10 Best Performances From Actors Portraying Identical Twins

Coming off his riveting performance in Dark Waters, Mark Ruffalo is set to play identical twin brothers in the new HBO miniseries I Know This Much Is True, which is set to premiere this Sunday, May 10th. Based on the novel by Wally Lamb, the show revolves around the psychotic breakdown of paranoid schizophrenic Thomas Birdsey (Ruffalo) and the painstaking effort made by his twin brother, Dominick (Ruffalo), to find the proper treatment.

That got us to thinking about some of the all-time best performances from actors playing twins on screen. Without further adieu, here are the 10 best performances from actors portraying identical twins!

10 Christian Bale: The Prestige (2006)

While we almost kicked off this shindig by honoring the Muscles from Brussels himself, Jean-Claude Van Damme, for his epic identical dual-roles in Double Impact. Alas, we thought wiser and went with an Oscar-winning actor, instead!

More to the point, Christian Bale’s twin identity in Chris Nolan’s The Prestige is a major hidden plot point around which the entire “magic trick” would cease to work. As Alfred Borden, a rivaling magician at the turn of the century, the trickster uses his secret twin brother in disguise to fool audiences into believing his magical skills. Sneaky indeed!

9 Bette Davis: Dead Ringer (1964)

Bette Davis sinks her teeth into the plum dual-role as Margaret DeLorca and Edith Phillips in Dead Ringer, a terrific and terrifying Warner Bros. horror flick from 1964.

When blue-collar Edith murders her rich and snooty twin sister Margaret in cold blood, she immediately assumes her identity afterward. However, pretending to be her wealthy sister proves far more difficult than originally planned. Davis inhabits both parts, with roles with the utmost credibility. Lana Turner was originally offered the part but turned it down due to her unwillingness to play twins.

8 Armie Hammer: The Social Network (2010)

Despite rocking a few nondescript roles such as Male Prefect (Flicka), Abercrombie Boy (Spring Breakdown), and Skateboarder (The Last Hurrah), Armie Hammer finally hit the big-time as the Winklevoss Twins in The Social Network!

With the help of David Fincher’s seamless CGI augmentation, Hammer brings to life the tall, rich, and handsome Harvard twin brothers who end up suing Mark Zuckerberg over the likeness of their social media app. While there isn’t much daylight between Cameron and Tyler, Hammer plays both as well as possible.

7 Eddie Murphy: Bowfinger (1999)

Eddie Murphy gives one of his best and most underrated performances as two twin brothers in Bowfinger, whose wildly disparate personalities could not be on further ends of the spectrum.

Written by and co-starring Steve Martin, the film follows movie producer Bowfinger (Martin) who must think fast after he fails to hire popular movie star Kit Ramsey (Murphy). In a last-ditch effort, Bowfinger hires ultra-geeky lookalike Jiff (Murphy), whom he finds on the street. Despite their identical appearances and blood relations, Bowfinger can’t quite fool people into thinking Jiff is Kit.

6 Margot Kidder: Sister (1973)

Brian De Palma channels his slick Hitchcockian style like no other in Sisters, a piercing horror flick in which Margot Kidder gives a tremendous dual-performance as female twins, Danielle and Dominique Blanchion.

The Rear Window-like thriller picks up when a reporter named Grace (Jennifer Salt) happens to witness a murder in the apartment building across the street. Grace believes the man was murdered by Danielle, a French fashion model. However, when Danielle informs the authorities that her twin sister Dominique has arrived, the plot thickens like curdled blood!

5 Paul Dano: There Will Be Blood (2007)

t he only had four days to prepare for the dual-role!

Indeed, Dano was originally only set to play Paul Sunday. When PT Anderson replaced the actor playing Eli Sunday during the shoot, he asked Dano to play Eli as well as Paul. Dano accepted and began shooting the much larger role of Eli four days later.

4 Tom Hardy: Legend (2015)

Tom Hardy utterly ignites the screen as identical twin gangsters Ronald and Reginald Kray in the 2015 film Legend. As a result, Hardy won a British Independent Film Award for his breathtaking work.

Based on a true story, Legend chronicles the wave of terror exacted by British brothers Ronnie and Reggie Kray in 1960s London. The thrilling rise and eventual downfall of the brothers remain compelling, particularly when they become separated. With Ronnie in jail, Reggie tries to clean up his act and go legit. Of course, old habits die hard!

3 Nicolas Cage: Adaptation. (2002)

No actor has a wider chasm between their performative highs and lows than Nicolas Cage. When he’s on, he’s on. When he’s off, WTF?

One instance of Cage being at the top of his game is in Adaptation., Spike Jonze’s brilliant translation of Charlie Kaufman’s meta-screenplay. Cage plays Charlie Kaufman in the film, a tormented screenwriter struggling to adapt a book called The Orchid Thief. Charlie’s twin brother, Donald, arrives on the scene with the complete opposite attitude and begins to complete the screenplay on his own. Cage earned an Oscar nomination for his dual roles!

2 Edward Norton: Leaves Of Grass (2009)

It’s a real shame more people don’t know about or discuss with greater frequency and volume Edward Norton’s superb turn as twin brothers in Leaves of Grass. It’s truly one of his best performances!

Written and directed by Tim Blake Nelson, the film concerns hifalutin Ivy League Professor who is told his twin brother living in Oklahoma has been murdered via crossbow. Bill (Norton) returns home for the funeral only to learn his redneck, pot-head brother Brady (Norton) is still alive and well. At odds, the two make amends while striking a major deal with rival weed dealers.

1 Jeremy Irons: Dead Ringers (1988)

While Dustin Hoffman won the Oscar for his brilliant work in Rain Man, many have argued that Jeremy Irons deserved to collect the golden statuette for his utterly magnetic turn as Beverly and Ellie Mantle in Dead Ringers. Alas, he didn’t even score a nomination!

From the warped mind of David Cronenberg, the film concerns two twin gynecologists who exploit the fact none of their patients can tell them apart. Yet, they couldn’t be more different. Ellie is strong, sexy, and confident, while Bev is rigid, reserved, and far more conservative. Things go well until a sexy screen idol named Clare (Genevieve Bujold) arrives and threatens to tear the twins apart.