Some Like It Flattering

I’ve never been one of those people who is told she looks like a movie star. Jeez, I never even get told I look like a basic cable star. I am often told I look familiar, which is usually followed by a “just like my cousin” or a “did we go to college together?”  

As such, I’ve always thought it would be kind of fun to look like someone famous.

Please allow me to qualify that. It would be fun to look like someone famous who is accomplished, intelligent and somewhat attractive. Also … female.

Other people hear this all the time. Growing up, I saw how many times people stopped to tell my mother she looked just like Marilyn Monroe. As one of the great beauty icons of the 20th century, I’m thinking there are many less favorable comparisons. The resemblance in some of Marilyn Monroe’s photos is so striking that when my daughter was about a year-and-a-half old, she saw a photo of Marilyn, pointed and yelled, “Grandma!”

This happened right in front of my (delighted) mother, which makes me wonder why we still find it necessary to save for our daughter's college tuition.

And it continues in my circle of friends, a circle that includes doppelgängers for Kirsten Dunst, Julia Roberts, Elisabeth Shue and Joshua Jackson. I think it would be such a compliment, but apparently being constantly told you look like someone gorgeous is a real burden. Just ask the waitress who responded to my assessment that she looked identical to Tiffani Amber Thiessen with an eye roll and a pained, “I hear that all the time.”

I have actually been compared to a few famous television characters throughout the years, however. Notably, Samantha Jones from Sex and the City, Nina Van Horn in Just Shoot Me, and just last weekend, to Cameron Diaz in her new role as Bad Teacher. You’ll notice these women look nothing alike, nor do I look anything like any of them. You’ll also notice the comparisons are not particularly favorable.

Each of these characters is shallow, selfish and morally bankrupt — to a cartoonish extreme. I cannot help but wonder what I’m putting out there that makes others see these similarities, especially since the people making the observations did not know me in college.

My husband thinks I’m being too sensitive and believes the comparisons are more about the level of self-assurance these characters possess.

Which is exactly the type of all-American optimism I’d expect from someone who looks like the lovechild of Thomas Gibson and Ralph Macchio.