Chris O'Dowd couldn't believe his eyes when his local newspaper implied he looks identical to Richard Gere.
The 34-year-old actor hails from a town called Boyle in Ireland and the people there remain his biggest fans. He has featured in the regional newspaper many times, but it's the first occasion that remains completely etched on his memory.
"The first time I was ever in a newspaper, the headline was 'Spot the Difference.' And it had a picture of me, like an old headshot, and a picture of Richard Gere. I sh*t you not," he laughed to esquire.com. "And the weirdest thing was, I look nothing like Richard Gere. But in these photographs, I could've been his son. It was extraordinary. We both have big noses and little eyes and we were both looking the same way, and the headshot photos were kind of badly placed and soft-focused and it was just so, so bizarre."
Chris spends a lot of time in Boyle as it's where his UK TV show Moone Boy is shot. He loves getting back to see his parents, who are his biggest champions. They were so proud when he was first on TV, they arranged a group watching session with their pals.
"One of my first times on TV, I remember that my priest came around our house. I wasn't there, but he came around with a projector and a projector screen so that everybody could watch my first performance on television," Chris explained.
The actor-and-comedian appeared on a UK TV show called The IT Crowd, in which his character became famous for telling anyone with PC issue to try turning their computer on and off again. He remains proud of the gag, even if it did cause him problems for some time.
"I remember when the show was still on and I had a problem with my laptop. Something very basic, like I spilled something. It was a hand-to-mouth problem I had. And I brought it into this place and it was a Polish guy, and he looked at me and clearly recognised me from the f**king show. And he says, 'Well, have you tried it' And I said, 'Tried what' And he said, 'You know.' It was a very difficult time in my life to get reasonable computer service," he recalled.