Stunning Stars Who Destroyed Their Looks For A Role

While actors can leave audiences deeply immersed in the story simply with strong acting skills, they usually also have to look the part for a film or television series to be considered truly well-made. If the production is lucky, they can cast an actor whose resemblance to the character comes naturally. There have been several actors who look exactly like the real-life people they were cast to play and seemingly require just a little hairstyling and makeup as well as a quick outfit change to convince movie watchers the production found a long-lost twin, including Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett in 2010's "The Runaways" and Denzel Washington as Malcolm X in Spike Lee's 1992 biopic. However, more often than not, actors need to undergo some sort of transformation to physically match the role.

Sometimes, actors spend months working out and dieting to look extra hot for the role, like when Chris Pratt turned his beer belly into six-pack abs to play Star-Lord in "Guardians of the Galaxy." But sometimes, it's the opposite, and actors need to hide their glamorous looks under a ton of makeup, a bald cap, prosthetics, tattoos, or a staggering amount of weight gain or loss for a movie or series. In one of the perhaps less extreme cases, Jennifer Aniston, whose transformation in Hollywood involved her going from pretty young actress to even more stunning A-lister, went makeup-free, got her face covered in scars, stopped working out, and put on more than a few pounds for her role in "Cake."

Aniston is far from the only actor to do so, with some going even further than simply ditching exercise for a couple of months. From Tom Cruise to Charlize Theron, here are gorgeous stars who have destroyed their looks for a performance.

Fans who saw Natalie Portman's Oscar-winning performance in 2010's "Black Swan" know that she is willing to go all out for a role. But she'd already proved this years before the Darren Aronofsky movie when she agreed to have all of her gorgeous brunette hair shaved off for her 2005 film, "V for Vendetta." However, what made this hair transformation special was that it was part of the story. "It was a one-shot deal, and that was the most stressful thing about the experience," Portman told USA Today of filming the head-shaving scene.

Tom Cruise looked so different as Les Grossman in 2008's "Tropic Thunder" that some viewers did a double take when they saw his name in the end credits. "I watched 'Tropic Thunder' twice all the way through before I realized it was Tom Cruise," one fan commented on a Reddit post. While he didn't gain weight or shave off his hair, the gorgeous actor brought the overweight, balding, profane, and ill-tempered studio executive with abnormally large hands and excessive body hair to life with the help of makeup, a bald cap, and lots of prosthetics.

When we say Jared Leto has range, we don't just mean his roles. The controversial actor has proven to be a chameleon who can completely overhaul his image and effortlessly pull off various looks, such as his androgynous appearance as trans woman Rayon in "Dallas Buyers Club." He was also virtually unrecognizable as Mark David Chapman in 2007's "Chapter 27." Unlike Tom Cruise, however, Leto said no to a fat suit and instead put on 67 pounds to portray John Lennon's killer — a weight gain so extreme that it left him with gout.

Throughout her stunning transformation in Hollywood, Cameron Diaz was often tasked to play one of, if not the most, gorgeous woman in the movie, from "There's Something About Mary" to "Charlie's Angels." However, she was worlds away from her usually glammed-up self in the 1999 film, "Being John Malkovich," in which she played the dowdy and mousy Lotte Schwartz, the wife of John Cusack's character Craig Schwartz. Gone were Diaz's straight blonde locks and full glam; instead, the actress ditched the makeup, sported thick, frizzy hair, and put on dental prostheses.

Johnny Depp has become synonymous with his flamboyant pirate character Captain Jack Sparrow. However, after four "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies, Depp took on a more weighty role that required him to undergo a less sexy but more drastic physical transformation. Depp traded the pirate's hat, dreadlocks, eyeliner, and goatee for a specially made bald cap and facial prosthetics to look like 80-year-old mobster James "Whitey" Bulger for the 2015 film, "Black Mass." While the look may seem simple, it required Depp to sit on the makeup chair for three hours every day during filming. 

Nicole Kidman earned her Oscar for 2002's "The Hours" by not only giving the performance of her life but also changing her appearance to the point that she literally disappeared into the role. To portray Virginia Woolf, Kidman donned a prosthetic nose and makeup that took hours to complete each time. The hard work paid off as some of the first people to see the film didn't recognize her. "I did enjoy being anonymous. It was fun to be able to go out of my trailer and not have anyone know me," Kidman told SFGate. 

After graduating from "High School Musical," Vanessa Hudgens took on a grittier role playing Agnes Bailey in "Gimme Shelter." Unlike others who struggled with their preparation, however, Hudgens told E! News that transforming into the pregnant teenager was "really fun," adding: "I put on 15 pounds, ate whatever I wanted. I'm not complaining. I cut off all my hair, which really set the tone. ... And then, I just kinda tried to make myself as ugly as possible, whether that was the way that I walked or my mannerisms or the tone of my voice."

One of the most dedicated method actors in the business, Christian Bale knows more than a thing or two about revamping his appearance for a role. To play the overweight Irving Rosenfeld in 2013's "American Hustle," he brought his weight from 185 to 228 pounds by indulging in various junk foods. Bale went to the opposite extreme for 2004's "The Machinist," for which he lost a staggering 62 pounds through extreme dieting and smoking. In fact, Bale was so emaciated that his ribs were alarmingly visible when his character Trevor Reznik took off his shirt.

Though it has been over two decades since the film's release, Charlize Theron's shocking transformation as serial killer Aileen Wuornos in 2003's "Monster" remains one of the most memorable. For her Oscar-winning performance, the South African beauty sported fake yellow teeth, eyelid prosthetics, and a sprayed-on liquid makeup that "made [her] skin look leathery and sun-damaged," she told Oprah Winfrey. In addition, she put on around 30 pounds to match Wuornos' build and had her eyebrows shaved. But while her gorgeous features were completely hidden by the costume, Theron insisted she "never felt ugly."