Content warning: This article describes disordered eating.
Since they're literally paid to embody different characters, actors are often subject to extreme transformations for roles. This can include prosthetics, fitness and weight changes, a ton of makeup, or all three. Taking on a physically demanding role is not for the faint of heart: at minimum, it requires a ton of time in the makeup chair and an early wakeup time. Other times, it can require months of intense training and risky mental and physical challenges.
The resulting aesthetic can be astonishing, with some of our most recognizable celebrities looking completely different in their roles. Below, 32 of the most incredible on-screen celebrity transformations.
Michael Fassbender in 'Hunger'
Michael Fassbender had to lose about 40 pounds over a 10-week period for Hunger. He started with 1000 calories a day, and then took it down to 600 calories a day when he hadn't lost enough: which equated to "a tinful of sardines, some berries, and a handful of nuts a day," as he explained to Men's Health. He said he wouldn't do that to his body again.
Ana de Armas in 'Blonde'
To become Marilyn Monroe in Blonde, Ana de Armas had to spend three hours in the makeup chair every day to get the blonde wig on; she also had her brows shaved and bleached, wore blue contacts, wore fake lashes to change the shape of her eyes, and worked with a dialect coach for almost a year to get the mannerisms exactly right.
Emma Stone in 'The Battle of the Sexes'
Emma Stone had to gain about 15 pounds of muscle to look like the tennis athlete Billie Jean King for The Battle of the Sexes, which included two protein shakes a day and workouts twice a day: up to 300-pound hip thrusts, 185 pounds deadlifts, and push-ups with 50-pound chains (goodness!).
Jennifer Lopez in 'Hustlers'
Jennifer Lopez took the assignment seriously: in order to play a professional stripper for Hustlers, she did more than two months of pole training (which really paid off, if you watch the movie) as well as a ton of hydration and lots of workouts. This is all in addition to her fake tattoo and piercing for the role.
Charlize Theron in 'Bombshell'
To transform into former Fox news anchor Megyn Kelly, Charlize Theron did rely on some prosthetics to change the shape of her jaw (made after a life cast was done of her face), which took three hours. Fake eyelashes re-shaped her eyes, colored contacts made her eyes more blue, and she wore eyelid prosthetics and nose plugs too.
Meryl Streep in 'The Iron Lady'
Turning Meryl Streep into Margaret Thatcher (over decades of her life) for The Iron Lady necessitated a very careful, authentic wardrobe. A nose piece, latex strips on the face, and painstaking attention to wigs and makeup helped make Streep look as close to Thatcher as possible.
Faye Dunaway in 'Mommie Dearest'
For her controversial role as Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest, Faye Dunaway plucked her own eyebrows out so that the prosthetics could sit above her natural brow line. She wore adhesives to make her look older and wore 12 different wigs, then overlined her lips to make them appear fuller.
Cynthia Erivo in 'Harriet'
To play such an iconic role in Harriet Tubman, Cynthia Erivo said she felt pressure to do the part justice. Specifically, she did bike rides for two hours before each morning shoot and even rode horses with a corset on to match Tubman's endurance and physical strength.
Nicole Kidman in 'The Hours'
The Academy Awards has historically loved a transformation—and such was the case for Nicole Kidman when she transformed into Virginia Woolf for The Hours. She is wearing a prosthetic nose here, but she also "de-glammed" in a way that made her virtually unrecognizable.
Angela Bassett in 'What's Love Got to Do With It'
To embody Tina Turner (who said she approved of the portrayal), Angela Bassett had an intense transformation. She woke at 5, exercised for 2.5 hours, did 10 hours of dance rehearsals, listened to Turner performances for hours, and ate a limited diet of broccoli, plain chicken, string beans, and potatoes.
Tom Hardy in 'The Dark Knight Rises'
Tom Hardy is no stranger to extreme transformations for a role—but even by those standards, he was unrecognizable as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises. Obviously the face mask and bald head helped, but he reportedly gained 30 pounds of muscle in four training sessions a day.
Jared Leto in 'Chapter 27'
Jared Leto really loves going over-the-top to achieve a drastically different appearance for roles. In this case, to play Mark David Chapman (who assassinated John Lennon), he gained almost 70 pounds by subsisting on pizza, pasta, and melted Häagen-Dazs with olive oil and soy sauce in it. He gained so much weight he started suffering from gout.
Kumail Nanjiani in 'The Eternals'
When he was cast as an ageless superhero in The Eternals, Kumail Nanjiani took his role very, very seriously. Over the course of about 14 months, he had almost no carbs at all, exercised a ton, put on pounds of muscle, and then got lean. Unfortunately, he also got ridiculed for his "transformation," but he said it helped him come to terms with his body and diet culture.
Anne Hathaway in 'Les Miserables'
One of a few stars who's literally had their hair cut off on camera for a scene, Anne Hathaway really went for it in her role as Fantine in Les Miserables. She also lost 25 pounds on a very strict diet and had to endure a scene in which a (mercifully fake) tooth was yanked out of her mouth.
Steve Carell in 'Foxcatcher'
Steve Carell looked basically unrecognizable as philanthropist-turned-murderer John du Pont: he had a nose and face prosthetic, fake teeth, changed skin texture, and partially shaved head and eyebrows, which all added up to about three hours in the makeup chair a day.
Natalie Portman in 'Black Swan'
Natalie Portman lost a whopping 20 pounds from her already slender frame to play the lead in Black Swan. She started training four months before filming and worked out five days a week for 10 months. She spent eight hours a day in rehearsals during shooting and even dislocated a rib.
Tom Hanks in 'Castaway'
What's fascinating about Tom Hanks' physical evolution for Castaway is that he spent some of his time as the "before" version of his character (gaining more than 50 pounds), all of which he then had to lose as the "after," marooned-on-a-deserted-island version. He also got a staph infection from a cut on set that almost killed him.
Demi Moore in 'G.I. Jane'
Yup, Demi Moore shaved her own head for G.I. Jane! And that was just the start: she did (modified) training with Navy SEALs, starting exercises at 5 am and continuing into midday to be truly ready for her onscreen role. There were blisters and puking and getting yelled at a lot, but Moore said she was profoundly proud of the result.
Jessica Chastain in 'The Eyes of Tammy Faye'
No big deal, Jessica Chastain required three stages of prosthetics to play different ages of her character Tammy Faye. Stage one: silicone cheeks, chin, and invisible tape to pull up her nose. Stage two: silicone cheeks, chin, neck, upper lip, and bodysuit. Stage three: silicone cheeks, chin, neck, back neck, lips, and stretch and stipple around eyes, forehead and furrow.
Chris Hemsworth for 'In the Heart of the Sea'
Chris Hemsworth had to play a first mate who was stranded at sea after a whale destroyed his boat. At a certain point, he (and his co-stars) subsisted on a boiled egg, piece of celery, and a few crackers a day—only about 500 calories. "Wouldn't recommend it," he said semi-jokingly on social media.
Robert De Niro in 'Raging Bull'
Robert De Niro called Raging Bull the toughest role he'd ever done, in part because he prepared for the role by doing 1,000 rounds of boxing and gaining 20 pounds of muscle, then reportedly gaining about 60 pounds of fat over four months to play the boxer in his later years of decline.
Matthew McConaughey in the 'Dallas Buyers Club'
To lose a whopping 50 pounds for Dallas Buyers Club, Matthew McConaughey (who's no stranger to transforming for a role) eschewed trying to lose the weight at the gym and instead ate only fish, tapioca pudding, and "as much wine as I wanted to drink."
Renee Zellweger in 'The Thing About Pam'
Renee Zellweger has spoken about how gaining weight to play the titular Bridget Jones in several movies has negatively impacted her health. So she wore a suit for The Truth About Pam, and cheek, chin, nose, neck, forearm, and ankle pieces—90 minutes just for the prosthetics alone.
Margot Robbie in 'Mary Queen of Scots'
Margot Robbie enjoys an immersive role, and Mary Queen of Scots was one of her biggest. To play the aging Queen Elizabeth, makeup artists utilized a wig, fake boils and scars (via prosthetics), white face makeup, and a ton of red lipstick and blush (they just omitted the rotting teeth).
Colin Farrell in 'The Batman'
To play the Penguin in The Batman, Colin Farrell had prosthetics over literally all his face—and the final effect was so striking that his costars didn't even recognize him. So the four hours in the makeup chair were worth it, apparently. “It was one of the most fun gigs I’ve had,” Farrell said.
Rooney Mara in 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo'
In a single day of Rooney Mara's transformation to play Lisbeth Salander, "her eyebrows were bleached, her hair chopped, and her lip, brow, nose, and n*pple pierced." Speaking to W magazine and reported by CBS, "I didn't even have pierced ears," Mara said at the time. "They put four holes in each ear, and, weirdly, that hurt the most." (Ow.)
Christian Bale in 'The Machinist'
Christian Bale is perhaps the master of body transformation, In a move that's certainly not recommended by medical professionals, Bale dropped 62 pounds for The Machinist. Each day, he would have black coffee, an apple, and a can of tuna—200 calories, if you're wondering.
Charlize Theron in 'Monster'
Probably the most notable example of an actor "de-glamming" for a role (and getting an Oscar for it), Charlize Theron gained 30 pounds to play the role of Aileen Wuornos on screen, then also wore prosthetics (including fake teeth) and colored contacts.
Doug jones in 'Pan's Labyrinth'
It is perhaps a bit of a cheat to put Doug Jones on this list, since much of his transformations on film involve a lot of prosthetics (as in, you wouldn't know it was him); but his work in film is so striking it feels essential to have him here. In Pan's Labyrinth, he had to play an 8-foot faun as well as this horrifying Pale Man—which took six hours to put on every day. This is why he's Guillermo Del Toro's go-to creature guy.
Jennifer Lawrence in the 'X-Men' Movies
After many tests to find the right shade of blue, scales would be placed all over Jennifer Lawrence's unclothed body to play Mystique in the X-Men movies. The whole thing takes seven hours, and it's actually the same tech as was used a decade ago in the original films.
Rebecca Romjin in the 'X-Men' Movies
Rebecca Romjin, our original Mystique, had nearly the same process as her successor Jennifer Lawrence—except in the original iteration, getting all those blue scales applied to her body took nine hours. Nine!! Eventually they got it down to "only" seven, but it was a lot.
Tilda Swinton in 'Suspiria'
Yes: that is Tilda Swinton! Technically, she plays three roles in the movie (although it would kind of be spoiling the film to say who), but two of them required an absolute ton of prosthetics and makeup. Four hours in the makeup chair every day, Swinton said she'd spent more time in heavy makeup on this role than any other.
