Clones! Doppelgangers! Twins! Memorable Movie/TV Multiples

Seen in: Orphan Black
Played by: Tatiana Maslany
Sarah (in the hood), Alison (with bangs), and Cosima (in the lab coat) ended season one with the realization that they’re all part of a government experiment. But here’s the thing about these clones: They’re smart, and they’re ready to fight. The trick is that they’re fighting yet another clone named Rachel (far left), not to mention the many more we haven’t met yet. If only they stopped fighting each other, these clones could easily rule the world (so long as they didn’t die from a mysterious illness). —Samantha Highfill

Learn more about Maslany’s many faces here.

Seen in: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Played by: Daniel Radcliffe
Think of it as cloning through magic. When you’ve got to sneak out of a house without being detected by Voldemort, there are only so many options. Luckily, Mad-Eye Moody had some Polyjuice Potion on hand, allowing a whole crew — including Ron, Hermione, Fleur, and others — to take on Harry Potter’s appearance and throw off the Dark Lord. —Erin Strecker

Seen in: Friends
Played by: Lisa Kudrow
Friends was never afraid to double up on its characters (Russ. Never forget.), and the Buffay sisters were the longest-running example of that shtick. Phoebe may have been a free spirit, but when she discovered her blasé identi-twin had been a porn star (and had gotten Phoebe plenty of unwanted attention as a result), even the former street urchin had limits. This was just one of the twins’ classic mix-ups. —Ariana Bacle

Seen in: The Great Dictator
Played by: Charlie Chaplin
To this day, anyone who intends to imitate the Little Tramp runs the risk of being mistaken for Adolf Hitler — so perhaps it should come as no surprise that Chaplin himself took on the Führer in this classic satire, which finds a humble Jewish man being mistaken for the titular tyrant. It doubles as the first film where Chaplin had a speaking role, using his platform to deliver a moving plea for peace and unity. —Hillary Busis

Seen in: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Played by: Alyson Hannigan, Nicholas Brendon, and Sarah Michelle Gellar
Watching loveable dorks Willow and Xander become vampire baddies was like watching your parents get drunk and frisky (although that happened in Buffy, too): At first it was hilarious and then suddenly went too far. Vamp Willow foreshadowed real Will’s latent lesbianism and her ultimate rise as Evil Witch Willow. Vamp Xander?well no one saw the eye patch coming. As for Buffy, Faith once asked her, ”Why does no one ever ask if you can be more like me?” Cleveland Buffy answered that question. Yikes! The writers imagined alternate reality Buffy as heartless, humorless, and, well, butch. And in the end, she couldn’t beat the Master because she didn’t have the Scooby Gang. Heartbreaking. —JoJo Marshall

Seen in: Muppets Most Wanted
Played by: Steve Whitmire and Matt Vogel
The only thing that differentiates America’s friendliest frog from the world’s most dastardly criminal is a single felt mole. (Like, a beauty mark, not a literal mole. Although with the Muppets, you never know.) It’s probably no coincidence that the film itself is a doppelgänger — of The Great Muppet Caper, another European travelogue that centers on feats of thievery and cases of mistaken identity. —Hillary Busis

Seen in: How I Met Your Mother
Played by: Cobie Smulders, Neil Patrick Harris, Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, and Alyson Hannigan
A recurring joke on the show saw each member of the gang spotting and snapping pictures of his or her doppelgänger out and about in New York. Appearing in various episodes during HIMYM‘s nine seasons, the doppelgängers became one of the show’s most memorable gags. —Erin Strecker

Seen in: Dave
Played by: Kevin Cline
The titular temp agency owner (and occasional Presidential stand-in) found himself in deeper than the Potomac when POTUS suffered a stroke in the middle of a little extracurricular…ummmm…activity. Unfortunately for all the scheming politicos angling to keep Mitchell down for good, Dave ended up being a much better Leader of the Free World — not to mention husband to Mitchell’s distant wife Ellen — than they could have ever imagined. Hail to the Lookalike-in-Chief! —Lanford Beard

Seen in: The Vampire Diaries
Played by: Nina Dobrev
Katherine and Elena aren’t TVD‘s only doppelgänger’s, but they’re the most pivotal to the series. Yet they could not have been more different as individuals. Katherine was selfish, while Elena is selfless. Katherine wore leather, and Elena wears denim. But they had the same blood running through them, not to mention their very similar taste in men. Also, they were both capable of handling themselves in a fight (even against each other). —Samantha Highfill

Seen in: Multiplicity
Played by: Michael Keaton
In 1996, Scottish scientists cloned Dolly the sheep, and Multiplicity‘s Doug Kinney found work-life balance through three versions of himself. It remains unclear why Doug’s wife wasn’t satisfied with four men pleasing her — especially since all that clone Lenny wanted in return was pizza. —Kathryn Luttner

Seen in: Dollhouse
Played by: Eliza Dushku
In Joss Whedon’s cult favorite, an insidious medical corporation has the power to imprint real humans with new personalities. These ”dolls” can be rented from Rossum Corp’s dollhouses for a steep price and used for anything from terrorist negotiations to a weekend sexcapade. Caroline Farrell pales in comparison to her super-doll counterpart Echo. Echo is uniquely able to retain every imprint she’s ever had, so she’s got serial killers, safe-crackers, assassins and even a dominatrix rattling around in her noggin. Top all that off with defiant autonomy and a wicked sense of humor, and you’ve got the one person who can save the world from total neuro-apocalypse. Suck it, Rossum. —JoJo Marshall

Seen in: Double Impact
Played by: Jean-Claude Van Damme
Clearly, when you think ”Hong Kong martial arts masters,” the first thing that comes to mind is ”identical white twins with Belgian accents.” Still, both Van Damme’s Good Twin and his Bad Twin are skilled in hand-to-hand combat — and when four furious fists are flying, their stilted way of speaking sort of ceases to matter. —Hillary Busis

Seen in: Sabrina the Teenage Witch
Played by: Melissa Joan Hart
Katrina Spellman seemed so nice and normal, but when Sabrina and Katrina were put on trial to determine who was the good witch and who was the evil twin, Katrina was willing to push Sabrina into a volcano — showing her truly evil colors after all. Katrina was ultimately banished to the Other Realm, but that didn’t stop her from occasionally crossing paths with Sabrina. —Erin Strecker

Seen in: The Prestige
Played by: Christian Bale
A magician’s life is not an easy one, but it is made a lot easier by the presence of a twin that no one knows about. —Samantha Highfill

Seen in: Xena: Warrior Princess
Played by: Lucy Lawless
Most of the time, being an exact Xena lookalike brought only danger into the lives of petty criminal/hooker Meg, princess Diana, and priestess Leah. But it’s also what saved them at times. At the end of the day, the only thing more difficult than defeating Xena is defeating four Xenas. —Samantha Highfill

Seen in: Vertigo
Played by: Kim Novak
Desperate-to-please shopgirl Madeleine came on the kitten heels of enigmatic society woman Madeline in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 masterpiece. No matter how much Judy complied with obsessive beau Scottie’s obsessive attempt to transform her into his lost love, neither could succeed. Unless…had Judy and Madeleine been one and the same all along? And was Scottie destined to lose the love of his life twice? —Lanford Beard

Seen in: Family Matters
Played by: Jaleel White
That moment when adorably nerdy Steve Urkel shed his suspenders and morphed into the oh-so-charming Stefan was one of TV’s dreamiest transformations, but the cool juice he concocted to take him from geeky to gorgeous wasn’t necessary after all: His crush Laura ultimately chose Steve. See kids, being yourself pays off! —Ariana Bacle

Seen in: The Parent Trap
Played by: Hayley Mills
The pot at the end of Pollyanna‘s rainbow was Haley Mills’ dual performance as twins who’d been split up by their parents in a messy divorce. Prim, proper Bostonian Sharon and loosey-goosey Californian Susan — later renamed Annie James and Hallie Parker in the 1998 Lindsay Lohan-starring remake — instantly clashed during their accidental ”meeting” at summer camp. But when they finally did join forces, it sure did make for a swingin’ time. —Lanford Beard

Seen in: Fringe
Played by: John Noble
Noble spent two seasons perfecting his role as Walter Bishop, the lovable and emotionally fragile super-genius. But in the show’s middle years, he also frequently essayed the part of the alternate-world Walter Bishop, a ruthless war hawk-ish Secretary of Defense. It was like watching the same man play Obi-Wan Kenobi and the Emperor — and even that was just a prelude for the season 4 reboot, when the Fringe team’s timeline-tweaking left Walter Bishop even more fragile and turned Walternate into a slightly-less-hawkish authority figure. John Noble, everybody! —Darren Franich

Seen in: The Patty Duke Show
Played by: Patty Duke
While Cathy adored a minuet, the Ballet Russes, and crêpe Suzette, our Patty loved to rock ‘n’ roll, a hot dog made her lose control…these identical cousins truly were a wild duet. —Lanford Beard

Seen in: Dead Ringers
Played by: Jeremy Irons
Just how creepy can twin gynecologists get? Well, throw in David Cronenberg as director, drug addiction, twin-personation in the bedroom, and…well…do I really need to go on? —Lanford Beard

Seen in: The Twilight Zone
Played by: Vera Miles
In ”Mirror Image,” a super-creepy episode from 1960, Miles played a woman at a bus station who slowly unraveled as her double began to take over her life. The only thing more unsettling than Millicent’s descent into perceived insanity was the fate of the bystander who doubted her story. (Click the link above to see for yourself.) —Lanford Beard

Seen in: Seinfeld
Played by: Jerry Seinfeld/Tim DeKay, Michael Richards/Pat Kilbane. and Jason Alexander/Kyle T. Heener
Sure, they’re not exact lookalikes, but we couldn’t go without mentioning them. In the episode that gave us ”man hands,” Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) agreed to remain friends with ex-boyfriend Kevin, to whom Jerry referred as ”Bizarro Jerry.” Turns out, Bizarro Jerry had his George (real name: Gene) and Kramer (Feldman), too. Only a signature ”Get out!” push from Elaine to Kevin ended the friendship. Pity that, as aligning herself with the Bizarro Jerry gang probably could have kept Elaine out of jail. —Ben Boskovich