Jennifer Connelly Looks Different Without Her Signature Dark Hair

Jennifer Connelly was just a teenager when she appeared in 1986's "Labyrinth," opposite David Bowie, but she instantly stood out, her dark hair and wide-eyed gaze hinting at the acclaimed, decades-spanning career to come. Since then, the world has borne witness to Connelly's stunning transformation from fresh-faced ingénue to Oscar winner. And, while almost every role has asked something different of her, one thing remained consistent: Connelly's long, near-black hair. It framed her breakout as a teenager, and carried the up-and-comer through the 1980s and '90s all the way to 2001's "A Beautiful Mind," for which she won an Academy Award in the best supporting actress category. So inseparable is Connelly from her brunette locks that even her career as an ambassador for brands like Louis Vuitton and Revlon has tended to lean on the same aesthetic.

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All of that is to say, when you see the actor with anything other than dark hair, the effect can be disorienting. Her angular face and those big, expressive eyes are the same, but the lighter shade lends Connelly a softness that changes the overall portrait — almost to the point that observers may feel like they're looking at a sister or close cousin. The "Requiem for a Dream" star hasn't addressed whether she feels protective about her natural hair color, but she almost never goes lighter — especially not on red carpets. The image above is from "Dark Matter," starring Connelly as Daniela Dessen, the wife of a world-hopping physicist. In the sixth episode of Season 1, "Superposition," we get to see an alternate-reality version of Daniela, who happens to be blonde. The other time Connelly went blonde was for a 2010 film and that, too, had a narrative reason behind it.

Jennifer Connelly, who has often found herself on lists of the most beautiful actors ever, also went blonde for her role in Dustin Lance Black's "Virginia," in 2010. She played the titular Virginia, a schizophrenic mother locked in a longstanding affair with the town's married sheriff, who's portrayed by Ed Harris. The film's real heart was in the bond shared between Virginia and her son Emmett, and Connelly, being a mother of three kids, brought a real lived-in warmth to it. However, Connelly dyeing her hair wasn't out of any desire to switch things up aesthetically. Black confirmed that the lighter color was actually written into the character's psychology, "But I never asked. She brought it up," as he clarified in a 2012 chat with IndieWire. Choosing and changing colors was a small corner of Virginia's life where she still had agency, and luckily, Connelly was open to exploring it.

The writer-director and his lead actor consulted a psychologist to get the fixation on color just right and Connelly, for her part, thoroughly enjoyed the experiment. Her commitment ran offscreen too, with the Oscar winner photographed out and about as a blonde during the shoot, proving she wasn't simply wearing a wig. The film took a beating and drew a wave of harsh reviews when it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2010. Black recut and re-released "Virginia" in May 2012, sadly, once again to an underwhelming reception. Across both versions, Connelly's performance earned the warmest praise. As for her hair, by the Toronto premiere, she had reverted back to her natural shade.