Julyus Odreman has spent a decade being mistaken for Zayn Malik, but cannot see it himself because he says he is “nowhere near as handsome”.
Julyus, from Venezuela, says his friends think he looks so much like Zayn that “people don’t even call me by my real name any more”.
The resemblance to the former One Direction star means he often gets “stopped by groups of girls on the subway or the street”.
He also once had to pretend to be the British singer when he met his friend’s four-year-old son, who was “so insistent that I was really him”.
“I didn’t want to burst his bubble because he was so excited to meet a celebrity, so I just went with it.”
He’ll be channelling Zayn on Saturday at a lookalike competition in New York, organised by Jaz Arnold, who was inspired by the Timothée Chalamet contest.
“Zayn is super hot and it’s hard to imagine we can find someone as beautiful as him,” she says.
She adds that it’s “hilarious and brave” that lots of people think they look as good as Zayn and she can’t wait to see who shows up.
For Jaz, the competition is also about bringing people together.
“In big cities, it’s hard to feel part of a community so I wanted to do something fun that is welcoming and accepting.”
She also says young people “are so tired of social media and the state of the world” that a silly event like this “is pure escapism, even if it is just for an hour or two”.
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