Certain celebrities get mistaken for each other all the time – there’s absolutely no denying the uncanny resemblance between actor Will Ferrell and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith.
Lisa Kudrow and Dionne Warwick, however… that’s a new one. Yes, you’re thinking of the correct people here.
In a baffling confession, the Friends icon, 62, has recalled the time a server mistook her for the Walk On By singer, who is Black and 23 years her senior.
On the ‘bizarre’ fan interaction, Los Angeles-born Lisa told the Hollywood Reporter’s Comedy Actress roundtable with Ashley Padilla, Hannah Einbinder, Quinta Brunson, Rachel Sennott, and Keke Palmer: ‘I have my favourite.
‘It was during Friends, and I was going to Jerry’s Deli, or something, and the hostess had an accent.
‘She was from somewhere in Eastern Europe and just went, “I know who you are.” I went, “Aw, yeah.” And she said, “You are Dionne Warwick.”
‘I just went, “No, I’m not. I am not”.’
In the moment, Lisa was also taken aback: ‘I kind of felt this, “She doesn’t know who I am?” And then it was, wait… Dionne Warwick?’
Abbott Elementary writer Quinta reacted: ‘I love that. Just face blindness. American face blindness.’
Emmy winner Keke joked: ‘Girl, if you’re Dionne Warwick, I’m Stevie Nicks.’
The fellow stars went on to share their own memorable fan moments, with Quinta admitting that Lisa’s extreme case of mistaken identity makes her ‘feel better’ about regularly getting confused for other Black actresses.
She said how people will tell her, ‘You were in I Love Boosters,’ which is actually one of Keke’s films.
‘Literally, all the time,’ she stated.
Quinta, 36, who was recently announced to be starring in the Betty Boop movie, then remembered how ‘it happened to Niecy Nash recently’, who was signing autographs outside of Jimmy Kimmel’s show when an individual made a toe-curling comment.
‘They were like, “We love you on Abbott!”,’ Quinta revealed. ‘So, Niecy’s like, “Which one do you think I am? Do you think I’m Sheryl [Lee Ralph] or Quinta or Janelle [James]?”
‘But those are hilarious, too.’
Having also been told at times that people ‘don’t know where’ they know her from, she joked that Lisa’s comparison to the Grammy winner was somewhat reassuring.
‘So, Dionne Warwick? That’s going to make me feel better.’
A-listers have long spoken about being likened to other major stars.
Keira Knightley was once ‘chased through an airport’ because someone thought she was Natalie Portman, while Isla Fisher once stuck Amy Adams’s face over a photo of her own on a family Christmas card… and no one noticed.
Bryce Dallas Howard and Jessica Chastain have also basically accepted how much they look alike at this point, while the internet lost its mind when Emma Mackey appeared alongside long-time lookalike Margot Robbie in the Barbie movie.
Such comparisons – like Bill Skarsgard and Steve Buscemi or even Jeremy Allen White and Gene Wilder – aren’t always lighthearted, though.
Recently, The Pitt actress Supriya Ganesh called out interviewers for mixing her up with brown cast members Shabana Azeez and Sepideh Moafi.
She wrote on X in December: ‘Hi! PSA there’s more than one brown woman on our show in the main cast, there were two last year and three (3!) this year!! Please stop mixing us up!! Especially if you’re press, it’s literally your job not to! Thank you!!!!’
Elsewhere, when Samuel L Jackson was once mistaken for Laurence Fishburne in a Super Bowl ad, he made a point of schooling the US TV host.
‘We don’t all look alike! We may all be Black and famous, but we don’t all look alike,’ he said. ‘There’s more than one Black guy doing a commercial.’
And in 2023, Gabrielle Union offered insight into her reality of being a Black actress, saying on Instagram: ‘I’m a Black actress and producer in Hollywood. Of course, I’ve been mistaken for Garcelle Beauvais, Brandy, Ashanti, Sanaa [Lathan], Nia [Long], both Halles [Berry and Bailey], and both Reginas [King and Hall].’
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