Jessica Chastain: Ron Howard thought I was his daughter Bryce Dallas Howard

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At one point or another, we’ve all mistaken someone for somebody else. Awkwardness and perhaps embarrassment ensue, but later we have an amusing story to tell people, and they commiserate with us. If you’ve ever mistaken someone for one of your children, you’re in good company, because that happened to Ron Howard, who mistook Jessica Chastain for his daughter Bryce. Jessica told to this AP Magazine. You can see the video below and here’s what she said:

A serious case of mistaken identity! Jessica Chastain told her Dark Phoenix costar Sophie Turner in a new interview that she and Bryce Dallas Howard look so similar, Howard’s own father, Ron Howard, once mistook her for the Jurassic World star!

I was at the Apple store and Ron Howard was there, and I was like walking by and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s Ron Howard,’” she recounted while speaking to the Associated Press alongside the Game of Thrones alum, 23, in a video posted on Monday, July 8.

Apparently, the Happy Days alum, 65, did a double take of his own upon seeing Chastain, 42. “My friend [who] was with me said [Ron] turned to someone and he goes, ‘I think I just saw Bryce.’ … I mean it was brief, I literally walked by and he was like, ‘I think I saw Bryce.’ … We look so much alike,” she explained to Turner.

He’s not the only one to have mixed up the two actresses: The Interstellar star admitted she herself has gotten confused over their likeness!

“Before even my career took off, I remember one time being in the subway, I was like, looking at … a magazine and there was a picture of her, and I looked at the picture and I was like, ‘What am I doing in this magazine?’” she said of her doppelganger. “I actually had that thought.”

[From Us Weekly]

This is really funny. When I saw the headline, I thought that perhaps Ron Howard had talked to Jessica Chastain while thinking that she was Bryce. This makes a bit more sense, it’s understandable that he might be momentarily convinced that Jessica was his daughter if they only walked past each other. I think it’s hilarious that Jessica saw a photo of Bryce in a magazine and thought that it was a picture of herself. I can also imagine that that would be briefly startling, too.

Jessica also told Sophie that when she and Bryce met during a table read for The Help, they both decided to go look at themselves side-by-side in a mirror and decided, “‘Yeah, we look exactly alike.’” Since they acknowledged it, I guess it’s OK that the rest of the world keeps making this mistake, but I bet it’s still frustrating, particularly if it happens repeatedly within a short span of time.

I ended up falling down a goofy rabbit hole while writing this. Us also claimed that “Bryce famously addressed the pair’s resemblances in a 2015 song titled, ‘I Am Not Jessica Chastain.’” I thought it would make sense to link to a video of her singing the song (if one existed), and had no idea that Bryce was a singer. She isn’t, and Us got this wrong, but they weren’t the only ones, according to Bryce. It turns out that a fan made this video, which is really well-made and silly. (There is some NSFW language in it.)

Some of Bryce’s friends saw the video and sent it to her and told her that she should lipsync to some of it, which she did. Jessica Chastain posted that on Instagram. A few days later, Bryce discussed the fan video on Conan. She said that her parents had seen the video and believed that she had made it (and were quite impressed). Ron Howard sent the video to Tom Hanks, who was also similarly impressed. Now I want Jessica Chastain and Bryce Dallas Howard to star in some sort of meta-mockumentary about mistaken identity, or at least to do a movie together every couple of years.

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40 Responses to “Jessica Chastain: Ron Howard thought I was his daughter Bryce Dallas Howard”

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  1. runcmc says:

    Well… do we have any pictures of them in the same room? Maybe they ARE the same person!

    Nah jk. They look similar to me because of their coloring but they don’t look THAT identical. Maybe that’s just me!

    • Original T.C. says:

      Yeah I can separate them apart, they remind me of each other. Isn’t Chastain shorter than Bryce?

    • Carol says:

      If they were in a room together, I could tell them apart. If I see one by herself, I might get confused.

  2. OSLO says:

    WELL WELL WELL!
    I thought i was going crazy thinking this two definitely look alike or could pass for sisters. The resemblance is so striking!

  3. deezee says:

    They look similar and would buy them playing sisters in a movie. I don’t think I’d mistake one for the other though.

    • elimaeby says:

      I agree. Bryce has softer features. They look similar, but not identical.

      • B n A fan says:

        I believe if we saw Bryce with red lips like Jessica and Jessica red hair they would look identical.

      • deezee says:

        Yes, Bryce has a softness that Jessica doesn’t have. The eyes too seem more open and friendly.

  4. lucy2 says:

    They really do look so much alike. I’m sure I’ve mixed them up in films and stuff before.

  5. Khy says:

    Well Bryce has had a lot of surgery over the years, so her face is different than the original. Not sure about chastain though.

    • lucy2 says:

      Really? I just looked up old photos, and I don’t see it. Very different makeup, and aging of course, but I don’t see any different features.

    • tolly says:

      Howard paid to get Chastain’s nose and Chastain paid to get Howard’s eyes (they’re very hooded in her yearbook photo). It’s not surprising that they look alike.

  6. Lex says:

    Their features are not similar, beyond colouring (fake??)

    I also don’t understand the Isla and Amy confusion…… sue me!

    Do people not have eyes?

    • Esmom says:

      I agree that their features are not that similar but I could see where people would make a mistake in passing. Same with Amy and Isla. I can think of a number of celebs that I get confused…and even in real life I often see people who remind me a lot of someone I know. They say everyone has a double for a reason, I think.

      I also think some people have a degree of “face blindness” where it’s not that easy to distinguish people who look similar.

      • Anners says:

        For the longest time I couldn’t tell Scarlett Johansson and Charlize Theron apart. I can now, but at the start of their careers I thought they were the same person. Same without Amy/Isla and Jessica/Bryce. Blondes all look the same to me 🤷🏻‍♀️
        Then again, a friend sent a Christmas picture to me and I had no recollection of posing as Mary (hint to self – I didn’t. I may need to see a specialist…)

    • Kersplasha says:

      I 100% agree! similar, but obviously different. And i don’t think Isla and Amy look alike at all.
      People seem to be blinded by the red hair.

    • Lua says:

      It’s because of the red hair. Growing up if anyone in my schools had red hair, everyone thought they must be related to me 😒
      Dated a red head for one week before the whispering that we must be cousins got to me and I broke up with him.

  7. Lady Baden-Baden says:

    They are both white women with similar coloring (and occasionally similar hairstyles). That’s it. So I can see you might mistake one for the other at a glance (which sounds like the case with Ron Howard) but nothing more than that. Other than that – Bryce must be flattered. She’s an attractive woman, sure, but Chastain is stunning

  8. Chaine says:

    The video is hilarious. Now they need to make one with Chad from Red Hot Chilli Peppers singing “I Am Not Will Ferrell.”

    • Kersplasha says:

      My husband looks just like both of them. He calls them the handsomest men in the world LOL

  9. Steph says:

    I dont really see it lol. Now lets talk about evan Rachel wood and Rachel Brosnahan. Those two look identical.

    • Victoria says:

      Totally!!! Now with the blonde hair I’m really confused

      Wasn’t there a rumor a while back that Ron Howard fathered Jessica and that’s how she got her start in Hollywood? I think Enty started that one. Whatevs I love their red hair and have tried to get it myself. Too much work and money

  10. T says:

    I can’t see a video embedded? Also when I click the Us link it goes to an Ariana Grande story.

  11. tuille says:

    Other than hair color, I don’t think they like that much alike. Bryce has softer features, shorter, wider nose & a round face. The middle of Jessica’s face is long, as in medieval portraits. She has a longer, narrow nose & a square jaw.
    I think Jessica has had work on her face a in the last few months. It’s somehow different now & she stayed out of sight long enough for it to settle.

  12. NotTiffany says:

    I can relate. Decades ago I was mistaken a few times for the popstar, Tiffany, at a NKOTB concert. I remember getting annoyed and saying, “I don’t look anything like her!” But months later I was flipping thru a teeny bopper magazine and saw a photo that make my heart skip a beat because I felt like I was looking into a mirror.

    All these years later, about 50% of the time I meet someone close to my age, the first words out of their mouth is: “Has anyone ever told you, you look just like Tiffany?” Which usually results in having to explain to someone nearby just who Tiffany is. 🙄

  13. Lena says:

    If you only see something or someone briefly and you can’t see them properly your brain fills in the Blanks with what makes sense, so it makes completely sense that he saw someone that reset bled his daughter and his brain filled in the Blanks.

  14. Cindy says:

    Well I have definitely mistaken these 2 for each other at some point or another. From a distance they’d be easy to mistake, and I honestly had a hard time telling who was who in that picture in the header lol.

  15. Dee Kay says:

    I like both these actresses and would see a comedy where they are sisters for sure.

    I went to high school with my doppleganger and we were friendly but not close or anything and once my father (who came to pick me up) caught her making out with her boyfriend on the high school grounds…only it wasn’t me. Thankfully he figured it out before making a scene.

  16. Snazzy says:

    I think BH spoke about it on the Graham Norton Show during an interview as well. She said when they were in Uni (I think?) they didn’t know each other but went to the same Starbucks and even the Barrsita would mix them up.

  17. Starkiller says:

    Other than both being white redheads, they don’t look a thing alike to me. Their facial features, bone structure are completely different.

  18. AG-UK says:

    And I was like…..lol

  19. ZBlackSuit says:

    In some pics, they do look very similar but I don’t think I personally would get confused. Bryce has a different nose and face shape. Both very beautiful women though Bryce has had a lot of work done (nose and cheek implants or fillers) in the face. Also Bryce doesn’t conform to the HW size and has often talked about how she buys ready to wear to find something that fits. I like them both.

  20. nikki says:

    I get Zoe Saldana mixed up with Thandie Newton; they really look quite a bit similar. ..

  21. JanetDR says:

    I am never sure if I see one of them. Side by side, I can sort them out.