Celebrities Who Look Totally Unrecognizable With Their Natural Hair Color

From Gwen Stefani's platinum blonde locks to Lucille Ball's fiery updo, there are a number of stars who you might have a hard time picturing without their signature hair color. So much so, that some celebrities were completely unrecognizable after dyeing their hair a different hue, like when "Vanderpump Rules" alum Ariana Madix ditched her light tresses for a dark brown wig on "Love Island" or when "Stranger Things" actor Millie Bobby Brown went bright blonde in 2025.

While you may associate a certain star with a certain hair color, you might be surprised to find out that said hair color isn't their natural shade. However, some A-listers have moved away from the hair colors they were born with only to watch their careers flourish. Whether they've grown accustomed to wearing wigs like Nicole Kidman, have dyed their tresses for a role, or made a major change simply for the heck of it, you may not believe what these celebrities look like with their natural hair color.

Amy Adams is known for rocking deep red locks, but her natural color is actually strawberry blonde. She darkened her hair for the first time for her role in 2004's "Dr. Vegas." The following year, she booked her breakout role in the movie "Junebug," and it doesn't seem to have been a coincidence.

While speaking at a TimesTalk event hosted by The New York Times in November 2016 (via People), Adams revealed how changing her hair color influenced her career. "Based on roles that I was getting called in for, people were responding to certain types of characters with me as a blonde," she said. "And the minute I went red, it was quirky and fun instead of flirtatious and dumb." Amy Adams' stunning transformation taught the actor how she could change others' perceptions of her, which she said became "a very powerful tool" early on in her career.

Not only did Jennifer Aniston go from brunette to dirty blonde before "Friends" aired, but she's one of many celebrities who completely transformed their look with a haircut, as she became known for "The Rachel." The cut didn't last long, but the actor's blonde locks remained for many years, until she returned to her natural brown for her role in 2014's "Cake."

"I'll eventually go back to blonde but it's been fun to do something different for a while," Aniston remarked while speaking with ABC News in May 2014. "My hair is actually naturally dark." She noted that the maintenance that comes with complicated looks is a pet peeve, saying, "I hate sitting in the chair for hours getting my hair styled, restyled, and touched up." However, it seems Aniston is willing to make that sacrifice for her blonde streaks.

We've seen Shakira experiment with her hair a number of times over the years, from beachy waves to bright red locks and a choppy bob. The "Hips Don't Lie" singer is probably best known for her gorgeous blonde curls, but her hair is naturally jet black. "I just wanted to see my hair a different way," Shakira told Cosmopolitan in October 2021, referring to her decision to go blonde.

However, there was a downside that came with lightening her look. "I sometimes miss my super-shiny black, dark hair. It never got to be the same because once you put bleach on your hair, it just never shines the same way," Shakira explained to the outlet. There's been many hair transformations that celebrities regret to this day, but she has continued to maintain her signature blonde look.

Since her breakout role on "Victorious," there have been countless times that Ariana Grande was unrecognizable after pulling off a stunning transformation. The "Love Me Harder" singer became known for her fire engine-red hair, but she's had several other hair colors, too, from caramel brown to platinum blonde, often in a ponytail.

It's been a minute since Grande's natural dark brown curls were on display, but as she explained in a Facebook post from January 2014, it's likely because of the damage her hair took during her "Victorious" days. "I had to bleach my hair and dye it red every other week for the first 4 years of playing Cat... as one would assume, that completely destroyed my hair," she wrote. The pop superstar shared that she began wearing extensions in a ponytail because she couldn't do much else with her natural hair.

Mandy Moore was first introduced to the world as a teen pop star back in 1999, with her breakout hit "Candy." When she dropped her first two albums and starred as Lana in "The Princess Diaries," her hair was blonde as can be. But once Moore became a leading lady with "A Walk to Remember," alongside Shane West, everything changed for her — including her hair color.

In looking back at the role with Entertainment Weekly in January 2017, she said that becoming a brunette shook up the world's perception of her. "It was transformative because it came at a time in my life when I was only seen from the pop music landscape and through that lens," Moore remarked. It was also crucial for the role, as she added, "It was the last little piece of the puzzle ... in terms of getting into the character."

Reese Witherspoon's golden tresses have been a signature part of her look since she broke onto the scene in the '90s. That said, the "Legally Blonde" actor has dabbled with brunette styles over the years too. Witherspoon went for a dark look for 2005's "Walk the Line" and returned to brown hair again to film "The Good Lie" in 2013. Funny enough, dark brown is closer to her actual hair color than you might realize: the Oscar winner's locks are naturally a light brown hue.

Witherspoon shared a throwback picture with her followers on X back in November 2019, which showed off what her hair looked like before she went blonde. "Wait... is this my real hair color?!?" she wrote in the caption. One fan compared her look to Alexis Bledel in the comments while others said Witherspoon looked like the spitting image of her daughter, Ava Phillippe.

The evolution of Beyoncé's hair has included a number of styles, like waves, braids, and curls, but her pop of blonde highlights have been pretty consistent. The "Crazy in Love" singer is a natural brunette, but she's kept blonde tones in her hair for the majority of her career, which inspired her haircare brand Cécred.

In April 2024, in celebration of the launch of her brand, Beyoncé shared an Instagram post showcasing all the work that goes into achieving her gorgeous hairstyles. "Maintaining 25 years of blonde on natural hair through all the experimenting I do has played a huge part in developing [Cécred]'s products," she wrote. Speaking from personal experience, Beyoncé added, "It's the hardest to keep color-treated hair healthy and strong." The singer hopes that her haircare products will help customers manage their own bleached locks too.

When you think of classic redheads, Jessica Chastain or Julianne Moore might come to mind. And if you grew up with "American Pie," Alyson Hannigan is almost certainly on your list. Though she has been sporting ginger locks for decades, it isn't her natural hair color.

As Hannigan explained to PopSugar in December 2011, she dyed her natural brown tresses red for the first time in the '90s, per the suggestion of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" showrunner Joss Whedon. "Charisma [Carpenter] and Sarah [Michelle Gellar] and I all had brown hair at the time," she explained. "Joss said, 'All of your hair is kind of the same shade. Does anyone want to be red?' I went for it." Little did Hannigan know, it was a spontaneous decision that would influence the rest of her career.

It's hard to picture her as anything but a blonde bombshell, but when she was known as Norma Jeane Mortenson, silver screen icon Marilyn Monroe was a brunette. She'd been successful as a model, but was advised that if she wanted to make it in the industry, she would have to lighten her hair. In 1946, the actor bleached her locks to her trademark blonde, signed a contract with 20th Century Fox, and rebranded herself as Marilyn Monroe.

But with this image came the misconception that she, along with other blonde women, were somehow less intelligent. Monroe addressed this during an interview in 1955, saying, "It's interesting that people associate, if you happen to have blonde hair ... you're considered dumb. I don't know why that is, I think it's a very limited view."

The many changing looks of Lady Gaga have been a topic of discussion for years. While she is known for sporting bold platinum blonde wigs, wild outfits made of unconventional materials such as meat and hair, and incredibly high heels, the "Just Dance" singer occasionally does like to offer a more understated look. 

Back in September 2013, while on stage at the iTunes Festival, the "Applause" singer took off her massive wig and revealed her natural brown hair to the audience. Per Cosmopolitan, Lady Gaga remarked, "I knew I had to show you what's underneath all of the theater." She continued, "Here I am the human underneath the wigs. This is my real hair." It was a rare sight to behold.

Even though Leighton Meester has been involved in over 20 projects since "Gossip Girl" ended in 2012, it's nearly impossible to separate the actor from her character, Blair Waldorf. The beloved role seemed to be made for the star, aside from one issue: her hair color didn't match what the showrunners had in mind.

During an August 2017 interview with Vanity Fair, "Gossip Girl" creator Josh Schwartz reminisced about Meester's audition. "She came in and she was really funny, and really smart and played vulnerable," he said. "But there was one problem: she was blonde." Schwartz explained that it was essential for Blake Lively's character Serena to have golden locks, so it was up to Meester to make a difficult decision. "[She] went to the sink and dyed her hair," he said. "She wanted it." From there, Meester's career totally took off.

Although Sofia Vergara had some early showbiz success as a blonde, working as a model and host in her native Colombia, finding other roles after moving to the United States was somewhat difficult for her. "The way that I looked was not the way that Hollywood really saw Latina women," Vergara told People in January 2024. "They were expecting a more dark-haired woman. ... They were a little confused, like, 'This woman sounds like a Latin woman but she's blonde.'"

After Vergara made the transformation, she was met with a life-changing role on "Modern Family." Today, she says that conforming to what Hollywood expected of her ending up working out, and she was able to start lightening her hair again over time. "At the end of the day, it was hair," the actor remarked. "It was not like I was cutting my fingers off."

Despite introducing her lovable yet accident-prone character Lucy Ricardo to the world in black and white on "I Love Lucy," Lucille Ball's curly red hair was renowned. The legendary actor had been working in front of the camera since the '30s as both a brunette, her natural color, and a blonde. But it wasn't until hairstylist Sydney Guilaroff transformed Ball into a redhead that the star found her signature look.

During a June 2001 interview with the Television Academy Foundation, her on-set hairstylist Irma Kusely revealed how she achieved Ball's bright hue. "[Her hair color is] not red at all. It's a golden-apricot color," the stylist said. "[I used] regular hair dye when I did her own hair, and then used ... a henna rinse, which she was famous for." Kusely added that Ball kept an entire safe of henna in the stylist's garage.

There's no denying that Jennifer Lopez's honey blonde locks are gorgeous, and they've been part of the singer's look for so long that it's easy to forget she's a natural brunette. Long before the "If You Had My Love" singer became a household name, she rocked natural dark curls. She's been dyeing her hair since her early 20s. As Lopez told People in 2011, "I was prematurely gray at 23. I have to have [my roots] touched up every couple of weeks."

Achieving the star's chic blonde hair takes even more upkeep, which her colorist Tracey Cunningham confirmed to Refinery29 in March 2020. "I touch up her color as needed, which is usually more frequently when she's filming," she said, adding that the entire process takes roughly two hours. "It does require a lot of maintenance," Cunningham remarked.

Emilia Clarke has bounced back and forth between light and dark tresses over the years. However, spending eight seasons on "Game of Thrones" as the icy-haired Daenerys Targaryen has undoubtedly cemented her image as a natural blonde in viewers' minds. Clarke wore a wig throughout most of the show, but had to bleach her hair platinum for the final season — and it did not go well.

"It completely ruined my hair," she told Harper's Bazaar in May 2023, as she encouraged readers to opt for a wig instead if they want to transform their locks. Clarke added, "My hair felt like straw and was falling out. Then I cut it all off." She's since embraced her brown hair again, with just a light scattering of highlights, and noted that it's thankfully much healthier now than it was beforehand.

Gwen Stefani's blonde hair is quintessential to her look. While she's experimented over the years with fun colors like blue and pink, the "Hollaback Girl" singer has consistently returned to her bright blonde waves. As Stefani quipped to Entertainment Tonight in 2015, "Nothing here is me. Everything is fake."

Of course, her level of blonde would be hard to achieve without at least a little upkeep, but few would know that the singer has been maintaining the color for decades — longer than she's been in the spotlight. When asked what her natural hair color actually was, Stefani responded, "Who knows? I haven't seen it since ninth grade." In a throwback Instagram post she shared in July 2023, pictures of the singer seem to prove she's a brunette.

From "Easy A" to "Crazy, Stupid, Love" and "La La Land," two-time Oscar winner Emma Stone has shined on the silver screen with her fiery red mane. While she was initially introduced as a redhead in "Superbad," her breakout role, the actor is actually blonde. She's sported her natural hair color in films like "The Amazing Spider-Man" and "Birdman."

In an excerpt from author Andrew Buss' 2025 book "I AM MCLOVIN" (via People), Judd Apatow revealed how Stone wound up with her iconic red hair. Both love interests in the movie, Martha MacIsaac and Stone, were brunettes at the time, so the director suggested one of them dye their hair red. "Since then, she has cursed me because now people love her with red hair and she's had to live with that for a lot of her adult life," Apatow remarked, somewhat apologetically.

We all came to know Ariel Winter as the overachieving Alex Dunphy on "Modern Family." She spent 11 seasons playing the brunette character from the time she was just 11 years old, so it's understandable why many would assume it was her natural hair color. "People never guess, but my natural hair color is dirty blonde," Winter told People in July 2019, adding that her dark eyebrows had made it easier for her to pull off deep brown locks on the sitcom.

Since "Modern Family" ended, the actor has gotten to experiment a lot more with her hair, having fun with colors like blonde, blue, and red. Winter added, "I've dyed it so many times in the past so really the most important thing for me with my hair now is trying to keep my hair healthy."

Since she came onto the scene in the early '80s, Nicole Kidman has had an incredible hair transformation. Her natural hair was curly and red, not unlike Bernadette Peters' look, but as time went on, she favored straighter, blonder locks. While Kidman seems content with her hair color (she's gone back to reddish hues in the past and could again with ease), she does have one regret about her hair, which she shared with Allure while breaking down her past looks in May 2025.

"Why did I straighten my hair? I loved my hair there," she said, looking at an image of her bright-red curls in "Days of Thunder." Kidman went on to insist that others should avoid overusing the straightening iron like she had, adding, "Little girls out there, embrace the curl. Do not follow in my steps and straighten your hair."