Meet Eric Finch, Los Angeles' Go-To Snoop Dogg Lookalike

Eric Finch, represented by Mirror Images Co., is a professional lookalike, in part due to his uncanny resemblance to rapper Snoop Dogg. Yet he’s also driven by a fierce desire to entertain, a passion that has become his life’s goal.
Finch lives in the Inland Empire of California—which he says is a more laid-back nesting ground than Snoop’s own hometown of Long Beach—with his wife and children. Unlike other Los Angeles-area lookalikes, he spends little time patrolling Hollywood Boulevard hawking photographs for tips. Most of his work comes in the form of TV gigs or parties, set up by his agent.
Finch hasn’t always been a lookalike. He grew up in Louisiana and then served some 20 years in the U.S. Navy, spending around 14 of those years at Camp Pendleton, located near San Diego. Finch comes from a long line of veterans; both his mother and father served in the United States Marine Corps.
These days, he works the third shift in a warehouse and then homeschools his children during the day while his wife is at work. He enjoys being in proximity to family-friendly attractions such as Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm, but he says that sometimes it’s difficult to be in public when mistaken for Snoop. Fans occasionally mob him, hungry for a photo.
“People would just surround us sometimes. It can be very hard and demanding,” he said. “You’re just like a celebrity, but you don’t get the pay.”
For this reason, he finds that he often hangs out with other lookalikes who never expect him to perform or put on an act. He’s pals with a Mariah Carey, a Vin Diesel, and an Ed Sheeran lookalike.
However, despite the occasional brush with the negative aspects of faux-stardom, Finch loves to perform, saying the best part of his unusual gig is meeting new people and making people happy. He once aspired to be a singer and now hopes to get his acting break, performing as himself for a change.
“I’ll take whatever comes,” Finch said. “It’s not about the fame and the fortune. It’s about something I enjoy doing. It’s breathtaking to me. There are no words that can even describe what it feels like to be an entertainer.”