History OlderThanTheyLook / LiveActionTV

* T'Pol from ''StarTrekEnterprise'' appears to be in her late twenties but, being a Vulcan, is actually much older. An early episode has her be ambiguous about her age, only saying she is the oldest person on the ship. In the third season finale she mentions that she is 65 years old.

* Just about every Immortal on ''Series/{{Highlander}}''. Duncan himself appears in his 30s but is over 400 years old while the 5000-year old Methos is basically the world's oldest man but barely looks out of his 20s.
** Notably, Kenny is 800 years old but because he was ten years old when he first "died," he's been stuck in this boysih body all this time.
** Felicia Martin had the M.O. of pretending to be a newly made Immortal who would learn skills from a "teacher" before taking their heads.
** Subverted with Richie as well as Michelle Webster, a teen who suffers her first death in the series.

* ''Franchise/{{Highlander}}'': Upon surviving a serious injury, or "first death", an Immortal can become multiple-millennia-old and will still look like the same age they were when they became Immortal and can only be killed by [[OffWithHisHead decapitation]]. For example, Kenny is 800 years old, yet he is physically a child due to this.

* Just about every Immortal on ''Series/{{Highlander}}. Duncan himself appears in his 30s but is over 400 years old while the 5000-year old Methos is basically the world's oldest man but barely looks out of his 20s.

* ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'': In the future dystopia, "Iris" seems to be a 10-year old girl but actually has the imprinted mind of a grown woman -- first a woman who pretends to be a girl before pulling a gun on Zone, and later Caroline, whom Zone and Mag upload into the girl to find the way to Safe Haven to avoid the mass mindwiping that has thrown civilization into chaos.

* ''Series/{{Glee}}'': One episode had one character stating that Kurt (who was about 16 at the time) couldn't have purchased alcohol with a fake i.d. because he looked "like a 12-year old milkmaid." She's exaggerating, but [[http://www.nypost.com/r/nypost/blogs/popwrap/200910/Images/01/kurt-milkmaid.jpg not by much]]. Chris Colfer himself was 19 at the time of filming.

** An episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' features a girl named Janie Spear with Turner's Syndrome, so even though she is seventeen years old, physically, she looks like a 12-year old child. The episode focuses on her relationship with a 30-year old employee of her father's; since she's seventeen it is fine but some of the detectives are uncomfortable with what they think this says about [[PaedoHunt her boyfriend's taste in girls]].
** And in another episode, a 28-year-old woman not only poses as a 16-year old, but is under the delusion that she is, despite having a complete memory of all the years she has spent going from one foster home to another and creating false identities. Based in the real case of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treva_Throneberry Treva Thorneberry]].
* ''Series/LostInOz'': Used as a plot point. Princess Ozma is said to be in her 20s, but [[spoiler:was enchanted to be an 8-year old forever.]]

* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': In the episode "The Sentence", a prison was created where prisoners serve their prison sentence within a few hours. The creator of the prison is trapped inside and serves a 20 year sentence within a few hours, which would mentally make him feel like he fit this trope.

* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'': In one episode, Lana Lang is haunted by the ghost of a childhood friend, Emily. Emily was stated to be 10 years old, but she looks and acts much younger, with handwriting that looks more like a 2nd grader and interests and speech patterns more typical of a 4 or 5 year old. In flashbacks, Lana appears to have been an improbably immature 10 year old as well, since she didn't act very differently from Emily.
* ''Series/SheSpies'' had them investigating a shady charity and one member getting friendly with a little girl in a wheelchair who was their poster figure. However, their boss starts going through records and realizing the exact same ten-year old has been used in every poster for the last decade. It turns out she's the real mastermind of all this, in her 30's but with a genetic disorder that makes her look like a kid. The spy chastises her for abusing the trust of people as she drags her out of the wheelchair...only to discover the woman really is paralyzed.

** In the episode "Rascals", Keiko O'Brien is temporarily turned into an adorable 12-year old. The fact that she still wants to be treated like a wife {{squick}}s Miles out a bit. Three other crewmembers - Picard, Guinan, and Ro - are similarly altered, but none of them are in relationships at the time, though they all happily exploited this trope to retake the ship from a hostile Ferengi takeover.
** The O'Briens seem to get more than their fair share of this trope. There's another ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space 9]]'' episode, "Hard Time", where an alien race sentences O'Brien to a 21-years-long virtual prison sentence. He experiences all 21 years of his brutal, tortuous prison term in only a few days, making him mentally 21 years older; 21 really, really crappy years older. And even their daughter gets a OvernightAgeUp treatment due to a NegativeSpaceWedgie. This time, she actually spent those years growing up in a wilderness, and the O'Briens realise that the non-verbal wild-woman she has become cannot be undone, so they return her to the wilderness that has become her home.

* ''Series/ModernFamily'' featured two examples. Sarah Hyland was 18, playing a 15-year-old and looked like she was 12. Adam Devine played a 21-year-old, looked like an 18 year old, and was actually in his 30s.

** Gregor Clegane was old enough to be knighted by Prince Rhaegar approximately 18 years before the first season and he is five years older than his brother. Hafthór Björnsson plays a character ten years older than he is while Rory McCann plays a character ''at least'' 15 years younger than he is. In reality, the older brother is ''20 years'' younger than the younger brother.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': In the season 6 premier, the young and beautiful Melisandre is revealed to be an old crone who hides her appearance with her magical ruby choker.

** And in another episode, a girl in her late to mid-twenties not only poses as a 16-year old, but is under the delusion that she is, despite having a complete memory of all the years she has spent going from one foster home to another and creating false identities. Based in the real case of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treva_Throneberry Treva Thorneberry]].

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': Sam and Dean have both aged mentally several decades beyond their physical ages. Dean spent around 30 years in Hell, which means that he's mentally in his early 60s. Sam spent an equivalent period in Lucifer's Cage (it's not explicitly stated how long though). This is not touched on much in the series.

** An episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' features a girl named Janie Spear with Turner's Syndrome, so even though she is seventeen years old, physically, she looks like a 12-year old child. The episode focuses on her relationship with a 30-year old employee of her father's; since she's seventeen it is fine but some of the detectives are uncomfortable with what they think this says about [[{{Lolicon}} her boyfriend's taste in girls]].

* ''Series/ModernFamily'' featured two examples. Sarah Hyland was 18, playing a 15-year-old and looked like she was 12. Adam DeVine very convincing playing a 21-year-old, despite being in his 30s.

* ''Series/SeventhHeaven'': Beverly Mitchell, who played middle daughter Lucy, was actually one year ''older'' than Jessica Biel, who played oldest daughter Mary. Biel was 14 and easily looked 16 or 17, while Mitchell was 15 and looked 10.

* '''Famous in Love''' has teen movie star heartthrob Rainer told he can't do a stunt because he's only 20. Rainer responds he's really 23 and his mom/agent Nina "youthed me down" when he started out. This is the first clue to Alan figuring out that [[spoiler: Rainer is his son.]]

* ''Famous in Love" has teen heartthrob Rainer told he can't do a stunt because he's only 20. Rainer responds he's really 23 and his mom/agent Nina. This is the first clue to Alan figuring out that [[spoiler: Rainer is his son.]]

* ''NTSF:SD:SUV'': Aaron Samson, a one-off villain. He appears to be in his late 40s, but a photograph from 20 years ago shows that he hasn't aged a day since 1992. NTSF:SD:SUV agents variously theorize that he's a robot, since his father was a famous roboticist, or that he's a vampire, based on the suggestion of an FBI paranormal investigator. It turns out [[spoiler:his mother was Asian, causing him to age very gracefully]].

* ''Film/{{Cinderella}}'': In the original performance, 30-year-old Edie Adams portrayed the centuries-old Fairy Godmother.

* ''{{Series/Firefly}}'': Malcolm Reynolds looks like he is, at most, in his mid-thirties. However, a comparison of the dates of his birth and the dates of the "present" indicates he is in his late forties to early fifties, which is supported by Mal referring to himself as a "mean old man." This can be a JustifiedTrope by the advanced medical technology of the setting, however, or perhaps by Creator/JossWhedon originally envisioning the character as being played by an older actor.

* ''Franchise/{{Highlander}}'': Upon surviving a serious injury, or "first death", an Immortal can be a lot older, like centuries, and still look like the same age they were when they became Immortal and can only be killed by [[OffWithHisHead decapitation]]. For example, Kenny is 800 years old, yet he can be pass off as a child due to this.
* ''Series/LawAndOrder'':
** One episode revolves around a teenager who is arrested for the murder of one of her teachers, followed up by another teacher arrested for sleeping with her. [[spoiler:In actuality the "teen" is a con-artist who is in her thirties, and killed the teacher to prevent her from revealing her real age.]]

* ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'':
** One episode features a girl named Janie Spear with Turner's Syndrome, so even though she is seventeen years old, physically, she looks like a 12-year old child. The episode focuses on her relationship with a 30-year old employee of her father's; since she's seventeen it isn't statutory rape, but none of the detectives are comfortable with what this says about [[{{Lolicon}} her boyfriend's taste in girls]].

* ''Series/NecessaryRoughness'': Damon Razor, a hot draft prospect, is eventually revealed to [[spoiler:have assumed the identity of a deceased boy four years younger than him]]. After re-enrolling in high school, he became a star football player as his short statue was no longer a factor with the younger team. In this case, this was RippedFromTheHeadlines, based on the case of high school basketball player Jerry Joseph.

* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': In the episode "The Sentence", a prison was created where prisoners serve their prison sentence within a few hours. The creator of the prison is trapped inside and serves a 20 year sentence within a few hours, which would mentally make him this trope.

* ''Series/SheSpies'' had them investigating a shady charity and one member getting friendly with a little girl in a wheelchair who was their poster figure. However, their boss starts going through records and realizing the exact same ten-year old has been used in every poster for the last decade. It turns out she's the real mastermind of all this, in her 30's but a genetic disorder that makes her look like a kid. The spy chastises her for abusing the trust of people as she drags her out of the wheelchair...only to discover the woman really is paralyzed.

** The O'Briens seem to get more than their fair share of this trope. There's another ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space 9]]'' episode, "Hard Time", where an alien race sentences O'Brien to a 21-years-long virtual prison sentence. He experiences all 21 years of his brutal, tortuous prison term in only a few days, making him mentally 21 years older; 21 really, really crappy years older. And even their daughter gets a OvernightAgeUp treatment due to a NegativeSpaceWedgie.

* Creator/CliveJames: Lampshaded by him in a 1987 TV special where he visited Japan. In one of Japan's famed hot springs, he converses with a salaryman who gives his age as 38. To which James responds, "You're 38, and you look 20. I'm 47, [[SelfDeprecation and I look 87]]."

* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' / ''Series/{{The Flash|2014}}'': Barry Allen is in his early 20's, but looks like a teenager. [[ComicBook/GreenArrow Ollie]] repeatedly ribs him over this, such as jokingly telling Felicity that he's instructed the bartenders at his party to ask Barry for an I.D. before serving him drinks. This is due to Barry being a rare example of ''not'' using DawsonCasting. Grant Gustin is in his mid-twenties, and so is Barry.

* {{Implied}} with the Cardinal Witches on ''Series/EmeraldCity'', as West, played by a 31-year-old actress, indicates that she participated in the last battle against the Beast Forever, 20 years ago.

* Series/LegendsOfTomorrow gives us 3 cases: Carter Hall, Kendra Saunders and Vandal Savage. Kendra and Carter continuously go through a cycle of death and reincarnation and have reincarnated over 206 times for over 4 millenniums, making them respectively 4000 years old each. Meanwhile, BigBad Vandal Savage is a straight forward case by stealing the life force of Kendra and Carter by killing them, making him around the same age, maybe older.

** In ''Series/PowerRangersDinoCharge'', this is one of the perks of being bonded to an Energem. As a result, Koda looks like in his 20s, but is actually 100,000+ years old. [[spoiler: James Navarro, who is Tyler's then-missing father, looks ten years younger than his actual age.]]

** In ''Series/PowerRangersDinoCharge'', this is one of the perks of being bonded to an Energem. As a result, Koda looks like in his 20s, but is actually 100,000+ years old. [[spoiler: James Navarro, who is Tyler's then-missing father, is ten years younger than his actual age.]]