How Old Were ‘Grease’ Actors When They Filmed the Movie?

Grease is one of the most iconic movies of the ’70s, a film based on the long-running musical of the same name. Not only did it launch young singer Olivia Newton-John to stardom, but it cemented John Travolta’s status as a talent to be watched. These days, Grease is still one of the most popular musicals of all time, earning legions of new fans each and every day. Although the movie follows a group of high school students, in real life, the actors in the film were significantly older than the characters that they portrayed. 

‘Grease’ is a beloved movie musical

Grease was released in 1978, the movie adaptation of the wildly successful 1971 stage musical. The movie details the romantic trials and tribulations of Danny Zuko, a “greaser” at an American high school, and Sandy, an Australian transfer student. While Danny and Sandy struggle with the social mores and pressures of high school, their friend group also endures their own teenage traumas – such as cool-girl Rizzo’s pregnancy scare.

Grease features iconic songs such as “Hopelessly Devoted to You” and “You’re the One That I Want.”  Upon release, the film became wildly successful, and over the years, it has held up – with many fans playing the soundtrack on repeat. It also helped to make John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John into superstars, with both actors becoming closely associated with the roles of Danny and Sandy. 

How old were the main actors in ‘Grease’?

Although the characters of Danny, Sandy, and their friends, were all supposed to be in high school, in real life, the actors were much closer to college-age – and beyond. According to Insider, the director of the film, Randal Kleiser, actually did a “crow’s feet test” to make sure that none of the actors he cast looked too old for the parts they were playing. John Travolta was 23 at the time that he played 18-year-old Danny Zuko, while Newton-John was 29 – more than 10 years older than Sandy, who was written to be 17 or 18 years old.

Stockard Channing, who played Rizzo, the leader of the Pink Ladies, was 33 at the time of filming, making her the oldest of the main cast. Kenickie, Rizzo’s love interest, is supposed to be 17 or 18, but was played by 26-year-old Jeff Conaway, who had also acted in the Broadway production of the story. In fact, the youngest of the main cast members was Kelly Ward, who was 20 at the time of filming. Ward played Putzie, who was supposed to be around 17 or 18 in Grease. 

Actors have often been cast as much younger or older characters

Grease is far from the only project to cast actors who are wildly different in age from the character that they are playing. Over the years, there have been many instances of massive age disparities between an actor and a character. The 2004 film Alexander featured a 29-year-old Angelina Jolie playing the mother of Colin Farrell’s adult character. In real life, Farrell is only one year younger than Jolie. Another early 2000s flick was Monster, in which 28-year-old Charlize Theron portrayed serial killer Aileen Wuornos from the age of 33 – 36.

Jennifer Lawrence received acclaim for her work as a widow in the 2012 movie Silver Linings Playbook – in spite of the fact that she was only 21 years old at the time. Most recently, actor Alexa Demie plays a young high school student in Euphoria, while Demie herself is reportedly around 31 years old.