The Stunning Transformation Of Shailene Woodley

Born on Nov. 15, 1991, Shailene Woodley has been in the spotlight for nearly as long as she's been on this earth. The star grew up in the public eye, scoring bit parts on primetime shows when she was just a kid. However, as much as she enjoyed the craft, fame was never something the young star wanted for herself. "When I was seven, I said, 'The day I'm on the cover of a magazine I'm going to quit,' because I never wanted this industry to get in the way of my life," Woodley revealed in a 2018 interview with Net-A-Porter. Luckily, Woodley's acting career is still going strong — despite her having graced the cover of many a magazine. 

A major player in HBO's massive hit series Big Little Lies, Woodley has proven her ability to take on pretty much any role thrown her way. As seen in her portrayals of a cancer-stricken teen, dystopian hero, and starving shipwreck survivor, to name a few, this gal certainly has some impressive acting chops. Even more impressive, perhaps, is Woodley's fearless attitude toward channeling her characters, both emotionally and physically. Here's a look at Shailene Woodley's stunning transformation.

As Shailene Woodley revealed to C Magazine, she started auditioning for roles in television series and commercials at the tender age of 5 years old. However, while some children are thrust into the spotlight at a young age by their parents, Woodley's early start in the entertainment industry was entirely her decision. "It was always me, something I wanted to do," Woodley told the publication. "My mom would drive me to auditions."

According to an interview with Elle, Woodley was discovered at a cattle-call casting for a Supercuts commercial, for which her cousin was auditioning. While waiting, a woman approached Woodley's mother, Lori, and suggested that the youngster sign up for acting classes. While Woodley's mom was hesitant, Woodley herself was thrilled at the idea.

"My mom said, 'If I do this for you, you've got to commit to it,'" Woodley revealed to Elle. "For her it was like an exercise in being responsible. I'd been in gymnastics for, like, three months, soccer for four months.... I was like, 'I'll commit!' I ended up loving it."

While she was still in high school, Shailene Woodley landed the starring role on The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Premiering in 2008, the ABC Family series followed Amy, a 15-year-old girl who discovers she's pregnant after having sex with a boy at band camp. Woodley had to wear a "stuffed belly" while filming, revealing in a press conference call, "People come around and poke your belly, or whatever, just because it's weird to see a tall, skinny, gangly, 16-year-old wearing a pregnancy belly."

The show was a hit, both for the network and for Woodley's career — but, as the star revealed in a 2013 interview with Flaunt, she wasn't exactly comfortable with the ideals The Secret Life of the American Teenager was delivering to its young fanbase. "The things that we were preaching on that show weren't really aligned with my own integrity," Woodley revealed. "So that was a bit hard to show up to work every day knowing that we were going to project all of these themes ... when in fact they weren't what I would like to be sending out."

In November 2011, Shailene Woodley made her feature film debut in Alexander Payne's tragicomedy The Descendants. While she'd seen and loved Payne's critically acclaimed movie Sideways, the star admitted to IndieWire that she didn't know how big of a deal it was to even get the opportunity to audition for the director. "He's just a magical human being," Woodley told the publication. 

Payne wasn't the only prolific artist with whom Woodley worked on The Descendants, as actor George Clooney played the role of her father. And while working alongside arguably one of the greatest actors of our generation would be an understandably intimidating experience for most, Woodley had no issue rising to the occasion. Writer and movie critic Mark Rabinowitz wrote that Woodley's portrayal of a troubled daughter was "the most authentic and moving adolescent female performance in years."

"[Woodley's] got the "f*** you!" attitude familiar to parents of a teenager and the burgeoning parental and caring instincts of an adult," Rabinowitz continued, praising Woodley's performance. "Her rapport with Clooney is one of the things that makes this film go."

After proving her acting chops with her performance in The Descendants, Shailene Woodley went on to book a leading role in the 2013 coming-of-age drama The Spectacular Now. Based on the 2008 novel of the same name, Woodley's character, Aimee, was written as a quiet "nerdy" high school girl. However, Woodley had different plans for Aimee. The star revealed to Vanity Fair that she told director James Ponsoldt, "If you want this girl to be written the way she is now, I'm not the choice. Because I don't see her as a nerd. I see her as a really strong, independent, beautiful young woman who is wise beyond her years." Fortunately, Ponsoldt agreed.

Woodley also opted to wear as little makeup as possible — something virtually unheard of in Hollywood. "For me, it was kind of like, if I have to wear makeup I don't want to do it," Woodley revealed to Vanity Fair. "I didn't see Aimee as a girl who valued vanity. ... There was no hairspray. No gel. No foundation. It kind of took out the materialistic side of this industry that has infiltrated it." 

Divergent wasn't the only young adult flick in which Shailene Woodley starred in 2014. The actress also appeared alongside Ansel Elgort in The Fault in Our Stars, a film based on the 2012 novel of the same name by author John Green. In the film, Woodley played the part of Hazel Grace Lancaster, a teenager with terminal thyroid cancer who meets and falls in love with Augustus "Gus" Waters, a bone cancer survivor. Spoiler alert: Gus' cancer eventually returns, and Hazel is left heartbroken after his death. The Fault in Our Stars is a tearjerker for sure, but, according to Woodley, getting to bring Hazel to life was one of the best moments of her career. 

"It definitely was one of the biggest honors of my life to be part of this film — and I don't say that lightly," Woodley told The Hollywood Reporter. 

As part of her transformation into Hazel, Woodley chopped off her long, blonde-highlighted locks and dyed her new, short bob a color that was closer to her natural chestnut brown.

In 2018, Shailene Woodley starred in the romantic-drama film Adrift, which was based on the true story of a couple stranded in the middle of the Pacific Ocean following a devastating hurricane. Woodley had to make quite the physical transformation for the film, including dying her brown locks a much lighter shade of golden-blonde to match the hair color of survivor Tami Oldham, whom Woodley portrayed. 

Considering Oldham was stranded at sea for 41 days with only sardines and Spam to eat, Woodley had to lose weight to accurately represent the physical toll Oldham's body endured. According to an interview with The Sunday Times, Woodley essentially starved herself to take on the appearance of the shipwreck survivor — skipping dinner every night, supplementing meals with alcohol, and hating every minute.

"I can't sleep when I'm hungry, so I would have a glass of wine to basically pass the f*** out," Woodley revealed to The Times. "For the last two weeks I had a can of salmon, some steamed broccoli and two egg yolks every day — 350 calories. It was f***ing miserable."

Shailene Woodley has been working since she could walk, so it's unsurprising there were some tough moments along the way. In a lengthy, career-spanning 2020 interview with The New York Times, the actress opened up about how bad things got right at the height of her career. It was so difficult, in fact, Woodley almost turned her back on performing for good. Confessing to losing her sense of self thanks to an "abusive relationship" and "the commercial success" of certain movies, Woodley described her 20s as feeling "like being in a washing machine." 

She was concerned about acting becoming more of a job than a passion, revealing, "Fear and anxiety and competition were definitely at the forefront of my mind and my ego..." Hinting at an unnamed illness that affected her both mentally and physically, Woodley admitted she turned down opportunities in case she wasn't strong enough to follow through. "I was in a place where I had no choice but to just surrender and let go of my career, and it brought out this negative voice in my mind that kept spinning for years and years afterward," the actress acknowledged.

In February 2021, stories began to circulate that Shailene Woodley was secretly engaged to rumored boyfriend Aaron Rodgers. The NFL star shouted out his "fiancée" in his acceptance speech for the 2020 AP Most Valuable Player award. A source only confirmed the two were dating earlier that same month, as Us Weekly reported at the time, following Rodgers' split from Danica Patrick. An insider subsequently confirmed the exciting news to People, advising, "They are very happy together." The source added, "It's not surprising he proposed so fast. When you know, you know, right?"

Although the happy couple evidently wanted to keep their relationship under wraps, various details still leaked out. E! News confirmed the two were cohabitating in Green Bay, Wis., where Rodgers is based for work, throughout the fall 2020 season. "They had a very intense connection from the beginning," shared an insider, who noted they knew from the outset it was love. Likewise, the source tantalizingly added, "They can't wait to get married and they want it to happen soon."