Some actors go through severe changes when preparing for a role. But to change your physical appearance dramatically, which might affect either your health or your looks, is not something just anyone will do. For a role in a movie, some actors allow themselves to suffer a lot in order to change their appearance totally or partially in a certain way. Believe it or not, some of them faced a lot of problems when changing the way they look.  However, in the end it's worth it because many of them have received Oscars for their participation in a film. Movie critics and reviewers have a consensus of what makes a film both interesting and exciting. It is the ideal mixture of the story, the direction, the production, and the actor’s matchless skills. Yet, some critics assume that the latter factor is the most important one! If viewers are not convinced by the actor's skills, producers will not hire them for the role they seek. Producers will look for the actor that will go that extra length to train hard that will get them in proper condition for the role they will play. If actors don’t do this, the film will be a mere failure. Actors need to take great care when they prepare for a role because many of them only have a certain amount of time to accomplish their goals. So, here are 15 actors who dramatically changed their appearance just for a role in a film.

Matthew McConaughey Lost Weight In The Dallas Buyers Club

Although Matthew McConaughey starred in some comedies, such as EDTV in 1999, he also has been known for playing the lead in some romantic comedies, like The Wedding Planner in 2001 and How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days in 2003. Then in 2010, he decided to quit romantic comedies. He played iconic characters, some action and detective movies, in which his performances were loved by his fans. Yet, Mathew decided to make another dramatic change. While playing the leading part in the Dallas Buyers Club, he lost more than 50 pounds in order to do well in portraying his role perfectly. At that time, he was about 40 years old. He was chosen to play the role of a patient infected with HIV. Matthew began a strict diet that helped him reach his goals, and critics praised his acting in various media outlets across the United States.

Christian Bale Gained Weight In American Hustle

More than once Christian Bale has become unrecognizable in a role he played in a movie. He was first cast in the movie The Machinist and lost 60 pounds for that role. Then his appearance changed again where he worked out and gained a muscular physique for the movie Batman Begins before going back to being extremely thin for a fighter which won him an Oscar in 2011 for Best Supporting Actor. Changing his appearance for his roles in films is nothing new to Christian Bale. Again, he gained around 43 pounds to look like a realistic 70s con artist in the movie American Hustle. To gain weight Bale says, “I ate lots of donuts, a whole lot of cheeseburgers and whatever I could get my hands on. I literally ate anything that came my way.” Bale started off at about 185 pounds and went all the way up to 228 pounds. Adding all that extra weight caused them to grow a protruding belly. It was real and not a prosthetic which he shows off in the film on more than one occasion. He also had to shave his hair to portray a bald man who uses a toupee occasionally.

Anne Hathaway Lost Weight And Cut Her Hair In The Les Miserables Movie

Anne Hathaway found herself getting a prominent role in Nicholas Nickleby in the year 2002. Then, she starred in the movie Ella Enchanted in 2004. Most critics in the field allege and argue that Hathaway was a skilled and talented actress who could portray any character that she landed in. Her fans from all over the world witnessed her grow from a beginner actress to a worldwide star. However, her career flourished even more. Although Hathaway engaged in miscellaneous roles, she never underwent any kind of physical transformation. So, to play the role in Les Miserables, she had to lose more than 25 pounds in less than two weeks. Before the film started, she lost 15 pounds! It was a difficult battle to lose the last 10 pounds but she did it in only a few days. She portrayed a starving girl. She wanted her audience to relate to the role she was going to play. When she finally reached her weight loss goal, she looked like a miserable girl who had a difficult time in the streets of France.

Robert De Niro Changed His Body Twice In The Raging Bull

In 1974, Robert De Niro had a key part in The Godfather Part II. He played the role of young Vito Corleone. His distinctive acting helped him earn his first Academy Award as the Best Supporting Actor. After long years of hard work and fame, he starred in the film Manuale D'amore in the year 2011. However, in order to play the role of the famous boxer Jake LaMotta in the film the Raging Bull, he decided to portray the character perfectly in order to put on a good performance for his fans. He worked out to build muscles and to obtain a realistic look of a boxer during his glory days. In order to look like a real boxer, he actually fought in some boxing games that made him look more like a professional. In the same movie, he had to portray LaMotta in his later years. Therefore, he had a very strict diet, and lost 60 pounds. Losing 60 pounds caused him to suffer from rashes and he suffered problems with his breathing.

Rooney Mara Had Critical Facial Changes In The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

To get into character to play the role of Lisbeth Salander in the movie The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Rooney had to go through a brutal physical transformation. Makeup artist Pat McGrath, costume designer Trish Summerville and hair stylist Danil had the actress shave parts of her hair and the rest of her hair was dyed black. The eyebrows were bleach so they didn’t look like they were there and she had several piercings in her ears and nose. Mara was discovered by David Fincer, the film’s director, right after she made the film The Social Network. At first Mara wasn't sure if the role in the movie The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was for her. After much deliberation she decided to take on this role. Mara’s physical transformation happened over a course of two weeks while she was located in New York. Vogue magazine asked her, “Were you traumatized?” She responded, “The eyebrows were the biggest shock because that really changed my face, and I didn’t recognize myself. However, I was fine with the way I looked because I knew it was going to help me get ready to get into character.”

Jared Leto Gained About 70 Pounds For The Movie Chapter 27

To film the movie, Chapter 27, and to play the role of Mark Chapman, Jared Leto gained 67 pounds! In order to gain such an unbelievable amount of weight, he resorted to a very harsh diet. He started to eat unhealthy foods and snacks, like ice cream combined with soy sauce, with all kinds of oil. Leto ate almost everything that was considered fattening, but his weight gain put his health in jeopardy and it caused him many serious health problems. He came down with gout, which caused him a lot of pain in his feet and limbs. His cholesterol went up extremely high in a short time to the extent that his doctors wanted to prescribe Lipitor so that it would level out his condition. Eventually, Jared had to result to using a wheelchair. Leto stated to the mass media, "I could not stand for long periods of time. I had to use a wheelchair because of the pain in my legs and feet. My body was in shock from the amount of weight I gained."

Chris Pratt Dropped 60 pounds In Six Months In The Guardians Of The Galaxy

When an actor prepares for a specific role that requires critical changes, the audience gets excited to see what kind of action the character will be seen in. Although some actors have to resort to gaining weight (sometimes getting way too heavy), others tend to lose weight (which is also sometimes too much). Chris Pratt was one of those actors who surprised his fans with the amount of weight that he lost. He starred in several movies including Jurassic World, Passenger, The Magnificent Seven and others. He was cast for the movie the Guardians of the Galaxy and played the role of Peter Quill, an adventurer who takes a team of social misfits to stop a fanatical warrior from taking control over the universe. To play such a part, Pratt had to lose more than 60 pounds in less than six months. He went on a strict diet in addition to a harsh workout regimen. In order to get fit and to stay healthy, he participated in bodybuilding sessions with the professional coach.

Charlize Theron Gained 30 Pounds In The Movie Monster

Charlize Theron was born in Benoni, a city in the Johannesburg region, in South Africa. In such an environment, there was not much for a young talented dancer to do. Therefore, she moved to the United States where she worked as a photo model and dancer in New York. However, her knee was badly injured, which put an end to her dancing career. After this, she started her acting career, taking her first role as a young mother in a B-film in 1995. In her artistic career, she became a star. Theron is tall, slender and beautiful. Yet, in Monster, she gained 30 pounds, put too much makeup on, wore prosthetic teeth, and ended up changing her whole physical appearance. Theron did other things to prepare for her part. Her physical posture and the way she walked had to be changed. Patty Jenkins told the press that Theron became fat and ugly. A year later, playing Aileen landed her an Oscar.

Matt Damon Lost 40 Pounds In The Courage Under Fire

It is well-known that Matt Damon has changed his physique several times while appearing in various film roles. However, before playing the role of a soldier who turned into a heroin addict in the Courage Under Fire, he was required to lose a lot of weight. He actually dropped 40 pounds. He revealed that he successfully lost the weight without resorting to doctor's advice. He admitted this saying, "It's not like I had a chef or anything, I just made it up and did what I thought I had to do." All he did was to put himself on a very restrictive diet and he worked out vigorously in order to lose weight quickly. He stated, "I had to run about 13 miles a day, which wasn't even the hard part." He said this about his strict diet, "The hard part was the diet. All I ate was chicken breasts."

Hilary Swank Cut Her Hair Short And Flattened Her Chest In The Movie Boys Don't Cry

Hilary Swank was born in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1974. She is an actress and producer. Her first debut was in just a trivial role, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Yet, in 1994 she made a distinguishing appearance in The Karate Kid. Swank has won two awards for Best Actress. She starred in several films such as The Gift (2000), The Core (2003), Red Dust (2004), The Reaping (2007), The Homesman (2014), and many other movies. In the late 1990s, Hilary Swank was cast to play the role of Brandon, a person whose identity did not correspond to their biological gender assigned at birth in the film Boys Don't Cry. To perform such a difficult role, she cut most of her hair off and strapped down her chest. Some of the other things she had to learn was how to walk and talk like a boy. To get this part down right she spent time around men observing how they behaved in society.

Demi Moore Shaved Her Head And Gained Muscle In The Movie GI Jane

Demi Guynes, born in 1962, changed her name to Demi Moore. She was a well-known model in her teens. At the age of 16, she entered the realm of acting. She was seen in many films, but the one that turned her into a Hollywood star was About Last Night in 1986. In 1997, Ridley Scott cast Moore to play the role of Lieutenant Jordan O'Neill in the movie GI Jane, a female Navy Seal who was supposed to go through special Navy training. To prepare to act for the role, Moore participated in extreme military training. She admitted that during the training, she faced everything that was extremely difficult from taking boring lessons to doing harsh exercises. About that period of her career, she stated, "I could have come in and asked the stunt woman to do the obstacle course, but I did it myself." Moore decided to cut off all her hair and buff up just to play the role.

Ben Kingsley Lost 20 Pounds And Shaved His Head In The Movie Gandhi 12

Ben Kingsley was born in 1943. He is an English actor who won several awards during his career span of around 50 years. In 1982, He became a well-known world star when he was cast for playing the role of Mohandas Gandhi in the film Gandhi. Because he took the time to act in this role perfectly and convincingly, he won an award for Best Actor. To prepare for the film Gandhi, Richard Attenborough, the prospective director, spent years searching for an actor to play Gandhi. Then the director met Ben Kingsley. Thus, he offered him the role. It was an astonishing chance for Attenborough because he knew that Kingsley's father was of Indian descent. For this reason, he knew that Kingsley would be perfect for the role. Kingsley underwent hard preparation and read through Gandhi's and other Indian and British historic character's biographies. He also shaved his head and lost 20 pounds. Kingsley did more and familiarized himself with Gandhi's vegetation diet.

Natalie Portman Lost 20 Pounds In The Black Swan 13

Natalie Portman was born in 1981. She is a well-known ballerina, actress, director, and even film producer. She played a famous, fragile ballerina that charmed audiences in the Black Swan. With months of vigorous, exhausting exercise, she was able to get her body into a ballerina like appearance. Although Natalie has an amazingly petite body, she felt she had to drop 20 pounds in order to play the part of the ballerina Nina Sayers! She practiced ballet for almost 15 to 16 hours a day, in addition to some other exercises. To lose weight quickly, she barely ate any food and went on a diet that ballerinas usually follow. When asked about her restrictive regimen she was undergoing, she stated that after reading about the role she was cast for, she knew that it was going to be an uphill battle to get into shape to play this role.

Matthew Fox Lost 40 Pounds For A Role In Alex Cross 14

Matthew Fox was born in 1966 in Abington, Pennsylvania. He is a famous American actor who is known for his distinctive role as Jack Shephard on the series Lost. For that role he won his first Golden Globe Award. He also acted in ten distinguished movies among which were the Vantage Point in 2008, the Emperor in 2012, and others. Nevertheless, his exceptional transformation for his role in the film Alex Cross led to wide praise among audiences and critics. He accepted to play the role of Picasso, the lead antagonist who is an alarming serial killer. In order to look realistic for the role, he only had to lose 15 pounds. Instead, he underwent a very tough training regimen to the extent that he lost about 40 pounds, which made him incredibly thin. However, he did not appear as a weak person. He built muscles due to his intense workout sessions.

Ralph Fiennes Shaved His Head And Underwent Intense Make-up Sessions For Harry Potter 15

Ralph Fiennes was born in 1962 in Suffolk, England. In the beginning, he gained success onstage in the theater. He worked on screen in 1990, then made his film debut in 1992. In 1993, he was cast in a major role in The Baby of Mâcon, but the film was very poorly received by both critics and audiences. However, later the same year, he gained international fame when he portrayed the concentration camp commander in Schindler's List which came out in 1993. After being in several box office hits, the producer of the Harry Potter series asked him to play the role of the evil Lord Voldemort. In order to play the part of Harry Potter's opponent, he had to shave his head almost every day and had fake fingernails super glued to his fingers. He also had to undergo long sessions of makeup applications that took many long hours to apply. Fiennes said that his appearance was convincing. He stated, "I felt very good about how I looked as Lord Voldemort."

Sources: People, OKMagazine, US Weekly