Chance encounters with someone’s double can be far more common than you think, so long as you choose to lower the bar (quite) a bit. Either that or you squint. 

If you’re not looking for a ‘perfect’ match, you might find that you’re constantly surrounded by folks who look like your family, friends, and your fave stars! It’s enough to make anyone wonder how unique they might actually be. Just this week, we’ve spotted a handful of strangers who could quite easily pass for our acquaintances… well, sorta. 

The r/WalmartCelebrities subreddit styles itself as a place where people can share images, gifs, and videos of celebrities and well-known characters. “The posts can range from near-perfect look-alikes/ doppelgangers/ doubles through to terrible knock-off versions of the celebrities/ characters, as long as there is some resemblance,” the team running the subreddit shares.

They add, jokingly, that they also allow photos of celebrities shopping in Walmart, as per the sub’s name.

Founded in early 2019, the subreddit has been up and running for over four years now. In that time, the community has grown to nearly 244k members (or “shoppers” as the witty redditors call themselves). At this size, the online group ranks among the top 1% of all subreddits on the site.

Most of the rules that r/WalmartCelebrities members have to follow are fairly standard. They include being polite, kind, and respectful to others, avoiding talking about contentious political issues, and avoiding reposts as much as possible.

“This is a subreddit for celebrity lookalikes. We don't want flame wars in the comments,” the moderator team running this whole show explains. “Political lookalikes are ok as long as they are not promoting some sort of agenda,” they add.

The mods also point out that redditors ought to be careful that they’re not posting photos of the actual celebrity. Not every star is going to look glamorous in every pic, after all. “Posting a picture of Elijah Wood as an off-brand Daniel Radcliffe is OK, but posting an obscure picture of Elijah Wood as an off-brand Elijah Wood is not,” the moderators note where the line is.

Moreover, anyone posting on the sub should ensure that they’re not accidentally or purposefully sharing someone’s personal information. Though, obviously, it’s fine to mention what celeb the person looks like. Something else to avoid is posting photos of people doing cosplay or in costumes. The sub also isn’t the place for deliberate and professional lookalikes, “unless it’s to compare them to a different celeb from the one they’re trying to be.”

Having similar looks to a well-known public figure or character can be a ton of fun! A while ago, Bored Panda spoke to one Emma Watson impersonator from the UK. She looks almost identical to Watson’s Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films.

“The most memorable experience with an Emma Watson fan would probably be when I visited Oxford once, and took photos with everyone there, including children in Harry Potter uniform, and even was asked to sign autographs. I always feel bad to let people down who think I actually am her! It is very surreal to have experienced a tiny bit of what it is like for a celebrity on a daily basis,” the impersonator told us during an interview.

“I always feel so bad to let people down who genuinely think I am Emma, as I don’t want to disappoint people,” the double said. She doesn’t deliberately mislead anyone about who she is, but at the same time, she doesn’t want to let anyone who thinks that she’s Watson down.

“So far I’ve only really cosplayed as Hermione, but I’m looking to also cosplay Belle from Beauty and The Beast, and Meg March from Little Women. I’ve never done any professional cosplay before, but I’m looking forward to learning more about cosplay and going to conventions when I can,” she shared. 

If you impersonate a celeb well enough, you can turn it into a genuine career. Some agencies, for example, book lookalikes for personal appearances. However, it’s not all sunshine, autographs, and glory. Depending on how much of a genuine doppelganger you are, you might find that you get a lot of unwanted attention simply going about your day.

Meanwhile, you might end up disappointing fans of the star when they realize that you’re not the real deal. On the flip side, you may find that public figures enjoy talking to their doubles, so it’s a chance to talk to celebs you look up to, take a selfie together, and even ask for their autograph. Looking like them is an almost automatic ‘in’ with many stars.

Feel free to swing by the comment section to tell everyone all about the doppelgangers you've seen with your own two eyes, Pandas. For some more off-brand and budget celeb doubles, check out Bored Panda's previous article over here.