# Glen Powell Capybara Face
A 2016 red carpet photo of actor Glen Powell grinning in a tuxedo took on a second life in April 2023 when Twitter users started captioning it with jokes about his face looking slightly inhuman. One quote retweet comparing him to a capybara who wished to become a person racked up hundreds of thousands of likes and locked in the image as a reaction template.
## Origin
The source photo was taken on December 10th, 2016, at the SVA Theatre in New York during the global celebration of the film Hidden Figures, and uploaded to NASA's Flickr account[1]. A cropped version later ended up on Powell's Wikipedia page[6].
The first known memetic use came on April 28th, 2023, when Twitter user @MissGioBaby1 posted the image with the caption "Me next in line at the dispensary trying to act normal:" and gained roughly 18,800 likes within a month[3]. The capybara comparison that gave the meme its name arrived the next day.
- **Platform:** NASA/Flickr (source photo) / Twitter (viral spread)
- **Creator:** Unknown
- **Date:** 2023
## Overview
Glen Powell Capybara Face, also called Glen Powell Smile, is a reaction image showing the actor in a tuxedo at a 2016 Hidden Figures event, flashing a wide, slightly stiff grin straight into the camera[1]. In early 2023, Twitter users started pairing the headshot with captions that compared his expression to something not quite human, with the capybara comparison being the sticky one[2].
Typical posts drop the photo under a one-liner about trying to pass as normal in an awkward situation, like waiting at a dispensary or holding eye contact too long[3]. The humor hinges on the oddly fixed quality of Powell's smile, which readers started reading as a creature doing its best impression of a person. Captions tend toward absurd physical comparisons, from a parking meter to a woodland animal mid-wish, rather than jokes about Powell himself[4].
The photo circulated widely as a standalone reaction, with no edits or face swaps needed, which made it easy to screenshot and repost across platforms[5].
## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is Glen Powell Capybara Face?
It is a reaction image of actor Glen Powell smiling in a tuxedo at a 2016 red carpet, used on Twitter from April 2023 for jokes about looking slightly inhuman[2].
### Where did Glen Powell Capybara Face come from?
The photo was taken on December 10th, 2016 at the Hidden Figures celebration in New York and uploaded to NASA's Flickr account[1], then went viral as a meme after @MissGioBaby1's April 28th, 2023 tweet[3].
### What does Glen Powell Capybara Face mean?
The joke frames Powell's fixed grin as a non-human creature trying to pass as a person, locked in by @koalarolls' tweet calling him "a capybara who made a wish to become human"[2].
### How do you use Glen Powell Capybara Face?
People commonly post the photo under a caption about forcing composure in an awkward moment, like @zuza_real's line about training the expression regardless of mental state[8].
### Is Glen Powell Capybara Face still popular?
The main viral window was spring 2023, when the capybara quote tweet hit around 267,000 likes[2] and later tweets kept the image in circulation through June[8].
## References
1. [https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/30753710173/]()
2. [https://twitter.com/koalarolls/status/1652360706942025731]()
3. [https://twitter.com/MissGioBaby1/status/1652076181855014912]()
4. [https://twitter.com/andrewlowe/status/1652141003426627584]()
5. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/glen-powell-capybara-face]()
6. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glen_Powell]()
7. [https://ifunny.co/picture/he-looks-like-a-capybara-who-made-a-wish-to-a5ywHhGTA]()
8. [https://twitter.com/zuza_real/status/1666058394791190529]()
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Source: https://meme.com/memes/glen-powell-capybara-face
Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library