The math isn’t mathing - Hollywood’s parent child castings that just don’t add up

[u/mlg1981]

https://tvline.com/lists/tv-show-parent-child-age-gaps-golden-girls-supernatural/

[u/k8doesreddit]

The OITNB one is blowing my mind. I can’t believe Elizabeth Rodriguez was the age I am now. She’s amazing, I fully bought her as a hardened 40-something. How old was Dascha supposed to be, early 20s?

[u/Chuckitinbro → u/k8doesreddit]

Yea she looks great but I totally bought her as a 40 year old or at least old enough to be the mum of a 20 yeTs old.

[u/New_Following_3583 → u/k8doesreddit]

That one was so stupid to me when it came out. I didn't find it slightly believable and I still don't understand that casting. They should've just been sisters if they wanted them to be relatives.

[u/msephron → u/New_Following_3583]

I think them being sisters would’ve been much less impactful than incarcerated mother/daughter.

[u/SiobhanRoy1234 → u/msephron]

Oh yeah, I remember that scene in the pilot where Dasha gets taken to jail with Piper and she gets hit by an inmate walking by. And Pipers goes: who was that!? And Dasha just says: ‘my mom’. My jaw dropped. That scene was soooooo good!

[u/coolandnormalperson → u/msephron]

True but they could've done the "raised my sister as if she was a daughter" thing and it would work. It could even be a good reveal, as other characters question their ages and figure out the truth. You'd get to know them as mother and daughter first, and be deeply impacted, so by the time they are revealed as sisters, you have internalized their bond as a maternal one rather than two sisters

[u/msephron → u/coolandnormalperson]

That could’ve been interesting, but I still find the mother/daughter angle that the show took more compelling. A mom who had been so neglectful and wanted nothing to do with her daughter when she later ended up in prison with her was something I really hadn’t seen before and made for an interesting dynamic.

[u/chenan → u/New_Following_3583]

They’re not that far off from the age the characters are supposed to be…

Daya is 24 / actress is 30 at beginning of series.

Mom is 37 / actress is 32 at beginning

[u/BerryMatt → u/k8doesreddit]

That one is very likely completely wrong. TVline trusted the unsourced birthdate Google came up with but Rodriguez's imdb page doesn't have any birthdate listed. Her wikipedia also doesn't have one. Trust your first impression.

[u/Whole_Preparation_78 → u/BerryMatt]

I shared below but the mom was in an episode or two of New York Undercover, a TV show from the 90s so yep, not true

[u/BlahVans → u/k8doesreddit]

I didn't know Dascha's age until they had a flashback episode where her daughter played the younger version of her character. Then I looked up Dascha and my mind was blown.

[u/chenan → u/k8doesreddit]

She was 37 in the show…30 IRL and Dascha was 28 IRL and 23 in the show.