Have you found your famous look-alike? Maybe you'll be millionaire!

By João Lopes Marques (Eesti keel)

I not only acknowledge but I also respect that a huge percentage of the human population wants to be famous. Dreams of glory are normal: fame is money, power, vanity, recognition. To some extent life can become easier, though one has to be prepared for losing his beloved privacy. Another minus is that the famous person tends to behave in order to fulfill social expectations on him.

(Amy Winehouse or Britney Spears are just two recent cases; others, many others, ended up in suicide.)

Why this subject? Because I have just landed in Ülemiste after one week Madrid. My business is nowadays more and more centered in the Spanish capital and I have to go there often. And this is why something is haunting me: in Madrid almost everybody looks at me in the street. Disturbing, since I was never famous in my life, let alone in Spain.

Last month I asked my friend Filipe to pay more attention while by me. Puzzled, he confirmed my strange impression: "You are not joking. It is really amazing! How come?"

"You see now? I wasn't lying. Grandmothers, lorry drivers, nice young girls, their boyfriends, the butcher, subway commuters, waiters in Plaza Mayor... Well, you name it..."

I guess this is becoming the weirdest phenomenon in my life — and not necessarily connected with my Baltic-Iberian aura. Not at all. This time is serious. Different: I believe somebody is mixing me up with another person; and that other person must be somebody quite visible in Spain.

For sure this wouldn't be the first time somebody told me I was a look-alike. When I was younger, lots of people asked me if I wasn't Paulo Futre , a popular Portuguese footballer in the 80's. Then, another Portuguese footballer entered Big Brother Celebrities (Jorge Cadete ) and lots of teens and grannies started pointing their finger towards me. By that time, friends and acquaintances who wanted to please me opted by comparing me with Hugh Grant . And more recently — even if walk well again — I became Dr. House due to the success of this American TV series.

Actually, I guess all these boys have a lot to do between them — much, much more, than I have to do with them.

Sorry for the delusion.

So who is this mysterious celebrity Spainiards think I can be? In order to find it out (Filipe didn't know) I sent an email to my beloved Polish friend Kinga. She has been living in Madrid for at least five years. Besides being curious she is one of the wittiest and sharpest people I have ever met.

Her answer was pretty automatic: "Come on, you should know you look like this Argentinean actor. He is quite popular in Spanish TV..." The guy was named "Ricardo Darín".

"Ricardo Darín?" Hmm... Above all, he looks too old to be me (or I seem too young to be him).

No matter how talented this gentleman might be, he is not my style at all. Yet it would have been much worse if I had been compared to Frankenstein or Quasimodo. Truth to tell, Mr. Darín seems a good compromise in the end.

Besides all, it is always a good asset to look like a famous guy. I have just read that Britney Spears look-alike (Lorna) earns over 50,000 euros a year dressing, singing, acting and dancing like her. In times of crisis, while my books don't pick up as I had dreamt, I can be employed full-time as an extra or as a decoy to mislead Mr. Darín enemies or potential assassins (among other minor tasks).

No, I am not joking. Mr. Stalin himself used to hire four look-alikes, which proves at least two other things: the look-alike industry is a profitable one; there are plenty of people in this world who look like us.

And vice-versa, for sure.