We analyze everything about celebrities, from what they wear to shop to what they eat at breakfast, but one aspect of their lives that sometimes goes unnoticed is their age. Not that we don’t comment on it -- no celebrity will ever escape being evaluated on how old or young they look at any given time -- but the specific numerical age often goes unspoken.

Some actors seem ageless and are so often in the spotlight that we watch them age without noticing it, like we do our own friends and family. Others leave the public eye for long periods of time and when they return their age is all the more apparent. Either way, looking into celebrities' ages can be an illuminating experience because of how different some celebrities ages are in our minds than in reality. Jennifer Lawrence, for example, famously acts in roles of characters much older than her, which makes people shocked to learn she is just 27.

Let's look at some pairings of celebrities who are the same age and see just how surprising some of them are -- which celebrities are much older or younger than you thought, and which celebrities are the same age that you never expected. Here are thirty of some of the most surprising celebrity ages to learn.

30 Jennifer Lopez and Jennifer Aniston (48 Years Old)

These are two breakout stars of the 90s and, if someone had told you in 1995 that Rachel from Friends and Jenny from the Block were the same age, you probably wouldn’t have been surprised at all.

But something about how these two women have aged and their different presences in the media makes that a little harder to believe in 2018 when they’re both turning 49. While both stars continuously make pretty good movies (The Boy Next Door and Lila & Eve for J.Lo; Mother’s Day, Horrible Bosses 2, and countless others for Jennifer Aniston), how they appear on TV otherwise makes a big impact on how they’re seen. Lopez stars as a detective on NBC’s Shades of Blue, where she swaps between mothering and holding bad guys at gunpoint all with a fabulous haircut. She also continues to produce extremely popular music and voice acts, including in the Ice Age franchise.

On the other hand, outside of movies Aniston is mostly seen in music videos and commercials. Plus, there’s something about her beautiful glowing face in her Aveeno commercials that make us want to buy the product. 

29 Chloe Grace Moretz and Kylie Jenner (20 Years Old)

Since turning 18 Kylie Jenner has been transformed from a somewhat awkward kid into a long-haired, curvy, often overly talked about woman. Kylie spends so much time in front of cameras that her transformation was made to look almost natural because it seemed gradual, but if you take a look at photos from just a few years before, it definitely becomes questionable whether it’s just puberty at work or the Kardashians’ magical doctors.

Compare: Chloe Grace Moretz, the no-longer-a-child actor who is also 21. One of her first major roles was in Hugo, where she played romantically bookish Isabelle, who wandered around the train station spouting her love for Christina Rossetti. Since then she has been in Kick-Ass, the new Carrie, The 5th Wave, and If I Stay. She definitely has grown up from the kid she once was, but at least there’s still a resemblance, unlike as we saw with Kylie.

28 Beyoncé and Britney Spears (36 Years Old)

Here’s another duo that might not have been so surprising in 1999 when “Say My Name” and “Hit Me Baby One More Time” both came out. In the 90s, these stars led the pop world that brought us into the new Millenium. Back then, Beyoncé could probably have passed for older than Spears with her all-American schoolgirl image.

Now, though, Spears is notoriously remembered. She’s still producing music and touring, but compared to Beyoncé, who’s constantly appearing on TV, in newspapers, on the radio, and everywhere you look, she’s a regular recluse. This leads to the effect that happens when stars stay out of consciousness for a while, which is that they get stuck in the earlier versions of themselves -- we almost don’t expect them to age while we’re not paying attention. Either way, both are still goddesses.

27 Matthew Perry and Matthew McConaughey (48 Years Old)

Matthew Perry has been through a lot since his breakout performance as Chandler Bing on Friends. He’s spoken to the media at length about his addiction, which caused the weight fluctuations we watched while he was on the country’s favorite sitcom. Perry has since become an activist working against addiction and is a spokesperson for the National Association of Drug Court Professionals. His acting career has slowed, though he’s continued to work on projects like 17 Again with Zac Efron and the TV miniseries The Kennedys.

Matthew McConaughey, on the other hand, has seen an upward trend in his career from low budget action and goofy rom-com actor to more serious (if still a bit goofy) actor. His nineties and early noughties movies like A Time to Kill, How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days, and The Wedding Planner (with J.Lo!) weren’t bad, but they weren’t exactly of the caliber he’s been doing more recently in Interstellar, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Dallas Buyers Club, for which he won many awards including an Oscar for best actor. Even with this success, it’s pretty hard to believe these guys are 48. 

26 Lorde and Zendaya (21 Years Old)

Lorde and Zendaya are two newer young stars that you might not know you know. Lorde is most famous for her songs “Royals,” “Green Light,” and “Liability”. You might have seen some of her music videos or public appearances where she usually appears with big curls, shapely clothes, red lips, and wingtip eyeliner.

It would be easy to believe she was over 25, but this New Zealand singer is actually just 21, turning 22 later this year. For her young years, she’s already accomplished a lot. In 2013 she became the youngest solo artist to achieve a US number one single on the Billboard Hot 100 in 25 years for “Royals.” Her subsequent albums have been very well received, and she received a Grammy nomination for best album for her most recent Melodrama. All before her 22nd birthday!

Zendaya is an equally accomplished young woman, though her Disney roots perhaps ensure that she’s kept looking her age and younger. You’ll probably know her from her roles as a pink-haired acrobat in The Greatest Showman and the new Superman: Homecoming where she plays a nerdy MJ. Zendaya is just as cute and successful as Lorde, but you can tell she’s made to look younger.

25 Sally Field and Dolly Parton (72 Years Old)

Oh, Dolly Parton. It’s becoming hard to remember what she looked like at a younger age. But surely the comparison with gloriously natural Sally Field proves that women in their seventies don't necessarily need nips and tucks. Both are still stunners. 

In their recent careers, both Field and Parton have continued to be as successful as when they were younger. Parton has become a revered legend of country music and continues to act, voice act, and sing. She’s even been nominated for an Academy Award. Field, along with publishing an autobiography, has continued acting on stage and screen and won the 2017 Tony for Best Actress for her work in The Glass Menagerie. No matter what age they look, these two women are inspirations for what you can continue to achieve no matter what your age.

24 Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Liam Hemsworth (28 Years Old)

Thomas Brodie-Sangster might not be a name you know, but his face will definitely be familiar. His first big performance was in the romantic comedy classic Love, Actually as the heartsick drumming stepson of Liam Neeson, who won over the world’s hearts with his adorable big eyes, messy hair, and lines like, “Let’s get the shit kicked out of us by love.” Unlike many child stars Brodie-Sangster hasn’t fallen off the acting wagon. Growing up he continued to act in children’s and young adult movies like Nanny McPhee and The Maze Runner, before landing a role on Game of Thrones as Jojen Reed, the sort of spiritual guide to Bran and brother of Meera. In this recent appearance of his, the time since Love, Actually, seems much shorter -- how does Sangster still look so young?

In actuality, the actor was in his mid-twenties at this point, and now he is approaching thirty, along with Australian actor Liam Hemsworth. Hemsworth, though not as famous as his older brother Chris who plays Thor in the Marvel movies, is perhaps best known for his role in the Hunger Games trilogy and his on-again-off-again romance with Miley Cyrus. He only looks slightly older than his age of 28 with his big build and facial hair, but put next to Sangster he looks even older.

23 Susan Sarandon and Liza Minelli (71 Years Old)

Not too surprising when you think about it, but a fun fact nonetheless: Susan Sarandon and Liza Minnelli are the same age. Perhaps it’s because Sarandon has continued acting while Minnelli has largely stopped appearing in the media, but Sarandon still feels like a current Hollywood actress. Both actresses, however, still look remarkably like their younger selves. Sarandon’s big round eyes, long mouth, and curly copper hair are the same as when she was Janet in The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Liza Minnelli, partially by keeping her short haircut, strong eyebrows, and trademark exaggerated eyelashes has kept a lot of her earlier style as well. 

Both actresses are 72 this year and still going strong. Sarandon, along with her acting, is involved in political activism and speaks at protests and other events. She’s a voice actor who has performed in cartoons like American Dad and Rick and Morty and has been an ever-increasing number of comedies, including Melissa McCarthy’s Tammy, Zoolander 2, and A Bad Moms Christmas. Liza Minnelli has had large roles on So You Think You Can Dance and The Voice UK.

22 Margot Robbie and Emma Watson (28 Years Old)

Emma Watson will always be bushy-haired and precocious Hermione Granger in her hearts, no matter what artsy and edgy new haircut she gets. Margot Robbie, on the other hand, only entered our consciousness in the 2013 The Wolf of Wall Street as the sexy and scary second wife of Leo DiCaprio’s character. She was just 23 at the time but alongside DiCaprio’s 39 her apparent age was definitely upped at least a few years. Since then the ages she’s portrayed have varied, from her role as a teenage and young-twenties Tonya Harding in I, Tonya, to counterpart to Tina Fey in Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. Like Jennifer Lawrence (who is, incidentally, also 27), Robbie has taken on roles from the start that make her seem much older than she is, and she plays them convincingly.

Watson, since the end of the Harry Potter movies, has not focused as much on her acting career. On top of her feminist activism, speaking for women and charities around the world, she models for Burberry as an image of quintessential Englishness. She’s also starred in movies like the live-action Beauty and the Beast alongside Dan Stevens and The Perks of Being a Wallflower. These younger-looking roles are a far cry from those of Robbie, which is why it’s so hard to believe the actresses are actually the same age.

21 Eminem and Dwayne Johnson (45 Years Old)

I don’t know about you, but for me Eminem hasn’t aged since about 2005. You might be surprised to know that his daughter Hailie is now 22 and graduating from college. Her father, however, is still wearing the same haircut and clothing style he always has, contributing to the feeling that no time has passed. He’s still creating music and touring internationally with massive audiences. Maybe it’s that consistency that slows time for Eminem. When compared to Dwayne Johnson, who’s the same age but feels like he should be much older, he has had a more stable pop culture presence in the past fifteen years, while Johnson has had a definite increase in popularity. From his wrestling career, where he was extremely well known in the wrestling world but less so outside of it, he transitioned into an acting career that has been hugely successful and only getting more so -- he’s now one of the highest paid and most successful actors in Hollywood, starring in movies like the new Jumanji, Moana, The Fate of the Furious, and G.I. Joe. As he gets older he’s beginning to have a sort of wizened demeanor, though still as amazingly ripped as ever.

20 Catherine Zeta Jones and Renee Zellweger (48 Years Old)

Who knew these Chicago co-stars were the same age? Both Catherine Zeta Jones and Renee Zellweger are looking pretty great at 49, but who will ever forget the shock when Zellweger came back into the public eye for the new Bridget Jones movie after falling out of it for so long. There were articles speculating about plastic surgery saying she looked like a completely different person than the rosy-cheeked star we fell in love with in the first two Bridget Jones movies. After the commentary died down the consensus reached was just that it had been a while since we had last seen her, and she looked much more like herself in Bridget Jones’ Baby.

Catherine Zeta Jones has not had a similar drop out of the public eye, so her aging process has seemed much more natural and slow. After winning numerous awards, including an Oscar, as a supporting actress in Chicago, she has starred in a number of movies and returned to stage acting, winning a Tony for her lead role in A Little Night Music. She’s also been appointed a Commander of the British Empire for her acting and humanitarian work, raising money for charities like the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

19 Adele and Emma Stone (29 Years Old)

There have been a lot of articles about how Adele has always looked older than she is (it was particularly surprising back at the release of her first two albums named after her age, 19 and 21, when most people thought she was at least five years older than each of them). Now, when she’s just turned thirty her age is a lot more believable, but when put next to Oscar-winning actress Emma Stone, her mature looks are made obvious again. It’s hard to believe these two women are the same age -- maybe it’s Adele’s style that calls back to the 50s that ages her, while Stone tends to favor more modern looks.

Though we might still remember them for the younger roles -- how much time has really passed since Adele’s breakout album or Emma Stone’s role in Superbad? -- these women have passed through their twenties closely watched by the public eye. While we might still remember them in their early twenties, Adele has gotten married and had a child, while Stone is now dating actor Justin Theroux after his still-recent divorce from Jennifer Aniston. These amazingly accomplished women have achieve a lot in their careers before their thirtieth birthdays, but it’s still surprising that they’re as old as they are.

18 Keanu Reeves and Nicolas Cage (54 Years Old)

This might be the most surprising pairing on this list, as Keanu Reeves has a way of always looking much younger than he is while Nicolas Cage is the exact opposite. In some photos I would be willing to believe that Reeves was still in his late thirties, not turning 54. Cage, on the other hand, could be in his sixties. Cage made his film debut in the 1982 movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High when he was was eighteen. Reeves didn’t make his film debut until 1985 with the movie One Step Away. Both actors had heydays in the nineties, particularly with action movies, but even back then Reeves appeared much younger than Cage. Here’s Reeves in 1999 hit The Matrix, compared to Cage in his 1997 movie Face/Off (which, if you haven’t seen it, has the absolutely brilliant premise that Cage and John Travolta literally undergo surgery to trade faces).

Maybe it’s the mustache, but Cage looks years older than Reeves’ baby face. Today it seems like Reeves has barely aged at all, whereas Cage looks much more like a regular middle-aged man. The two stars’ acting careers have slowed slightly since the nineties, but they’re both still working on several movies a year.

17 Kathy Bates and Ina Garten (69 Years Old)

I’m not sure how old I thought Kathy Bates or Ina Garten was, but I was surprised to learn that they’re both turning 70 this year. The two women’s careers have barely slowed, if they’ve slowed at all, as they’ve gotten older, and the actress and TV chef are going strong with huge and faithful fan bases. Recently, Bates has had an upsurge in her popularity from her work on the show American Horror Story where she’s played a terrifying range of characters. Bates also has an Academy Award for acting in horror projects, which she won in 1990 for her role in Stephen King’s Misery. Bates’ acting can range from heartwarming and noble to mean and scary, both combinations made equally believable by this skilled actress.

Equally beloved is TV show host and cookbook writer Ina Garten, also known as the Barefoot Contessa, whose simplified versions of traditional (and traditionally complicated) French recipes have delighted home cooks across the United States and beyond. Always warm, relaxed, and cheerful, Garten hosts hordes of guests at dinner parties on her show, advocating for an appreciation of food in your own home that is laid back and casual. While she loves to cook for her husband Jeffrey, Garten uses her cooking as a modern woman to bring people together.

16 Ryan Reynolds and Benedict Cumberbatch (41 Years Old)

Both Ryan Reynolds and Benedict Cumberbatch came to fame slightly later in their lives than is usual for most celebrities. Reynolds was in his first film in 1993, but it wasn’t until his role in the romantic comedy Just Friends in 2005 that he gained any sort of recognition in the public consciousness. Since 2005 Reynolds has made a rather miraculous transition from definite B actor to a hugely respected comedy actor, writer, and producer. After the widely unpopular Just Friends, Reynolds starred in Adventureland, The Proposal, X-Men, Turbo, and Deadpool. Deadpool is the highest-grossing R-rated film and earned $783 million on a $58 million budget.

Cumberbatch had an impressive career in theatre before transitioning into television and film, but didn’t become widely known until his role as Sherlock Holmes in the gritty cerebral BBC drama Sherlock in 2010. It’s hard to believe it’s only been eight years since the world became aware of this impactful actor, as since then his work has been pretty incredible. He has since starred in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, the Hobbit movies as the terrifying voice of Smaug the dragon, Star Trek Into Darkness, 12 Years a Slave, The Imitation Game, Doctor Strange, and the television shows of Parade’s End and Patrick Melrose. What did we do without his gravelly voice and sarcastic expressions?

15 Courteney Cox and Sandra Bullock (53 Years Old)

Yet another Friends star here, Courteney Cox was hugely popular in the nineties for her role as Monica in the hit sitcom. Sandra Bullock was also extremely popular at that time for her roles in Speed, While You Were Sleeping, The Net, Making Sandwiches, and Practical Magic. After Friends ended in 2004, however, Courteney Cox largely stopped acting, while Bullock was just getting started. Her naughties movies included 28 Days, Miss Congeniality, Two Weeks Notice, The Proposal, and The Blind Side, for which she won an Academy Award for best actress. Since that role Bullock has starred in The Heat, Gravity, and the new Ocean’s 8.

By contrast to a million movies with Bullock you must have seen, you might have seen Courteney Cox in The Longest Yard, the Scream movies, and a handful of other small films. Despite not doing much more acting she has stayed popular because of the huge Friends fan base and often appears in celebrity tabloids and shows about her life and career. Maybe because we’ve seen Bullock more in movies over the years her aging has looked more natural, whereas we’re still most used to seeing a thirty-year-old Courteney Cox on Friends, so when we see a recent image it’s all the more shocking.

14 Winona Ryder and Amy Poehler (46 Years Old)

Winona Ryder is just one of those people who will always look young -- I have trouble seeing her as anything other than a teenager or in her young twenties, just because she still looks and sounds so much like herself in Beetlejuice and Heathers. Even in her hit Netflix show Stranger Things where she is made to look constantly frazzled and overworked (and given the worst haircut TV has seen in a while) she still looks at least five years younger than her actual 46. Maybe it’s the incredible cheekbones, but Winona Ryder has barely changed since her eighties days.

Amy Poehler is also looking great as ever, though she rose to celebrity at a later age than Ryder and so is older in the public consciousness. Poehler joined the cast of Saturday Night Live in 2001, the first time she had a nationwide audience, and since then has become one of the most famous comedy actresses in cinema, with unforgettable roles in Mean Girls, Wet Hot American Summer, Blades of Glory, and the recent hit with Will Ferrell again, The House. Both these actresses look as young as ever at 46 and are going strong in their acting careers.

13 Lindsay Lohan and Lea Michele (31 Years Old)

We don’t see Lindsay Lohan much these days, but when we do the tabloids tend to take the tone of “what happened to Lindsay Lohan?” or “the new surgery Lohan has tried to look younger” and so on. She has not been treated well by the media since she had legal issues and visits to rehabilitation clinics. This former Disney star, like many people so famous from such a young age, had a tough time growing up that necessitated stepping back from the limelight -- even if the limelight wouldn’t let her. It feels like ages since we saw Lohan as a child in The Parent Trap, or older in Mean Girls, Herbie Fully Loaded, Freaky Friday, and Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen. It’s a bit surprising that she’s only 31.

Lea Michele became famous much later on the show Glee where she starred as ambitious Broadway-bound teenager Rachel, which aired first in 2009. Though she was playing a teenager at the time, the actress was actually already 23 when she started, and by the time her character graduated she was almost thirty. Almost the opposite situation of Lohan, Michele played characters that aged her down rather than the other way around.

12 Will Smith and Terry Crews (49 Years Old)

Put whatever you know about them aside and admit this: Will Smith looks about ten years younger than Terry Crews these days, even though they’re both 50 this year. Terry Crews’ most popular role at the moment is as the sergeant on hit comedy Brooklyn 99, where he plays a bodybuilding and yogurt-loving father who’s fiercely protective of his young daughters. We’re also getting used to seeing Will Smith in a fatherly role, whether in his public appearances with his children or in movies like The Pursuit of Happiness, where his real son Jaden plays alongside him. Added to the fact that it’s been twenty years since The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, it makes sense that Will Smith is 50. But how does he still look that good?

Not that Crews has aged poorly -- Brooklyn 99 frequently makes jokes about his large muscles as the actor has remained in great shape since his football career. Crews transitioned from sports to film in the late nineties and early 2000s and had his first major role in White Chicks in 2004. He was also in Adam Sandler’s The Longest Yard, Ice Cube’s Are We There Yet? and the sitcom Everybody Hates Chris.

11 Alexis Bledel and Paris Hilton (37 Years Old)

Will Alexis Bledel ever not look like sweet and innocent teenage Rory Gilmore? She did look much older in the recent revival of the heartwarming show about a Connecticut mother and daughter, but she’s so associated with that one role that everytime she appears in anything it’s under a cloak of blue-eye and perfect skin Rory Gilmore. Bledel’s style as Rory and in real life doesn’t help make her look any older -- she favors girlish dresses in soft pastels, flouncy skirts, and minimal makeup. She’s a gorgeous actress who doesn’t need much makeup, and has been looking about 20-25 for most of her professional life.

Paris Hilton tends to go for a complete opposite approach, with thick false eyelashes, heavy contouring, and sheer and skintight outfits, she’s been looking older than she is since she was a teenager. It goes deeper than style-- even her strong jaw and rectangular head shape looks older than Bledel’s heart shape, and her more shapely body pulls off the sexier style better than Bledel could. Hilton has looked about 30 years old since she was 20, and now that she’s approaching 40 that’s working even more in her favor. Both actresses are gorgeous and in very different ways managing to look younger than they are.