Even though he left the building in 1977, Elvis Presley is likely the first person you think of when it comes to celebrity impersonators. The Legend has been portrayed for decades by men, women, children, and even dogs.

Whether it’s a mall appearance like the ones Ryan Gosling’s uncle once made, a live performance, or a wedding ceremony in Las Vegas, pretending to be the guy who made peanut butter and banana sandwiches famous can be a person’s livelihood: According to Glassdoor, impersonators are earning as much as $129,000 a year.

The impersonation industry is about more than just the man who lived at Graceland—it’s thousands of other people pretending to be celebrities for money.

Corporate gigs are their bread and butter

So, let’s say you’re walking around looking uncannily like a famous person to the point where people ask you for their autograph. How do you monetize that?

• According to Los Angeles Magazine, “A-listers” can earn between $500 and $10,000 for an appearance at a corporate event or private party.
• It’s important to understand that the high end is really only attainable if you look like, say, Tom Cruise. If you’re the spitting image of the fourth lead from a 1990s sitcom, you will need to keep your day job.

Tribute bands: Being able to look and sing like famous people comes with similar perks. Brit Floyd, a Pink Floyd cover band, lists their appearance fee as between $35,000 and $50,000.

On social media, there are two types of impersonators to be found—legitimate ones looking to connect with and grow their audiences, and the ones pretending to be Brad Pitt so they can bilk a woman for thousands of dollars. As deepfake technology improves, it could encroach on non-scammer impersonators, like the guy who posted numerous videos looking and sounding like Tom Cruise.

But beware: Scam or not, celebrities and their estates can be protective. Elvis impersonators at chapels in Vegas received a cease-and-desist letter in 2022 from the company that owns the late singer’s rights over image and likeness usage. The estate of Johnny Cash sued Coca-Cola last year under Tennessee’s Elvis Act—which is a real thing—for using a tribute singer in a commercial without permission.—DL

The bounce house is chopped. Since the pandemic, hiring a princess to roll into your kid’s party has boomed as parents search for new, IRL ways to celebrate. But this industry of small, local entertainment companies that specialize in sending out Elsa look-alikes must navigate strict copyright laws.

Ashley Jantz runs Once Upon a Princess in Indiana. When she first started gathering the lacefronts and hoop skirts, she knew of only a couple of other businesses offering similar services in her area. Now, she says there are as many as 15 in the state. Jantz celebrated 11 years in business last month. Here’s how it’s going:

• Once Upon a Princess birthday packages start at $250 for an hour and go up to $300 for 90 minutes for one character. Additional characters can be added for a fee.
• Despite an influx of requests since the pandemic, Jantz told Morning Brew that she’s seen a slowdown in party bookings over the last year, which she chalks up to “everybody tightening their belts a little.”
• Jantz’s company still receives an average of 30+ requests per month, with July and the holiday season being the busiest.

Legal loophole

If you search through your local princess company character list, you’ll probably find a photo of what’s clearly supposed to be Rapunzel from Tangled named something more generic, like “Tower Princess.” This is to try to avoid an IP fight with Disney.

Princess party companies got a big win in 2018 when a New York federal judge sided against Disney in its attempt to sue a business for allegedly confusing consumers with knockoffs of Chewbacca and friends. The judge cited the company’s website, which showcased the iconic character as “Big Hairy Guy.”—MM

If you see George Washington and Benjamin Franklin arguing about British Crown resistance tactics this summer, it’s probably not because you spent too much time in the sun. Museums, historical societies, and event organizers are tapping historical impersonators to enliven local celebrations of America’s 250th birthday.

The powdered-wig-donning history buffs typically appear in schools and at educational events, but this year, they might have more well-funded opportunities to flaunt their encyclopedic knowledge of the founding fathers.

Ben Franklin bonanza

The federal government, states, and localities are spending hundreds of millions to celebrate America’s semiquincentennial. Part of the funds will go to commemorative happenings featuring performers personifying the big names from your eighth-grade history class:

• An impersonator of the nation’s first president appeared at the US Mint’s recent unveiling of a commemorative George Washington coin tied to the American Revolution’s 250th anniversary in Mount Vernon, VA.
• The nonprofit Massachusetts250 advertises several events near Boston, aka the cradle of the revolution, tied to its 250th anniversary with costumed impersonators of figures like John Adams, Martha Washington, and Rachel Revere, Paul Revere’s wife.
• The nonprofit Historic Philadelphia hired 10 new performers this winter to join the ranks of costumed storytellers stationed in the city’s old town, personifying local historical figures like Benjamin Franklin and the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Bishop Richard Allen. Each new hire gets street performance training at the so-called Benstitute.

Visits to tourist sites that employ historical impersonators are projected to skyrocket this summer. For instance, Colonial Williamsburg expects 2.1 million visitors in 2026, up from 1.8 million in 2024.

Private gigs boom

Brian Patrick Mulligan, a full-time Ben Franklin impersonator with 35 years of experience, told Morning Brew that he’s getting five to ten private event inquiries per day, roughly as many as he got weekly last year. Historic Philadelphia said that requests to hire its impersonators are up about 40% this year.

Impersonating the characters that grace America’s cash can be lucrative: Mulligan charges $1,776 for an hourlong keynote address.

Those who don’t resemble a founding father…can still enlist in the countless costumed historical battle reenactments taking place across the nation to mark the anniversary of the American Revolution.—SK

China, where parts of the country are like Disneyland, if it had the replica towns but no rides.

There’s the Roman Colosseum in Macau, London’s Tower Bridge in Suzhou, an Eiffel Tower in Tianducheng, and dozens of other imitation monuments that Las Vegas would turn into hotels. The idea is that these copycats—which typically cost millions of dollars to build—boost tourism and encourage locals to travel domestically, because who needs to visit France when we have an Arc de Triomphe in Jiangyan?

Sometimes, though, the projects don’t pan out: A replica of the Sphinx was constructed about a decade ago in Chuzhou and then dismantled after Egypt complained. The uncanniest of them all is “China’s new Manhattan,” an unfinished ghost city south of Beijing that was supposed to become a hustling, bustling Wall Street knockoff.—ML

We analyzed listings on Cameo, the platform for buying personalized video messages, to see how impersonators are using it to make a buck. Here’s what we found:

There are 357 contributors who identify primarily as “impersonators” on the platform (although, upon closer examination, about 32 of them seem to be misclassified, so we’d informally say there are 325).

Of those, 31 of them are generalist impressionists, who don’t do full costume impersonations, but mimic the speech and mannerisms of many characters.

Twenty-four of them are princess specialists, who appear on video as one of several costumed options reminiscent of animated heroines.

And many focus on looking and sounding like just one person or character. Here are the most-impersonated figures, and the average cost of booking an impersonator of that specialty:

1. Donald Trump ($78)

2. Elvis Presley ($48)

3. Spider-Man ($40)

4. Jack Sparrow ($60)

5. Lady Gaga ($108)

Honorable mentions: These icons have at least four people impersonating them on the platform: Michael Jackson, Santa, Marilyn Monroe, Freddie Mercury, Dolly Parton, Batman, and Madonna.—HVL

From the Vegas Strip to Times Square, ordinary people don capes every day to make sure that we all have celebrity lookalikes to take a funny photo with. They do it out of a sense of duty and purpose (but mostly for tips).

Some of the most hallowed ground for these costumed copycats is Hollywood Boulevard’s Walk of Fame. But their presence isn’t always welcome: In 2010, the LAPD cracked down following complaints that some of the impersonators were a little too forceful with their tip-seeking. Actors playing Batman, Spider-Man, and The Incredible Hulk were among those rounded up, proving that even a faux hero can live long enough to become the villain.

But these days, impersonators are back, and seeing what Donald Duck and Iron Man get up to outside the TCL Chinese Theatre might be the highlight of your trip to Hollywood.—BC