Steve Sires

You have found the best Bill Gates lookalike, the one used by Microsoft as a stand in for the real Bill Gates. The one and same Bogus Bill who has been around the world working for many satisfied clients and has appeared on the cover of a Canadian national magazine and graced several US national publications in addition to TV, Radio and newspaper appearances.

It’s not easy being the world’s richest man. Just ask Steve Sires, who isn’t, but looks enough like Bill Gates to fool folks by the roomful.

With his wire-rimmed spectacles, toussled hair and boyish expression, Sires draws stares in restaurants and gets requests from strangers for tips on Microsoft stock. Some cut the formalities and come right out with it: “How about a million?”

But Sires, 40, of Bothell, so far is taking his celebrity in stride.

“It hasn’t gotten to the point of being irritating yet,” he said.

Sires’ wife, Pam, pointed out his uncanny resemblance to Gates 10 years ago. As Gates became better known, she encouraged her husband to turn it to his advantage. She called Lynnwood-based Entco International, a company that helps corporations plan meetings and other events and was seeking a Gates look-alike.

Sires began working with Entco in February and has made a few appearances at business parties and ribbon-cutting ceremonies. But he’s one of the agency’s star attractions, along with a George Burns look-alike and a Paul Allen clone, with whom Sires made a recent appearance at a grand opening event.

“You’d swear to God,” said Entco president Terry Quick. “Everyone was convinced it was (Bill).”

And the pay, while small by Gatesian standards, isn’t bad: $800 to $2,000 per appearance.

John Pinette, a Microsoft spokesman, said the company had no comment on Sires.

Sires is low-key about the resemblance to Gates.

“There are a lot of similarities, but we’re not the same,” he said. At 5 feet 8 inches tall, Sires said he’s shorter than the 43-year-old billionaire, who’s about 5-10. “And my face is chunkier.”

There’s also the difference between their bank balances, a point Sires said he’s often ribbed about. And although he uses computers in his civil engineering design job at Reid Middleton, Sires said he doesn’t write code.

But most people don’t notice such distinctions. Or they act as if they don’t, and Sires plays along.

Pam Sires recalled a boat trip the couple made while on vacation in Mexico this spring. A Cuban tourist approached her husband after staring at him for some time, then politely asked, “Are you Sir William Gates?” Even when he learned it was not the real Gates, the tourist insisted on having his picture taken with him.

“It’s all the time,” Mrs. Sires said. “Doesn’t matter if he’s wearing his scrubbies or he’s all dressed up.”

Sires said he’s still amazed by people’s reaction. At a suburban ribbon-cutting last week, he was accosted by a representative of a California artist vying for a contract to produce works of art for Microsoft’s headquarters.

But like the real Bill Gates and his antitrust woes, Sires may soon be facing stiff competition: Entco has a Lenardo DiCaprio look-alike in the wings.

“I’m not quitting my day job yet,” said Sires.