Historic photos are evidence these celebrities were cloned.

Coincidence? Or evidence that some celebrities were cloned? This is the question an Instagram video posits as it compares historical photos with images of contemporary celebrities. 

And the answer is: coincidence. Although some bloggers have jokingly suggested that these actors and singers are time travelers, any serious claims of cloning are unfounded. 

The Instagram post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

Among the doppelgängers: Actor Leonardo DiCaprio and Judy Zipper, a girl in someone’s grandmother’s 1960 yearbook. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Philip IV, who ruled Spain from 1605 to 1665 and was immortalized in several paintings by Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez. Former talk show host Ellen DeGeneres and writer Henry David Thoreau. Actor Orlando Bloom and 19th century Romanian artist Nicolae Grigorescu.

A 2022 paper in the journal Cell Reports found that doppelgängers share many of the same genes, Smithsonian magazine reported in August. The internet has enabled researchers to identify people with striking physical similarities more easily. 

It has also fueled some claims lacking scientific evidence, such as that the aforementioned people were cloned. We rate that False.