Woman saw an actress who looked just like her. She then discovered a family secret she was never told

In late 2012, Anaïs Bordier was studying fashion design in London when a friend sent her a screenshot from a YouTube video featuring an American actress who had an uncanny resemblance to her. Bordier, who had been adopted from South Korea as a baby and raised in Paris, had never imagined she might have a twin. Her adoption papers clearly stated she was a single birth, so while the screenshot was unsettling, she decided not to pursue it.

Her friends, however, couldn’t let it go. They searched for the actress in the video and found her name: Samantha Futerman. When Bordier looked her up, she discovered they shared that Futerman had also been adopted from South Korea, and her birthdate was November 19, 1987, the exact same as Bordier’s. Still unsure of what to make of it, Bordier sent Futerman a message on Facebook. "Hey," she wrote, "my name is Anaïs. I am French and live in London." She explained that a friend had stumbled upon a video of Futerman and thought they looked "really similar... like... VERY REALLY SIMILAR."

She added, "I stalked you a bit and found out you were born on the 19th of November 1987...and discovered you were adopted too. So... I don’t want to be too Lindsay Lohan, well... but... how to put it... I was wondering where you were born?" At the time, Futerman was working as both an actress and waitress in Los Angeles and was preparing for the premiere of her new film, "21 & Over." At first glance, she thought the photo attached to the Facebook message was an old headshot of her own. "It was all too crazy not to be true," she later told Bostonia. Although Futerman was intrigued, her parents were cautious, concerned it could be an elaborate hoax. But curiosity prevailed, and a few days later, she replied and set up a Skype call with Bordier, a conversation that lasted three hours.

They soon discovered they had so much in common, including identical childhood haircuts at the same ages, hated cooked vegetables, feared being touched by shower curtains, and both needed long naps when stressed. But there were also some differences, too. A study by twin researcher Nancy Segal found that while their personalities were similar, Bordier was slightly more introverted and reported lower self-esteem, which Segal attributed to her experience growing up in a neighborhood with few Asians. When they finally met in person in London, they simply stared at each other, overwhelmed. A DNA test confirmed that they were, in fact, identical twins. Bordier had grown up as an only child in France, while Futerman was raised in New Jersey with two older brothers.

Both sets of adoptive parents were angry that the agency had told them the girls were single births and said they would have gladly raised twins together had they known. From that moment on, their connection only deepened. "It's like having a sister I can't ever imagine my life without," Futerman told People. The pair went on to make a documentary, Twinsters, using footage Futerman had started filming from the first call. They also published a book together titled Separated @ Birth: A True Love Story of Twin Sisters Reunited, and took their story back to South Korea, where they met their former foster mothers. Their birth mother, however, denied having twins and declined contact, something both women accepted, even if it left unanswered questions.