In film and television, de-aging is a

visual effects Visual effects (sometimes abbreviated VFX) is the process by which imagery is created or manipulated outside the context of a live-action shot in filmmaking and video production. The integration of live-action footage and other live-action foota ...

technique used to make an actor look younger, especially for flashback scenes. This is often accomplished via digitally editing the image or using

computer-generated imagery Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is the use of computer graphics to create or contribute to images in art, printed media, video games, simulators, and visual effects in films, television programs, shorts, commercials, and videos. The image ...

(CGI) overlays or touch-ups. Some movies will even create de-aged digital actors from scratch or with a mixture of

stand-in A stand-in for film and television is a person who substitutes for the actor before filming, for technical purposes such as lighting and camera setup. Stand-ins are helpful in the initial processes of film and television production. Stand-ins ...

s and CGI.

List of film and television series

The following is a list of films and television series, in chronological order of release, that employ de-aging techniques:

Virtual actors

In some cases, a young version of a character is not played by the original actor but by a

virtual actor A virtual human, virtual persona, or digital clone is the creation or re-creation of a human being in image and voice using computer-generated imagery and sound, that is often indistinguishable from the real actor. The idea of a virtual actor w ...

, even though the actor being represented is usually still alive. This is usually accomplished with some combination of CGI, a body double, and a voice double or archival audio. Examples of actors who were replaced by virtual actors to portray their younger selves include: *

Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, film producer, businessman, retired professional bodybuilder and politician who served as the 38th governor of California between 2003 and 2011. ''Time'' ...

T-800 T8 or T-8 may refer to the following: Measurement * T8, a Torx screwhead size * T8, a 1 inch fluorescent lamp size * A tornado intensity rating on the TORRO scale Biology * The 8th thoracic vertebra * The T8 spinal nerve Transportation * Trikk ...

in ''

Terminator Salvation ''Terminator Salvation'' is a 2009 American military science fiction action film directed by McG and written by John Brancato and Michael Ferris. It is the fourth installment of the ''Terminator'' franchise and serves as a sequel to '' Termi ...

'' (2009);

Roland Kickinger Roland Kickinger (born March 30, 1968) is an Austrian bodybuilder and actor from Vienna. Standing 6 ft 4 in tall (1.93 m) and weighing from 250-300 pounds (113 to 136 kg), he has appeared in numerous bodybuilding competitions, fit ...

served as body double. * Arnold Schwarzenegger in ''

Terminator Genisys ''Terminator Genisys'' is a 2015 American science fiction action film directed by Alan Taylor and written by Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier. Produced by Skydance Productions and distributed by Paramount Pictures, the film is a reboot ...

'' (2015) in a scene which depicts the same T-800 from ''

The Terminator ''The Terminator'' is a 1984 American science fiction action film directed by James Cameron. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, a cyborg assassin sent back in time from 2029 to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor ( Linda Hamilton), wh ...

''; Brett Azar served as body double. *

Peter Cushing Peter Wilton Cushing (26 May 1913 – 11 August 1994) was an English actor. His acting career spanned over six decades and included appearances in more than 100 films, as well as many television, stage, and radio roles. He achieved recognition ...

Grand Moff Tarkin Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin is a fictional character in the '' Star Wars'' franchise, introduced as the main antagonist of the original 1977 ''Star Wars'' film (played by Peter Cushing). In the film, Tarkin is depicted as a high-ranking officer o ...

in '' Rogue One: A Star Wars Story'' (2016); Guy Henry served as both body and voice double. *

Carrie Fisher Carrie Frances Fisher (October 21, 1956 – December 27, 2016) was an American actress and writer. She played Princess Leia in the ''Star Wars'' films (1977–1983). She reprised the role in'' Star Wars: The Force Awakens'' (2015), ''The Last ...

Princess Leia Princess Leia Organa is a fictional character and one of the main protagonists in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, portrayed in films by Carrie Fisher. Introduced in the original ''Star Wars'' film in 1977, Leia is princess of the planet Alderaa ...

in ''Rogue One: A Star Wars Story'' (2016) -

Ingvild Deila Ingvild Deila (born January 18, 1987) is a Norwegian actress. She is known for her roles in both low-budget independent films and large-scale blockbusters. She first appeared in film through her role as Mina in ''FISH'' (2013); this was followed ...

served as body double; archive audio of Carrie Fisher's voice, taken from outtakes of her hologram scene in ''

A New Hope ''Star Wars'' (retroactively titled ''Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope'') is a 1977 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas, produced by Lucasfilm and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is the first film in t ...

'', was used. - and '' Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker'' (2019) - Fisher's daughter,

Billie Lourd Billie Catherine Lourd (born July 17, 1992) is an American actress. She is known for starring as Chanel #3 in the Fox horror comedy series '' Scream Queens'' (2015–2016) and for her roles in the FX horror anthology series '' American Horror ...

served as body double. *

Sean Young Mary Sean Young (born November 20, 1959) is an American actress. She is particularly known for working in sci-fi films, although she has performed roles in a variety of genres. Young's early roles include the independent romance '' Jane Aust ...

as Rachael in ''

Blade Runner 2049 ''Blade Runner 2049'' is a 2017 American neo-noir science fiction film directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Hampton Fancher and Michael Green. A sequel to the 1982 film ''Blade Runner'', the film stars Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford, ...

'' (2017) where a clone of the replicant is created by Niander Wallace and is offered to

Rick Deckard Rick Deckard is a fictional character and the protagonist of Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel '' Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?''. Harrison Ford portrayed the character in the 1982 film adaptation, ''Blade Runner'', and reprised his role in t ...

in exchange for information. Young's likeness was digitally superimposed onto Loren Peta, who studied Young’s performance from the first film to recreate her voice and movements. *

Linda Hamilton Linda Carroll Hamilton (born September 26, 1956) is an American actress. She played Sarah Connor in the '' Terminator'' film series and Catherine Chandler in the television series ''Beauty and the Beast'' (1987–1990), for which she was nomina ...

and

Edward Furlong Edward Walter Furlong (born August 2, 1977) is an American actor. He won Saturn and MTV Movie Awards for his breakthrough performance at age 13 as John Connor in James Cameron's '' Terminator 2: Judgment Day''; which was followed by a mini-seque ...

in '' Terminator: Dark Fate'' (2019) - although all three appeared in their film as their current ages, virtual actors were used for their characters Terminator, Sarah Connor and

John Connor John Connor is a fictional character in the ''Terminator'' franchise. Created by writer and director James Cameron, the character is first referred to in the 1984 film ''The Terminator'' and first appears in its 1991 sequel '' Terminator 2: Jud ...

in flashback scenes. Brett Azar, Maddy Curley and Jude Collie served as the three characters' body doubles, respectively. *

Mark Hamill Mark Richard Hamill (; born September 25, 1951) is an American actor and writer. He is known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the '' Star Wars'' film series, beginning with the original 1977 film and subsequently winning three Saturn Awards ...

Luke Skywalker Luke Skywalker is a fictional character and the protagonist of the original film trilogy of the ''Star Wars'' franchise created by George Lucas. Portrayed by Mark Hamill, Luke first appeared in ''Star Wars'' (1977), and he returned in ''The E ...

in " Chapter 16: The Rescue", the sixteenth episode of ''

The Mandalorian ''The Mandalorian'' is an American space Western television series created by Jon Favreau for the streaming service Disney+. It is the first live-action series in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, beginning five years after the events of '' Retur ...

'' (2020); Max Lloyd Jones served as body double, while Hamill's younger voice was recreated using speech synthesis through machine learning. * Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in "Chapter 6: From the Desert Comes a Stranger", the sixth episode of ''

The Book of Boba Fett ''The Book of Boba Fett'' is an American space Western television series created by Jon Favreau for the streaming service Disney+. It is part of the ''Star Wars'' franchise and a spin-off from the series ''The Mandalorian'', taking place in th ...

'' (2021); Graham Hamilton was the on-set performer for the character. Skywalker was largely created through visual effects and synthesized speech based on reference images and recordings, respectively, of Hamill. *

Millie Bobby Brown Millie Bobby Brown (born 19 February 2004) is a British actress and producer. She gained recognition for playing Eleven in the Netflix science fiction series ''Stranger Things'' (2016–present), for which she received nominations for two Prim ...

as Eleven / Jane Hopper ("El") in ''

Stranger Things ''Stranger Things'' is an American science fiction horror drama television series created by the Duffer Brothers, who also serve as showrunners and are executive producers along with Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen. Produced by Monkey Massacre Pr ...

'' (2022); Martie Blair served as body double. Blair stood-in for the 9 year old version of Eleven, and her face was digitally replaced with Brown’s in post-production.

References

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GamesRadar ''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites '' Total Film'', '' SFX'', '' Edge'' and '' Comput ...

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/Film ''/Film'', also spelled ''Slashfilm'', is a blog that covers movie news, reviews, interviews, and trailers. It was founded by Peter Sciretta in August 2005. Podcasts Six podcasts have run on the site. ''The /Filmcast'', hosted by David Chen, D ...

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Fxguide Fxguide, trademarked as fxguide, is a visual effects and post-production community website founded by three visual effects artists, Jeff Heusser, John Montgomery, and Mike Seymour. History Fxguide began in 1999 as a website to expand on tips, tric ...

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The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...

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Geek.com Geek.com is a technology news weblog about hardware, mobile computing, technology, movies, TV, video games, comic books, and all manner of geek culture subjects. It was founded in 1996 and was run independently until 2007 when it was sold to ...

, date=July 4, 2015 , access-date=May 30, 2017 {{cite news , last=Merry , first=Stephanie , url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/hollywoods-latest-beauty-trend-digitally-retouching-an-actors-face/2016/03/18/b4e4b85e-e61d-11e5-a6f3-21ccdbc5f74e_story.html , title=Hollywood's secret beauty trick: The special effects facelift , newspaper=

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

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Vanity Fair Vanity Fair may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Literature * Vanity Fair, a location in '' The Pilgrim's Progress'' (1678), by John Bunyan * ''Vanity Fair'' (novel), 1848, by William Makepeace Thackeray * ''Vanity Fair'' (magazines), the ...

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Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

https://assets.gettyimages.com/bf-boulder-whitelabelbucket-getty-prod/bx6vcwxt5t9ntkxzk37zvc4z/v/1071980163/original/PLT-FF-000013_R.jpg Film and video technology Ageing Visual effects Special effects