The Actor Who Looks Exactly Like Young Sheldon's Mckenna Grace

With billions of people on the planet, a few are bound to look similar. Oftentimes, Hollywood can feel like a microcosm of this phenomenon. From Katy Perry and Zooey Deschanel to Daniel Radcliffe and Elijah Wood, there are plenty of celebrity lookalikes that tend to confuse people. One rising-star actor who also boasts her very own doppelgänger is "Young Sheldon" alum Mckenna Grace. Many people have excitedly pointed out that Grace bears a striking resemblance to fellow former child star Kiernan Shipka. In fact, the two looked almost identical in their younger years. And although Grace and Shipka have developed their own distinctive looks as they've grown up in the public eye, some still mix the two up on occasion. "You're telling me Kiernan Shipka and Mckenna Grace aren't the same person??!!" one user on X, formerly known as Twitter, wrote.

you're telling me kiernan shipka and mckenna grace aren't the same person??!! pic.twitter.com/YDX8yNhI76

— amber ʚɞ ₊ ⊹ (@envytheangels) December 23, 2023

To be fair, a bit of confusion is understandable. For starters, Grace and Shipka aren't actually that far apart in age — Shipka was born in November 1999, while Grace was born in June 2006. Additionally, both performers got their start playing supporting roles as children before moving on to bigger, and more adult, parts. Grace's big break was on the Disney XD sitcom "Crash & Bernstein." She later played one of the leads in the "Ghostbusters" legacy sequels, alongside starring opposite Chris Evans in "Gifted." Meanwhile, Shipka initially gained recognition for her star-making turn as Sally Draper on "Mad Men," and later portrayed the titular character on Netflix's "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina." Aside from sharing remarkably similar looks, both actors have had a similar career trajectory in Hollywood, with key roles on both the big and small screen.

Given their similar appearances and career trajectories, you may be wondering if Mckenna Grace and Kiernan Shipka have ever shared the screen. Evidently, the casting directors of the Shipka-led "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina" noticed that the two stars looked incredibly alike. And, in 2018, a then-12-year-old Grace played a younger version of Shipka's teenage witch in the special holiday episode "Chapter Eleven: A Midwinter's Tale." Interestingly, playing younger versions of a show or movie's lead character was a bit of a recurring theme in the earlier days of Grace's career. She did the same in both the 2017 Tonya Harding biopic "I, Tonya" and the 2019 superhero flick "Captain Marvel."

Additionally, it was announced in February 2025 that Grace and Shipka would finally star opposite one another proper in a survival thriller entitled "The Nowhere Game." The movie seems poised to put a modern spin on Richard Connell's classic 1924 short story "The Most Dangerous Game." According to Deadline, Grace and Shipka portray a pair of women who are kidnapped during a road trip, and forced into a twisted competition where they're hunted for sport in the woods while spectators watch via the internet. Both actors excitedly shared the casting announcement with their Instagram followers, with Grace noting that she had "been waiting forever" to work with Shipka (sharing a scene this time). 

Fans were equally enthused by the news, even though several X users expressed their disbelief that the former child stars weren't cast as sisters. As one argued, "'Friends' and you could barely tell it was a different actress when mckenna played young sabrina," while another quipped, "Mckenna Grace and Kiernan Shipka need to play sisters in something. I'm not entirely convinced they aren't sister irl."