中國網站品牌欄目（頻道）
因長相酷似美國總統(tǒng)奧巴馬，印度尼西亞一位34歲的青少年雜志攝影師在幾年間變身成為超級明星。在印尼當?shù)匾约靶录悠?、馬來西亞和菲律賓等東南亞國家，他代言的廣告隨處可見，在這些地區(qū)的電視和網絡上也能經?？吹剿皧W巴馬式”的笑容。他坦承自己是“冒牌貨”，但同時表示因為奧巴馬，自己的生活發(fā)生了180度的大轉彎：過去他很不喜歡照鏡子，因為不喜歡自己的相貌；但是現(xiàn)在看著鏡中的自己卻很滿意，覺得自己是超級明星。在不斷接手新代言的同時他也表示，希望奧巴馬能夠獲得連任，這樣他的超級明星事業(yè)也能夠繼續(xù)下去。
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Jakarta photographer Ilham Anas, in full President Obama persona with reporters in tow, tours the school the real Obama attended as a boy. |
Striding purposefully, his smile lighting up a rainy afternoon, Barack Obama appears to have arrived to tour an elementary school he attended as a boy. But wait. It's not him. The US president is back in Washington, D.C., shepherding his health-care bill toward passage.
So who is this guy?
He's Ilham Anas, 34, a teen-magazine photographer who has parlayed a striking resemblance to Obama into his own brand of celebrity and wealth.
Since his sister told him in 2007 that he looked like the then-presidential candidate, Anas' face and megawatt smile have been seen on Southeast Asian TV and the Internet, pitchingover-the-counter medicine and other products.
He has also appeared on his nation's premier television-talk show and had a cameo in a movie, all while fielding offers from marketers across Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Anas is the first to admit it: He's an impostor. But he'll also tell you this: He's in incredible demand.
"I've got so much work I can't handle it all," he said. He's even penned an autobiography, "Because of Obama." The jacket review says Anas' resemblance to the president has "turned his life around 180 degrees."
It hasn't been easy.
When his sister first mentioned the resemblance, Anas said, he dismissed it. "I said: 'Nah. I don't care.' "
Then a colleague at the magazine asked him to pose as Obama wearing a power suit, in front of a U.S. flag. At first he refused.
"I told him that I'm a photographer, not an object for the camera," he said.
As soon as he relented, his career took off.
The married father of two children is rarely home these days. On a recent day, a horde of reporters followed him on a tour of the elementary school Obama once attended.
Anas sat in the classroom where the future president studied. He mugged for the cameras and spoke a few lines in English. The moment he opened his mouth, however, the differences became apparent.
"Obama is a baritone," Anas said. "I'm not. I sound like a little boy."
He is also shorter than the president. But he makes up for that by practicing Obama's mannerisms. Before public appearances, he said, he spends hours in front of the mirror posing, gesturing, flashing that smile.
Otherwise, Anas said, he hasn't altered his appearance much for the role. He wears his hair just like he did in high school in Bandung, a few hours' drive from Jakarta. But he did shape his eyebrows to look more like those of the president.
Anas said he used to view his reflection and not like what he saw. Now he no longer sees an average guy. Now he sees a superstar.
Meanwhile, offers continue to flood in.
So Anas will keep posing, smiling and cashing the checks. For now, he is keeping his own brand of hope: that Obama will win a second term in the White House.
"The longer he's in office, the longer my 15 minutes of fame will last," he said.
相關閱讀
(Agencies)
Vocabulary:
over-the-counter medicine: 非處方藥
baritone: 男中音
（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）
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