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Donald Faison Reveals Why His Teeth Looked So Different in Clueless, Early Scrubs Seasons
Donald Faison actually revealed he's never had braces in his life, despite his iconic Clueless look.
Although Donald Faison plays the owner of the Boston Celtics in NBC’s new comedy Extended Family, he wasn’t always so grown up and strait-laced.
He became famous for his role as Murray Duvall, boyfriend to Dionne Davenport (Stacey Dash), in 1995’s Clueless. Donald was just 21 when he played the lovable high school student, according to the Huffington Post, and although most people assumed his signature braces and backward hats were just part of the teen character wardrobe, he did reveal that’s not actually the case.
Donald Faison on his new teeth
Donald Faison and his Scrubs co-star (and real life BFF) Zach Braff started a podcast in 2020 called Fake Doctors, Real Friends with Zach and Donald. They not only spill secrets from the hit TV show Scrubs, but also about other acting roles they’ve had. It only took one episode for Faison to share his braces and hats in Clueless were a necessity, not a choice.
Entertainment Tonight reported Braff asked him why his teeth were different early on in Scrubs’ run, versus later seasons of the show.
“I had baby teeth when we started shooting [Scrubs],” Faison said on his podcast. “I don’t have baby teeth anymore. I spent a lot of money on new teeth. There it is. That’s the story.”
Because Faison still had baby teeth when filming Clueless, he explained the directors and producers put braces on him to try and “hide” his small teeth.
“But I never knew,” Braff replied on the podcast. “Your braces in Clueless were because of your f-cked up Chiclet teeth!”
Faison shed more light on his teeth in a 2014 Interview with Vulture, and mentioned despite Murray’s braces, he never had braces in real-life.
“When I look back at it now, I wish I did have braces, but I thought they would make me look like a geek,” Faison said to Vulture. “Hindsight being 20/20, I should have gotten braces.”
RELATED: Donald Faison's 9-Year-Old Son Rocco is His Literal Mini-Me as They Watch the Celtics
Faison shared small teeth weren’t the only thing wrong with his mouth.
“[The braces are fake] because I had an extra tooth, and they wanted to hide that because it kind of looked weird when I smiled. So, they put braces on me,” he added to Vulture. “What happened was, one of my teeth didn’t fall out. So, because of that, I had an extra tooth.”
But he also had more to hide. Everyone remembers Murray’s iconic scene where he shaves his head at a party, only to have his girlfriend walk in and throw a fit because she didn’t agree “it’s the bomb!”
Faison actually re-created the scene in a 2016 X (formerly known as Twitter) post, according to Mashable, and even captioned the picture, “’Cause I’m keeping it real!” which is the line his character repeated over and over to defend his decision to Dionne.
“They shaved my head in Clueless because my hair was receding,” Faison explained on his podcast, and added that was also the reason his character frequently wore hats.
Extended Family fans might notice Faison is still rocking a bald head in his new role as well.
“I shave my head so I don’t look like I’m balding,” he said in an interview with The Cut in 2016. “The trick is to cut it off before anybody sees it’s falling off. I’m keeping it real.”
Watch all-new episodes of Extended Family on Tuesdays at 8:30/7:30c on NBC and the next day on Peacock.
