Celebrity3 min(s) read
People believed that these two actors were the same person, but many were shocked to find that they were completely different people with a close link.
There are a lot of faces which are part of the make-up at Hollywood, so it can be easy to get them mixed up.
However, some celebrities may be linked more closely than you'd think.
If you watched TV and film in the 2000s, you may remember Jimmy Olsen from Smallville and Iceman from the X-Men film series.
Many believed that these roles were being played by the same actor, who seemingly dedicated his entire life to working.
But this was wide of the mark - they were different actors who just so happened to be identical twins.
Born on October 7, 1979 in Richmond, British Columbia, the Canadian identical twins started acting in commercials when they were kids, after a talent agent approached their mother.
Shawn even told Us Weekly that casting directors would often decide between them by flipping a coin.
The 46-year-old recalled: “When we were doing commercials, they would call us back in after we both auditioned,
“And [they] said, ‘We love you guys both. And so it’s fair, we’re gonna flip a coin so that you guys can see it’s not preferential treatment.’”
He added: “That happened four or five times where they’d say, ‘Hey, come on, come in, we’re gonna hire one of you.
"But so that the other one doesn’t get their feelings hurt or they don’t think it’s personal, we’re gonna flip a coin in front of you guys.’"
Regardless of how brutal the method was, the pair would go on to have successful individual acting careers.
Shawn would go on to become Bobby Drake/Iceman in the X-Men film series, as well as roles in TV such as Wesley Evers in The Rookie and Mike Weston in The Following.
On the other hand, Aaron's most notable roles came in TV series, such as Jimmy Olsen in Smallville, Steve Jinks in Warehouse 13, and John Jaqobis in Killjoys.
Both brothers have appeared in similar kinds of sci-fi, superhero, and genre projects, meaning that fans could very easily get the two confused.
So contrary to popular belief, Iceman never appeared in Smallville, and Jimmy Olsen never fought alongside Professor X.
Aaron appeared on a Season 3 episode of Netflix show Ginny & Georgia, and fans of The Rookie thought they were seeing his twin.
It isn't hard to get them mixed up, as one wrote on the Ginny & Georgia Reddit forum: "This whole time I thought I was watching Shawn Ashmore from The Rookie!"
Another commented: "I literally just found out that Gil (Aaron) has a twin. I thought he was on The Rookie and Ginny and Georgie (I didn't even know his name before today so it's my fault)."
"I knew there were twins but I always thought The Rookie guy was Gil omg," a third said.
