‘The Umbrella Academy’: How Old Is Aidan Gallagher, Who Plays Number Five?
The Hargreeves siblings on The Umbrella Academy are all unique. But Number Five, played by Aidan Gallagher, stands out because he looks so young. Find out how old Gallagher is in real life and the trick he used to play a much older character on the Netflix show.
Number Five is 58 years old in ‘The Umbrella Academy’
The character looks like a child but he’s actually a 58-year-old assassin in his 13-year-old body. He has also been time traveling.
Number Five disappeared after traveling because he couldn’t figure out how to return. He only knew how to travel forward.
He went far into the future and found civilization was destroyed. The assassin spent 50 years there so he’s actually much older than what his body looks like in present day. He also stands out from his siblings by being the only one who wasn’t named by their mother because he disappeared.
Aidan Gallagher used the comics to help build his character
The Netflix show adapted the comic so the actors got to learn about their characters from the original material. Gallagher talked about one thing he took from the comics.
“I wanted to do justice to the graphic novels, so one of the first things that I looked at was his posture,” Gallagher told Collider. “Gabriel’s drawings are very immersive, as far as the characters and the world goes, so I wanted to make sure that I got his posture right, the way he interacted with different elements.”
The young actor later said, “The 58-year-old thing was always an interesting dynamic to play with the siblings. But he’s still a person, so although you have the experience that comes with a few more decades of life, the writing took care of a lot of that. I took care of more of the human aspect of Five.”
Gallagher was born in 2003
The actor was born on Sept. 18, 2003. He was 14 years old when The Umbrella Academy first aired.
Gallagher talked to Vulture about how the character’s age does or doesn’t affect how he plays him. “As far as what part of myself I brought to Five, I’ve always considered myself not really my age,” he said. “I don’t know that I would say I’ve felt like a 58-year-old, but I’ve never felt exactly my age, or in the right place. So I could relate to him in that sense.”
He was also asked about Number Five’s relationship with the Handler and if she was flirting with him knowing he’s actually older. “That was one of my favorite things about the show — finding all those backstories to the characters who had very thick and detailed dynamics,” Gallagher said. “As far as Five and the Handler, we were slightly hinting that the two of them may have engaged in a relationship when Five was working as an assassin at the Commission. But I don’t know that we’ll fully ever see that story play out!”
It sounds like the actor used parts of himself and the comic to believably play Number Five. Luckily, the character has become a favorite among fans.
