Shopping
I’m a dead ringer for Jason Momoa — I have to fend off women while shopping with my wife
Call him Jason Fauxmoa.
A UK musician-turned-professional Jason Momoa lookalike claims that he resembles the “Aquaman” star so closely that he’s constantly mobbed by women while out shopping with his wife.
“90% of people who stop me in the street are women,” Wills, 52, told Kennedy News while describing getting mistaken for the 44-year-old “Game Of Thrones” star. Shopping in Primark, some people will follow you around. My wife will look at me and go ‘oh god we’ve got another one.’”
The 6-foot-3 musician added, “What my wife doesn’t like is when women come up to me and want to touch my hair.”
The Wolverhampton, West Midlands native — who plays guitar in a Deep Purple Tribute band — said it was his auntie who first noticed the resemblance to the luscious-locked Hawaiian hunk seven years ago while watching “Stargate Atlantis.”
“My aunty originally said to me you look like a guy off the TV, she couldn’t remember his name but said he’s in Stargate Atlantis,” said the “Dune” star’s doppelgänger. “I saw him on TV one day and I thought ‘wow, my mum and dad are not telling me something here.’”
He added, “Just after that I was doing gigs around the country and people started talking to me in the street saying ‘you look like Jason Momoa’ and making comments at gigs saying I looked like Aquaman.’”
In 2019, Wills and his wife Claire Edwards-Wills, 44, traveled to Comic Con in London so he could take a pic with the “Dune” star and proud dad bod bearer. He was immediately beset by fans who mistook him for the real deal.
“My wife paid for me to have a photo with Jason,” the overwhelmed guitarist described. “When we walked in I was mobbed by people who started taking my photo and following me around doing videos, it was insane.”
The Brit added, “I signed stuff on the day, which was a bit weird, I just put ‘Jason Momoa lookalike.’”
That’s when Momoa himself noticed the resemblance and was ironically starstruck: “When I met him [in passing] he just looked at me, stopped, tilted his head and went ‘woah,’” recounted the flabbergasted father of three. “When I saw him 20 minutes later to get an autograph he said ‘man you could be my stunt double’. I said ‘yes please.’”
So, after receiving his famous facsimile’s blessing, Ian decided to put his money where Momoa’s mouth was and do the next best thing: Become a professional lookalike.
A star lookalike was born.
Just before COVID hit in 2020, the celeb cover artist signed up to a lookalike agency, which books him for sporting events and Birthday parties.
Clients can choose whether they want Ian to cosplay a Momoa or Aquaman; If they opt for the latter, he’ll don his $630 custom-built superhero suit.
“I did somebody’s 70th birthday last year, that was interesting and the lady absolutely adored it so that was pretty fun,” Ian gushed. “I did Birmingham Comic Con one year and within seconds I was getting mobbed by loads of kids, it’s a nice feeling.”
He even got the star’s iconic shark teeth tattooed onto his left arm to complete the look.
Of course, the gig required more than just looking the part, according to Ian, who also had to parrot the American action star’s voice and mannerisms.
Fortunately,the impression came naturally to him despite being from across the pond.
“I can do the American accent,” the dead ringer described. “It can be tricky but he’s got a very interesting dialect and a deep voice, which is similar to mine. He mumbles quite a lot so it’s quite easy to get, he talks quite quickly and deeply.”
Unfortunately, Ian often feels like he’s playing the part even when off the clock, like an unwilling method actor. “I do get mistaken for Jason Momoa in the street a lot — in the most bizarre of places,” lamented the impersonator, adding that he’s mostly “polite” to his oblivious admirers.
His wife Claire, who works as an emergency room nurse, has gotten used her other half’s secondhand fame for the most part. “It’s just part and parcel of things now,” she said. “It can be strange at times because if we go to get some shopping he’ll get stopped. We’ve had people shouting across the supermarket in Aldi and Tesco going ‘oh my God look who he looks like’ so it can be a bit embarrassing.”
She finds the fanfare especially ridiculous given how unlikely it would be for the real Momoa to be randomly shopping in Primark, Dudley.
However, Claire draws the line at other women people “touching” her paramour, describing: “It’s happened when we’ve been on a night out, we’ve gone to a gig, and people say ‘oh you look like him, can I have a photo?’ and I’m like ‘it’s our night out’.”
“I wouldn’t go up to their husbands and go ‘can I have a photo with him?’” added the nurse, who counts herself as one of the few people who doesn’t see Ian as the “Baywatch: Hawaii” actor.
“I don’t see him as Jason, I love him for him,” she declared. “He’s just the guy I fell in love with.”