When it comes to younger actors playing the same role as more seasoned performers, sometimes they're the spitting image, and other times they're just tapping into certain acting rhythms. In the case of Josh Brolin in "Men In Black III," they've clearly made some kind of deal with the mimicry devil.

There's a long history of young actors nailing their elders' characters; these 10 are just some of the best.

10. Zac Efron as Matthew Perry in '17 Again' (2009)

A weird janitor transforms a wistful Matthew Perry back into his younger, more exuberant self, who happens to look like "High School Musical" heartthrob Efron. Complications ensue as he attempts to relive his teen glory days on the basketball team, inadvertently "pulling a McFly" and attracting the amorous attentions of his own daughter. Yuck!

9. James McAvoy as Patrick Stewart in 'X-Men: First Class' (2011)

Patrick Stewart's shoes are not particularly easy ones to fill, but McAvoy's stab at Professor X adds new dimensions to the character, not to mention hair. McAvoy gave the monk-like Charles Xavier an ego and a sex drive while maintaining the believable brilliance Stewart had. Even though he and director Matthew Vaughn decided specifically not to mimic Stewart, the comparisons were unavoidable -- and favorable. Here's hoping McAvoy can shave those Scottish locks of his for the impending sequel.

8. Zachary Quinto as Leonard Nimoy in 'Star Trek' (2009)

Director J.J. Abrams took fan cries to heart and cast "Heroes" villain Quinto as a young Spock after massive Internet support, but making it happen also took the nerd equivalent of a Papal blessing: Leonard Nimoy himself had casting approval and gave Quinto the A-OK. The actor now has the blessing of the entire geek community and world at large, all of whom look forward to his reprisal of the hyper-logical Vulcan in next year's sequel. He also occasionally finds time to dine with his predecessor, if Nimoy's Twitter is any indication.

7. Seth Green as Woody Allen in 'Radio Days' (1987)

Before he got all grungy as Dr. Evil's son Scotty or Buffy's pal Oz, "Robot Chicken" maestro Green was 12-year-old "Joe" in Woody Allen's "Radio Days," essentially a childhood surrogate of Allen, who also narrated. This nostalgic look back at the yesteryears of New York during the late 1930s has young Joe fantasizing about "The Shadow," his substitute teacher, and German U-boats he may have spotted off the shores of Rockaway Beach. A scene in which he discovers his father is a taxi-cab driver is particularly touching.

6. David Moscow as Tom Hanks in 'Big' (1988)

"Shimmy, shimmy, cocoa pop. Shimmy, shimmy, rock." Capturing childhood without condescension or pandering has to be one of the hardest things for grown-up Hollywood millionaires to do, but somehow Penny Marshall found her way into the psyche of a 12-year-old boy with this classic comedy. Eschewing the whole body-switching gimmick, this is simply about a kid named Josh Baskin who, with the help of a certain Zoltar machine, turns into an adult Tom Hanks overnight. Hanks never falters in his portrayal, which is aided by the fact that young Moscow is so grounded in the early scenes.

5. River Phoenix as Harrison Ford in 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade' (1989)

After Harrison Ford worked with Phoenix on "The Mosquito Coast," the Indiana Jones icon personally recommended the young lad to director Steven Spielberg, and the resemblance is pretty amazing. The first 15 minutes of perhaps the greatest film in the series are totally owned by Phoenix as a young Indy patrolling an area of desert with his fellow Boy Scouts. He stumbles upon a group of fortune hunters stealing an artifact, and the subsequent foot race through a circus train proved that the late actor could have played action roles, had his career not been cut short.

4. Brad Renfro as Brad Pitt in 'Sleepers' (1996)

Another actor senselessly lost to drugs was Renfro, who was hot off his debut in "The Client" when Barry Levinson cast him as Michael Sullivan, one of four pals in New York's Hell's Kitchen during the '60s. After a prank gone awry, they are sent to a juvenile detention center that makes Shawshank Prison look like a Build-A-Bear Workshop. At age 14 Renfro had an innate command of the screen and seemed poised to one day supersede Pitt in the ranks of on-screen hunkdom, but 'twas not to be.

3. Ewan McGregor as Alec Guinness in 'Star Wars' (1999-2005)

When you think of Obi-Wan Kenobi, your mind doesn't naturally take you to the Scottish dude who played a tweaking heroin addict in "Trainspotting." But George Lucas is famous for his leaps in logic. This happened to be a good leap, as the classically trained McGregor nailed the look, speech and mannerisms of Sir Alec Guinness while proving a bit more robust with a lightsaber. McGregor also channeled a young Albert Finney in Tim Burton's "Big Fish," where both UK thesps adopted a cheesy Southern accent.

2. Paul Giamatti as Harvey Pekar (playing Harvey Pekar) in 'American Splendor' (2003)

Directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini and feature subject Harvey Pekar manage to give the term "curmudgeon" a good name with this big-screen adaptation of Pekar's landmark underground comic book series. Paul Giamatti is brilliantly cast. Although there's barely any physical similarity, he manages to channel the essence of Pekar's world-weary obsessive because he is one of the only actors in Hollywood capable of abandoning vanity at this level. In a true test of mimicry, the actor and his now-deceased real-life counterpart are often intercut side-by-side throughout, so you almost can't tell who's the Yale graduate or the Cleveland file clerk.

1. Robert De Niro as Marlon Brando in 'The Godfather: Part II' (1974)

Re-creating the performance of a living legend in perhaps his most famous role would be a tall order for anybody, but a 30-year-old De Niro took on Brando's Vito Corleone with unearthly confidence. While aping some of the physicality and voice, De Niro makes the budding mafia don his own, simultaneously fearsome and sympathetic. Creating these prequel sequences must have been rife with landmines for director-screenwriter Francis Ford Coppola, but he and De Niro managed the unthinkable by both honoring as well as enriching the work Brando did. De Niro got an Oscar for his trouble, the first time two different actors won for the same part.