Timothée Chalamet, Zayn... and? Celebrity lookalike contests we'd love to see next (2025)

The fag end of 2024 is a great time to be alive if you know your pop culture and remotely resemble your favourite celeb. From New York to London, hilariously fun celebrity lookalike contests are all the rage right now. And, if you squint hard enough, the contestants might even resemble the celebs they are impersonating. Naturally, we couldn’t help but indulge and draw up a list of VIPs for whom we would love to witness celebrity lookalike contests.

Which one of us hasn’t tried a ‘Who is your celebrity lookalike?’ quiz in our teens? Upload a photo and voila, the internet flatters your ego with a movie or music star in tow. But a sudden uptick in physical celebrity lookalike contests — for stars like Timothée Chalamet, Paul Mescal, Harry Styles and even Jeremy Allen White — all over the world to crown somewhat-similar-looking men and women has caught us by surprise. After all, in this age of AI, when numerous tools can produce anyone with a celebrity likeness in seconds, how are these events gathering so much momentum?

Sure, in these uncertain times, we love to be a little “delulu”, but is that all that’s really going on?

How Timothée Chalamet sparked the celebrity lookalike contest trend (unknowingly)

The story starts with Anthony Po, a YouTuber who, in late October, plastered quirky fliers regarding a Timothée Chalamet lookalike contest all over New York. Was it a gag or was it a legit event? The only way to know was to turn up and find out for yourself. The prize on offer was merely USD 50 but curiosity drew hundreds to the informal event at Washington Square Park. In attendance were several scrawny, floppy-haired boys in various costumes from different Chalamet movies pretending to be the Call Me By Your Name (2017) star.

And the best part? The real Timmy Tim decided to swing by at his own celebrity lookalike contest, making the trend go viral on Instagram, X and TikTok! The winner, 21-year-old Miles Mitchell, came as Chalamet’s Willy Wonka and went home with numerous snaps clicked with the actual Oscar nominee.

This was soon followed by contests being held for Harry Styles’ lookalikes in London, Paul Mescal impersonators in Dublin and the best Dev Patel doppelgangers in San Francisco. Zayn Malik lookalikes also gathered in Brooklyn recently and a Zendaya competition in Oakland became the first such event held in honour of a major female celebrity. The prize was USD 40, along with some shampoo and conditioner.

Says a lot about our obsession with celebs and parasocial relationships, doesn’t it?

However, if you show up at these events expecting to see an uncanny resemblance, you’re in for a hilarious disappointment. The common thread that binds all these events together, besides the vaguely similar-looking contestants who turn up with barebones outfits, are the inoffensive and fuzzy impressions. Surely it can’t be the low-stakes prize money ranging between USD 30 to USD 50 along with some bragging rights that are drawing the crowds to every single celebrity lookalike contest, can it?

Now, we would argue that some are here in hopes that the celebrity in question turns up to the event like the Dune star did, while others are in it to get some quick social media clout (The winner of the Harry Styles contest, Oscar Journeaux, seamlessly plugged in his band’s music during his winning speech). Similarly, for Jack Wall O’Reilly, the Paul Mescal lookalike winner in short shorts and a baseball cap, we’re sure there’s some modelling agent out there scouring the internet for his number. He even got a call from Mescal himself, who quipped, “This is bananas”.

It could also be a way of finding new friends, kinship and community in an era where everyone is isolated by social media. In any case, we are the last ones to complain, as the attendees seem to be having a harmless, jolly good time. So much so that we would like to suggest a list of celebs (to whom it may concern) who we’d love to witness similar contests for.

Celebrity lookalike contests we’d love to attend

1. Jungkook

Timothée Chalamet, Zayn... and? Celebrity lookalike contests we'd love to see next (3)

Ever since the Golden Maknae started his military service in December 2023, the world has been an empty void for most of BTS ARMY, especially with those “Standing Next To You” withdrawals. While we eagerly wait for his discharge in 2025, clutching his Calvin Klein shoot cutouts in our hands, catching a glimpse of some JK lookalikes might just be the respite we need.

2. Josh O’Connor

Timothée Chalamet, Zayn... and? Celebrity lookalike contests we'd love to see next (4)

Hot rodent boyfriend was everything people could talk about earlier this summer. Shifting from the traditional male beauty standards of being ripped and handsome, this movement worshipped skinny, scrawny and a little unusual-looking men with gaunt features. Lookalikes of the Challengers (2024) star who fit this mould could get their 15 minutes of fame while people in the crowd scout for their potential boyfriends. It’s a win-win, we say.

3. Pedro Pascal

Timothée Chalamet, Zayn... and? Celebrity lookalike contests we'd love to see next (5)

From Oberyn Martell to Joel Miller, Daddy Pascal is the embodiment of the modern hot man. Hunky yet sensitive, the Gladiator II (2024) actor is a rare breed of Latinx stars who have a vast straight and queer fan following. With so many people either wanting him or wanting to be like him, it isn’t very hard to see why he’s on our list.

4. Sabrina Carpenter

Oh, she leaves quite an impression. Five feet to be exact.

As a tribute to every single time we’ve said “That’s that me espresso” in 2024, it’s only fair that we give Carpenter’s doppelgangers a chance to step out of their TikTok reels and meet their posse in real life. You score bonus points if your partner does a half-decent Barry Keoghan impression or accent. Now, do we have to say please please please?

6. Charli XCX

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A post shared by Charli (@charli_xcx)

Halloween 2024 was big on English singer and songwriter Charli XCX costumes after the very “brat” summer we’ve had. Collins Dictionary even announced “brat” as its 2024 word of the year, defining it as “characterised by a confident, independent, and hedonistic attitude.” Now, fans can put their “Apple” dance routine practice and this carefree mindset to good use at her contest, while the singer’s probably busy attending a Troye Sivan-themed celebrity lookalike contest.

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7. Elon Musk

Timothée Chalamet, Zayn... and? Celebrity lookalike contests we'd love to see next (8)

From the vast nothingness of outer space to the hallowed hallways of US politics, there’s hardly any area left untouched by Elon Musk. The tech mogul who mostly dresses in black nerd tees and tailored suits, shouldn’t be too hard to imitate. While the USD 50 prize money won’t take the winner anywhere close to the net worth of the world’s richest man, they could sleep well at night knowing they didn’t “ruin” Twitter or claim to fight imaginary demons like the “woke mind virus”.

(Hero and Featured Image Credits: Anthony Po/@anthpo via Instagram)

The information in this article is accurate as of the date of publication.

Timothée Chalamet, Zayn... and? Celebrity lookalike contests we'd love to see next (2025)
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