In 2006, the then Polish president Lech Kaczyński appointed as his prime minister the man with whom he had co-founded Poland’s Law and Justice party five years earlier, Jarosław Kaczyński. The appointment marked an unusual quirk in Polish, and indeed world, history: Lech Kaczyński and Jarosław Kaczyński, the president and prime minister of Poland, were identical twins.
The Kaczyński siblings aren’t the only twins to have made a name for themselves in the public eye, however.
From figures from history to modern-day movie stars and musicians, the twenty famous faces listed here were or are all twins.
NICHOLAS BRENDON
Buffy the Vampire star Nicholas Brendon, who sadly passed away in March 2026, had an identical twin brother, Kelly Donovan, who was born three minutes before him in Los Angeles on April 12, 1971. Donovan came in handy in the Season 5 Buffy episode “The Replacement,” when a demon split Brendon’s character Xander in two; Donovan was hired to play his real-life brother’s on-screen doppelganger.
GISELE BÜNDCHEN
Supermodel Gisele Bündchen was born in Brazil on July 20, 1980. She has five sisters, including her twin sister Patricia Bündchen, known as Pati.
LAVERNE COX
Orange Is the New Black star and LGBTQ activist Laverne Cox was born on May 29, 1972, in Mobile, Alabama, alongside her identical twin brother, the musician and performer M Lamar. Cox’s brother played her character pre-transition in two episodes of Orange Is the New Black in 2013.
AARON DESSNER
A founding member of Cincinnati rock group The National, Aaron Dessner earned legions of new fans in the early 2020s through his Grammy-winning collaboration with Taylor Swift on her surprise albums Folklore and Evermore. Born in Ohio on April 23, 1976, Dessner’s twin brother Bryce Dessner is a fellow member of The National, as well as an acclaimed composer and musician in his own right.
VIN DIESEL
Action movie actor Vin Diesel was born Mark Sinclair Vincent on July 18, 1967. His twin brother Paul Vincent likewise works in the movie industry as a sound editor (while the pair’s sister Samantha Vincent is a producer).
JOSEPH FIENNES
Born in Salisbury, England, into the legendary English Fiennes dynasty on May 27, 1950, Shakespeare in Love and The Handmaid’s Tail star Joseph Fiennes—as well as elder brother Ralph Fiennes—has a twin brother, Jacob Fiennes, known as Jake, who works as a conservationist.
EVA GREEN
Known for roles in the likes of Casino Royale, the 300 movies and horror serial Penny Dreadful, French actress Eva Green was born two minutes before her twin sister Joy, on July 6, 1980, in Paris.
LINDA HAMILTON
Terminator star Linda Hamilton was born in Salisbury, Maryland, on September 26, 1956. Her identical twin sister Leslie, who sadly passed away in 2020, worked as a nurse, but nonetheless agreed to act as Linda’s body double in several scenes in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. (Yes, that’s her, not a reflection, in the film’s famous mirror scene.)
JOHN HEDER
Napoleon Dynamite star John Heder has a twin brother, Daniel; the pair were born in Fort Collins, Colorado, on October 26, 1977. “I’ve had people tell me Dan might be just a tidbit better looking,” Heder joked in an interview with W magazine in 2008.
JAMES II OF SCOTLAND
Royal twins are remarkably rare, with one of the very few British royals known to have had a twin sibling being the medieval Scottish king James II. Born in Edinburgh on October 16, 1430, the future king was just a few minutes younger than his older brother Alexander. The line of succession would have ultimately made Alexander first in line to the throne ahead of James, but Alexander tragically died in infancy, leaving James to take the throne himself in 1437, ruling for the next 23 years.
SCARLETT JOHANSSON
Two-time Oscar nominee Scarlett Johansson has a twin brother, Hunter Johansson, who is also an actor. The siblings were born three minutes apart in New York in 1984.
ASHTON KUTCHER
When actor Ashton Kutcher was born on February 7, 1978, he weighed 10½ pounds. He was also followed five minutes later—much to the surprise of his parents—by a twin brother, Michael, who weighed just 4 pounds.
ANN LANDERS
Best known for her legendary advice column, Ann Landers was the pen name of writer Esther Pauline Friedman (nicknamed “Eppie”), who was born in Sioux City, Iowa, on July 4, 1918. Her identical twin sister Pauline Esther Friedman (nicknamed “Popo”) later became fellow advice columnist and broadcaster Abigail Van Buren. Esther was born 17 minutes after Pauline.
LIBERACE
Legendary pianist and entertainer Liberace was born Wladziu Valentino Liberace in West Allis, Wisconsin, into a family of mixed Italian and Polish heritage on May 16, 1919. He had a twin brother, but tragically he died at birth; of his three surviving siblings, Liberace’s elder brother George was also a gifted musician and made frequent appearances on Liberace’s television shows playing the violin.
MIKEY MADISON
Anora Oscar-winner Mikey Madison was born in Los Angeles on March 25, 1999. She has a twin brother, Miles, whom she memorably thanked in her 2025 acceptance speech, quipping, “And my twin brother, Miles. Thank you for being my best friend, not that you have a choice.”
RAMI MALEK
The Oscar-winning star of the likes of Mr. Robot and Bohemian Rhapsody has a twin brother, Sami Malek, who was born four minutes after him on May 12, 1981. Sami hasn’t followed his (just slightly) older brother into the entertainment business, though, as he works as an English teacher in Los Angeles.
ELVIS PRESLEY
Elvis Presley had a twin brother named Jesse, who was tragically stillborn 35 minutes before Elvis’ birth on January 8, 1935. Biographers have since noted that Elvis’ upbringing as a “twinless twin” left him with deep survivor’s guilt that likely affected the rest of his life.
GIOVANNI RIBISI
Known for roles in the likes of Avatar, Saving Private Ryan, Lost in Translation, and the TV sitcom Friends, actor Giovanni Ribisi was born in Los Angeles on December 17, 1974. His twin sister Marissa Ribisi is also an actress, with a string of credits on both the big and small screen.
MICHAEL ROCKEFELLER
The son of the US vice president Nelson Rockefeller (and great-grandson of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller, Sr.), Michael Rockefeller was born on May 18, 1938. An acclaimed anthropologist and scholar, Michael infamously went missing during an expedition to South Papua, in Indonesia, in 1961. His twin sister Mary Rockefeller wrote in her 2012 memoir that she believed he had drowned while swimming to shore, but press reports following his death initially claimed he had been killed and eaten by remote tribes in the region.
KIEFER SUTHERLAND
Canadian actor Kiefer Sutherland was born in London, England, on December 21, 1966. Seven minutes later, his twin sister Rachel Sutherland came along. She, too, works in the entertainment industry, albeit behind the camera, producing shows such as Rookie Blue and Law & Order: Toronto.
