he’s playing with some of the world’s best footballers, adding 23 goals himself for Barcelona in the past season and a half.
#1 Pablo Osvaldo / Khal Drogo
The hit HBO show Game of Thrones derived from a popular book from the ‘90’s and takes place in the sexy, mythical land of Westeros. According to the show’s IMDB page, Khal Drogo is the warrior-king of the nomadic Dothraki tribe. But according to me, he’s a deliciously savage, testosterone-oozing brute of a specimen who is a lot of fun to look at.
But Khal Drogo is a character on a TV show. Pablo Osvaldo is a real, live football player. And I am a professional, so I will say no more about Pablo Osvaldo. {Ahem …}