Ever scrolled past a zoomed-in photo of a pair of icy blue eyes and immediately known it was Cillian Murphy? You didn't see the cheekbones. You didn't see the Peaky Blinders cap. Just the eyes. It’s a weird human superpower.
Honestly, when you try to guess the celebrity by their eyes, you aren’t just playing a bored-at-work trivia game. You’re actually tapping into a complex piece of brain machinery located in your fusiform gyrus.
This is the part of the brain that handles facial recognition. Scientists have found that when we become "experts" on a face—like we do with A-list stars we see on billboards and TikTok every day—we stop looking at the whole head. We start focusing on the "internal features." That means the eyes, the nose, and the mouth.
The eyes, though? They're the MVP.
The Science of "Expert Eyes"
Most people think they recognize a face because of the hair or the jawline. Nope.
Research from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in 2025 actually looked into "super-recognizers." These are folks who never forget a face. The study found that these people don't look at more of a face; they just look at the most "diagnostic" parts. Basically, they zoom straight into the eyes because that's where the most unique identity data lives.
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Why celebrities are easier to guess
When you play a guess the celebrity by their eyes challenge, you’re usually looking for specific markers:
- Limbus Rings: That dark circle around the iris. Think of the intense contrast in Zooey Deschanel’s eyes.
- Epicanthic Folds: The shape of the upper eyelid.
- Heterochromia: Different colored eyes, like Mila Kunis (who has one brown and one green eye).
- The "Smize": Tyra Banks literally built a brand on the way the eyes move independently of the rest of the face.
Icon Check: The Eyes That Give It All Away
If I showed you a picture of violet eyes, you’d say Elizabeth Taylor. Even if you’ve never seen a single one of her movies. That’s the power of an iconic gaze.
But it’s not always about the color.
Take Benedict Cumberbatch. His eyes are famous for being "chameleons." They’re a mix of blue, green, and gold, a trait known as sectoral heterochromia. When you see a close-up of those almond-shaped, shifting-color eyes, your brain pings "Sherlock" instantly.
Then there’s Rihanna. Her eyes are a very specific shade of green-hazel that almost glows against her skin tone. It’s a "tell." You can’t mistake those for anyone else’s.
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And don't even get me started on the "Sanpaku" eyes of Billie Eilish or late icons like Marilyn Monroe. Sanpaku is a Japanese term for eyes where you can see the white (sclera) below or above the iris. It gives a look of perpetual sleepiness or intense longing. It’s a huge reason why Billie is so recognizable in those extreme close-up album covers.
Why We Fail the "Unfamiliar Face" Test
Here is a kicker: if I show you a pair of eyes from a random person on the street, you’ll probably fail to recognize them five minutes later.
Why? Because your brain hasn't categorized them as "important" yet.
According to a study published in PMC (NIH), we rely on "external features" like hair and ears for people we don't know well. But for celebrities? We’ve seen them so much that they’ve moved into our "familiar" folder.
Once someone is in that folder, their eyes become their fingerprint.
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How to Win Your Next Guessing Game
If you want to get better at these quizzes, stop looking for the color. Everyone has blue eyes in Hollywood. Instead, look at the distance between the eyes and the shape of the brow bone.
- The Hooded Lid: Jennifer Lawrence and Blake Lively have very distinct hooded eyes. The eyelid "hoods" over the crease.
- The Sclera Ratio: How much white is showing? Actors like Rami Malek have a high sclera ratio, giving them that wide-eyed, intense stare.
- The Brow-to-Eye Gap: Look at Anya Taylor-Joy. Her eyes are set wide apart, which is her most defining feature.
Practical Steps for the Visual Obsessed
If you're looking to actually test these skills or use this for a party game, don't just use current photos.
Go for the "Childhood Eye" test. The eyes are one of the few things that stay relatively consistent in scale as we age. A 1990s photo of Leonardo DiCaprio’s eyes still looks like Leo today.
Try this tonight:
- Open a celebrity news site.
- Cover everything but the eyes with your hand.
- See how many you can get in 30 seconds.
Most people score over 70% on stars they "follow" and under 10% on stars they don't. It’s a literal map of your pop-culture consumption.
The next time you’re trying to guess the celebrity by their eyes, remember you’re using a biological recognition system more advanced than any airport security scanner. Your brain has been "training" on these faces for years through screens and magazines. You aren't just guessing; you're retrieving data.
To really hone this skill, start paying attention to the "limbal ring"—the dark circle around the iris. It’s more prominent in younger stars and fades with age, which is a secret trick to identifying "old Hollywood" vs. the new generation in grainy photos. Focus on the geometry of the eyelid fold rather than just the color, as lighting often cheats the hue in professional photography.