MyHeritage's "Inner Celeb" machine

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on July 31st, 2006

One of the most emailed stories on the WWW this past weekend was a fluff piece entitled “Website Reveals Your Inner Celebrity Twin;” from Associated Press.

It talks about MyHeritage.com, ostensibly a website about geneaology and family trees, but one that has recently added a sexy “face recognition” doohickey that enables visitors to upload a pic of themselves, then hit a button and see what famous people they most resemble. Everyone of course hopes for George Clooney (males) or Halle Berry (females). What they get may surprise and/or annoy them. We plugged in a recent pic of the Male and Female Halves of the Staff and, well… our… face… hurts.

After the site chews on your photo for a moment or two (and displays some nifty animated graphics!), it puts up a photo of Celebrity Number One– the famous dude or dudette who looks most like you. Be forewarned: It lists both genders! (See below) And keep in mind that you can cycle through about 8 or 9 pics– so don’t be disappointed if the one on top is not to your liking. (See below, below)

There might be something to this FR technology– The Female Half snagged Shania Twain (whom the Male Half briefly had a crush on), Jamie Lynn Spears (little sis of Britney, whom the Male Half briefly had a crush on) and The Female half also snagged a couple guys– pretty guys, to be sure! In addition to Ashton Kutcher, MyHeritage insists that she looks like Chad Michael Murray (star of One Tree Hill).

We also uploaded an old blond pic of TFHotS and got back, among others, Oprah Winfrey, Liza Minelli, Janet Jackson and Chad Michael Murray (again!)

We uploaded the Male Half of the Staff and got back Richard Avedon, Michael Caine, former Israeli ambassador Abba Eban (?) and Larry King. So, sensing a weakness in the software, we uploaded a pic of him, sans glasses, and got back Tony Blair, Emile Zola and Eric Idle. (Significantly, of the three attempts– with three different pics of the Male Half, each one stubbornly insisted on a resemblance to Jack Nicholson. Which he will take. Larry King, however, we attribute to the specs.)


The above pic is what we were greeted with the very first try.

We recall an old story from way back in 1985 or so, when comic Dan Wilson, during a visit to the Male Half’s swingin’ bachelor pad in New Jersey, spotted a photograph on the wall and asked, “Why is there a picture of Roy Orbison on your wall?” The photo he referred to was a B & W candid shot that the Male Half had snapped some years earlier of his mother. As Paul Harvey might say, “…and now you know (6-second pause) the rest of the story.”

Any particularly humorous resemblances out there? Sling them in to the Comments!

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