Stephen Dorff vs. Peter Sarsgaard
Battle of the Lookalikes on Opposite Career Trajectories

When you're a child actor, and you mature into an adult actor -- assuming you buck the odds by not flaming out into drug addiction and petty crime -- you have one key advantage over your adult peers: brand recognition. You've had your face out in front of casting directors for years, so when they hire you, they know what they're getting; you're running on your record, whereas those other schmoes are unknown quantities. Most of the time, they're just the prettiest people their Kansas high schools produced, who have a fine backup plan for if this whole acting thing doesn't work out: porn. But you know the business; no porn for you!

This set-up was working pretty well for Stephen Dorff. He made his bones as a child actor with a multi-episode arc on Roseanne, roles in the twin pedophile-themed TV movies Do You Know The Muffin Man? and I Know My First Name Is Steven, and the well-regarded The Power Of One. He was no Jodie Foster, in terms of prestige, but he made a decent living. If you couldn't exactly say that everything was coming up Dorff, then at least most would agree that he was doing better than Adam Rich.

Maybe Dorff had some notion that it couldn't last forever -- that, eventually, something would occur to end his free ride. Perhaps it would be a gay scandal, or a palimony suit, or the rather predictable drug addiction and petty crime, finally catching up with him. He surely must never have guessed that his nice little career would be ended by the arrival of a guy who had Dorff's face, but like a thousand times as much talent. No, Stephen Dorff never banked on the existence of a Peter Sarsgaard, and...poor Dorff.

It took a little while for the world to notice what a fucking good actor Peter Sarsgaard is, but now that it has, Stephen Dorff might as well just pack it up and call it a night. Dorff looks like Dorff, and acts about as well as a medicated Eric Roberts. Sarsgaard looks like Dorff, and acts like a young Paul Giamatti, only cute. Dorff can't even differentiate himself from Sarsgaard by being the indier of the two; Sarsgaard can see Dorff's Cecil B. Demented, Backbeat, I Shot Andy Warhol and S.F.W., and raise him Boys Don't Cry, The Center Of The World, Shattered Glass, and this year's off-the-charts indie darlings Garden State and Kinsey. Sarsgaard's even wisely shored up his cred by hooking up with Maggie Gyllenhaal, making them the undisputed king and queen of the indie prom. (Which is held in a really small school gym, with terrible lighting and indifferent decorations, but a whole lot of integrity, man!)

At some point, Sarsgaard stopped being the off-brand version of Stephen Dorff, and Dorff crossed his career path...heading due south...becoming the crappy-acting mainstream version of Peter Sarsgaard. So we can safely extrapolate that Sarsgaard is on his way to an Oscar nomination someday, whereas Dorff is on his way to a supporting villain role in a potential third installment of The Mask.

Advantage: Um, Sarsgaard. And it's not really close, either.