History PaperThinDisguise / RealLife

* When Creator/WendeeLee was working on Rurouni Kenshin, she used her actual name when playing Yumi Komagata, but using the pseudonym Elyse Floyd when playing Yahiko Myojin. Given that Yahiko's one of the main characters of the show, it doesn't take that long to recognize Lee's voice if you're familiar with her work.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Jaque The mission for the liberation of FARC's hostages]], among them Ingrid Bettancourt, was carried out by Colombian government officials who passed as FARC members by wearing UsefulNotes/CheGuevara and Hammer and Sickle's T-shirts.

*** You know when the cashier just doesn't seem to care? Change blindness is a more technical word used in that sort of thing.
*** Working as a cashier, I've had many times when a customer will say "I'm back". Apparently, they had just come through my line just minutes before. I didn't recognize it, even without any change of clothes.

* An author who interviewed Creator/MarilynMonroe later wrote of an incident that occurred when they were walking down the street talking. The author was confused that, although they were in plain sight, no one seemed to recognize her. Monroe then said, "Do you want to see ''her''?" She changed her posture, walk and way she was speaking to what she used in the movies and suddenly people saw Marilyn Monroe, movie star and sex symbol, and reacted accordingly.

* During UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars, the British employed "Exploring Officers," who would ride behind [[UsefulNotes/GaulsWithGrenades enemy lines]], wearing [[BlingOfWar full uniform]] in order to [[UsefulNotes/TheLawsAndCustomsOfWar escape execution as spies.]] One such officer, [[ColonelBadass Colquhoun Grant]], was captured and sent to Paris. He escaped, but then reasoned that he could do his job as an Exploring Officer [[ExactWords just as well in Paris as he could in Spain.]] So he wandered [[RefugeInAudacity around Paris in full British uniform, gathering intel.]] He told anyone who challenged him that he was an American. When one old French soldier who had served in the American Revolutionary Wars called him out on this, he quickly amended his tale to being an American ''actor'' who was wearing his stage costume. Luckily, the French were TooDumbToLive, and he escaped back to England.

* An author who interviewed MarilynMonroe later wrote of an incident that occurred when they were walking down the street talking. The author was confused that, although they were in plain sight, no one seemed to recognize her. Monroe then said, "Do you want to see ''her''?" She changed her posture, walk and way she was speaking to what she used in the movies and suddenly people saw Marilyn Monroe, movie star and sex symbol, and reacted accordingly.

** This is actually very understandable, and surprisingly easy to pull off. It's called Change Blindness. Here's a video showing a 'magic trick' where the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voAntzB7EwE back of the cards change color]] -- and so do the table, the background, and the shirts of both participants.

* There was a man who tried to sneak over the border disguised as a pilot seat. Understandably, [[IncrediblyLamePun this did not sit well with the border patrol]].

* Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., was able to successfully sneak into his competitors' stores unnoticed by simply leaving his trademark hat in the car. Even Walton himself never was able to figure out why this was so effective.

* The same thing happens with actor-turned-voice-actor Creator/JohnnyYongBosch in ''GateKeepers''. He voices both the main protagonist and the eventual main ''an''tagonist. Only in the antagonist's role is he credited by his actual name. His role as the protagonist uses the alias Jim Taggert. Indeed, many anime dub [=VAs=] have various aliases that are employed for personal or contractual reasons, such as David Lucas (real name: [[Creator/SteveBlum Steven Jay Blum]]), Dorothy Meneldrez (real name: Creator/DorothyEliasFahn), Heather Lee Joelson (real name: Creator/MelissaFahn), and Jeremiah Freedman (real name: Joshua Seth). All of them (as well as Wendee Lee above) are well-known voices in the dub community, so it usually doesn't take long to figure out that a given name matches another.

* Shakira, a famous singer, managed to spend an entire summer at UCLA posing as a normal person. She went by her middle name and dressed up in a cap and pants. The fact that it hit the news after she was done with the classes proved how effective her disguise was.

** Probably because most people have only a passing familiarity with who Sam Walton is and absolutely no idea what he looks like. Even if you do, he was basically the "old white guy with neat haircut" version of a TheNondescript in any case.

* The same thing happens with actor-turned-voice-actor JohnnyYongBosch in ''GateKeepers''. He voices both the main protagonist and the eventual main ''an''tagonist. Only in the antagonist's role is he credited by his actual name. His role as the protagonist uses the alias Jim Taggert. Indeed, many anime dub [=VAs=] have various aliases that are employed for personal or contractual reasons, such as David Lucas (real name: Steven Jay Blum), Dorothy Meneldrez (real name: Dorothy Elias-Fahn), Heather Lee Joelson (real name: Melissa Fahn), and Jeremiah Freedman (real name: Joshua Seth). All of them (as well as Wendee Lee above) are well-known voices in the dub community, so it usually doesn't take long to figure out that a given name matches another.

* During the NapoleonicWars, the British employed "Exploring Officers," who would ride behind [[UsefulNotes/GaulsWithGrenades enemy lines]], wearing [[BlingOfWar full uniform]] in order to [[UsefulNotes/TheLawsAndCustomsOfWar escape execution as spies.]] One such officer, [[ColonelBadass Colquhoun Grant]], was captured and sent to Paris. He escaped, but then reasoned that he could do his job as an Exploring Officer [[ExactWords just as well in Paris as he could in Spain.]] So he wandered [[RefugeInAudacity around Paris in full British uniform, gathering intel.]] He told anyone who challenged him that he was an American. When one old French soldier who had served in the American Revolutionary Wars called him out on this, he quickly amended his tale to being an American ''actor'' who was wearing his stage costume. Luckily, the French were TooDumbToLive, and he escaped back to England.

* NY Mets Manager Bobby Valentine actually attempted this. He was ejected from a game for arguing with the home plate umpire, and then later returned to the bench wearing sunglasses with a fake mustache taped on. Officials were not amused, and Major League Baseball fined him $5000 and suspended him for two games.

** This is actually very understandable, and surprisingly easy to pull off. It's called Change Blindness. Here's a video showing a 'magic trick' where the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voAntzB7EwE back of the cards change color]] [[spoiler:and so does the table, the background, and the shirts of both participants.]]

* Some people have a mental condition called [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosopagnosia prosopagnosia]] that makes it difficult, if not outright impossible, to remember faces. So even a PaperThinDisguise can be enough to fool people with the condition.

* TohruFuruya, in working on ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'', only lists his name as the narrator. He uses the pseudonym 'Noboru Sougetsu' as the voice of Ribbons Almark. However, fans' ears cannot be lied at and judging on how similar Ribbons and the narrator sounds like... The cover is blown easily, but Furuya insists on using the pseudonym. 'To differentiate between Ribbons and [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Amuro]]...' ''Yeah right...''

* Similarly, when ''WendeeLee'' was working on Rurouni Kenshin, she used her actual name when playing Yumi Komagata, but using the pseudonym Elyse Floyd when playing Yahiko Myojin. Given that Yahiko's one of the main characters of the show, it doesn't take that long to recognize Lee's voice if you're familiar with her work.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Jaque The mission for the liberation of FARC's hostages]], among them Ingrid Bettancourt, was carried out by Colombian government officials who passed as FARC members by wearing CheGuevara and Hammer and Sickle's T-shirts.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Jaque The liberation of FARC's hostages]], among them Ingrid Bettancourt, was carried by government officials who passed as FARC members by wearing Che Guevara and Hammer and Sickle's T-shirts.

** Probably because most people have only a passing familiarity with who Sam Walton is and absolutely no idea what he looks like. Even if you do, he was basically the "old white guy with neat haircut" version of a RidiculouslyAverageGuy in any case.

** Probably because most people have only a passing familiarity with who Sam Walton is and absolutely no idea what he looks like.

* In the book ''Secret Service Chief'', a former head of the US Secret Service tells about his investigating a gang that passed fake checks. They entered a store, cashed some checks, went outside switched hats and jackets and went back in and cashed more checks with different names. Several times. To the same clerk.
** This is actually very understandable, and surprisingly easy to pull off in Real Life. It's called Change Blindness. Here's a video showing a 'magic trick' where the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voAntzB7EwE back of the cards change color]] [[spoiler:and so does the table, the background, and the shirts of both participants.]]

* The same thing happens with actor turned voice actor JohnnyYongBosch in ''GateKeepers''. He voices both the main protagonist and the eventual main ''an''tagonist. Only in the antagonist's role is he credited by his actual name. His role as the protagonist uses the alias Jim Taggert. Indeed, many anime dub [=VAs=] have various aliases that are employed for personal or contractual reasons, such as David Lucas (real name: Steven Jay Blum), Dorothy Meneldrez (real name: Dorothy Elias-Fahn), Heather Lee Joelson (real name: Melissa Fahn), and Jeremiah Freedman (real name: Joshua Seth). All of them (as well as Wendee Lee above) are well-known voices in the dub community, so it usually doesn't take long to figure out that a given name matches another.

* For an "undercover" story, a reporter dressed as a typical college student hung around a college's dining hall. However, he was immediately discovered--the student body population was so small that ''everyone'' knew each other and immediately recognized that the reporter was not one of their classmates.
* Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., was able to successfully sneak into competitors' stores unnoticed by simply leaving his trademark hat in the car. Even Walton himself never figured out why this was so effective.

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosenhan_experiment Rosenhan experiment]], in which researchers checked themselves into psychiatric hospitals, presenting as their only symptom voices in their heads saying "empty", "hollow", or "thud", and thereafter behaved normally.

* During the NapoleonicWars, the British employed "Exploring Officers," who would ride behind [[UsefulNotes/GaulsWithGrenades enemy lines]], wearing [[BlingOfWar full uniform]] in order to [[UsefulNotes/TheLawsAndCustomsOfWar escape execution as spies.]] One such officer, [[ColonelBadass Colquhoun Grant]], was captured and sent to Paris. He escaped, but then reasoned that he could do his job as an Exploring Officer [[ExactWords just as well in Paris as he could in Spain.]] So he wandered [[RefugeInAudacity around Paris in full British uniform, gathering intel.]] He told anyone who challenged him that he was an American. When one old French soldier who had served in the American Revolutionary Wars called him out on this, he quickly amended his tale to being an American ''actor'' who was wearing his stage costume. Luckily, the French were TooDumbToLive, and he escaped back to England.