40+ Celebs Who Look Nothing Like the Roles They Played

For most actors, transforming into a totally different person is part of the job. That might mean prosthetics, weight loss or gain, or wearing outrageous wigs and costumes. The celebs on this list went through major makeovers in order to play their roles. These stars look nothing like the characters they played on various TV shows and movies. Whether it’s horror villains, superheroes, or becoming fellow famous faces, these celebrities ended up looking nothing like themselves. Join us as we take a look at some radical on-screen transformations.

In fantasy series Game of Thrones, British actress Lena Headey plays the villainous Cersei Lannister. In the show’s early seasons, Cersei has ornately braided long blonde hair. She wears elaborate robes, swills her goblet, and pulls at the strings of power behind the throne.

Outside of this role, Lena Headey looks absolutely nothing like her on-screen character. The star has cropped, dark hair and an abundance of tattoos. In fact, the actress has at least 13 tatts. We’re pretty sure Cersei has exactly none.

There are various versions of psychological thriller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. There’s the original Swedish novel, a Swedish movie adaptation, and the 2011 David Fincher movie. In the American version, actress Rooney Mara plays tattooed computer hacker, Lisbeth Salander.

For this role, Rooney got multiple piercings, dyed her hair, and bleached her eyebrows. She has said that her style has never been the same since taking the role. While she used to dress in “girlie, frilly things,” now she buys more “comfortable” and “boyish” items.

Naturally, there are a bunch of superheroes on this list. First up is Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique in the X-Men series. To play the blue-skinned shapeshifter, Jennifer spent eight hours in makeup. However, as time went on, they managed to cut down the process to three hours.

For 2011 movie X-Men: First Class, J-Law was covered in head-to-toe body paint. However, it eventually led to “weird boils, rashes, and blisters.” After that, she wore a bodysuit from the neck down.

We’re happy to report that English actor Ralph Fiennes actually doesn’t look like Lord Voldemort in real life. In order to play He Who Must Not Be Named, the actor spent just two hours in the makeup chair.

This relatively short time was because child actors can’t be on set all day. Because of these child labor laws, Fiennes’ makeup had to be applied quickly to maximize acting time. He wore false veins, nails and teeth, eyebrow blockers, and dark eye makeup.

Some transformations on this list are less dramatic than others. While Margot Robbie still looks like herself in black comedy I, Tonya, she also massively embodies the disgraced figure skater Tonya Harding.

To prepare for this role, the Australian actress trained for four months. As a result, she became much more muscular than she usually appears. At one stage, she suffered a herniated disk because of the intensive skating. In various scenes, Margot wears either very heavy makeup, or none at all. She truly becomes Tonya on screen.

American actor and musician Jared Leto is known for his method acting and dramatic transformations. One of his recent makeovers was for 2021 crime drama House of Gucci. Jared plays the bombastic Paolo Gucci, and took his on-screen appearance into his own hands.

The actor enlisted a prosthetic designer and wig designer to help him create his on-screen persona. Apparently, the movie’s director had no idea what Leto would look like. When he arrived on set, co-star Al Pacino didn’t recognize him.

In Patty Jenkins’ directorial debut Monster, South African actress Charlize Theron played serial killer Aileen Wournos. These two look extremely different in real life, so Theron had to undergo a radical transformation. She shaved her eyebrows, wore dentures, had her skin weathered with tattoo ink, and gained 30 pounds.

Charlize has said, “It was about getting to a place where I felt closer to how Aileen was living. I didn’t want to look at my body and see my natural muscle.” For her efforts, she won an Oscar.

Today, it would be frowned upon for a cis actress to play a trans character. However, actress Hilary Swank transformed into Brandon Teena for 1999 biopic Boys Don’t Cry. At the time, she was unknown.

In real life, Hilary Swank is a glamorous movie star with long hair. For this role, she passed as a boy when she showed up for her audition. She then lived as a man for a month, cut her hair and wrapped her chest. After, she took home the Oscar.

Next up is another method actor known for seriously committing himself to a role. Gary Oldman is one of the highest-grossing actors of all time and has a host of awards for his efforts. In 2017 the English star took on the role of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Like our previous few entries, he won an Oscar for his work.

To become Churchill, Gary Oldman spent 200 hours in makeup. He also wore significant prosthetics in order to mimic the politician’s body shape.

Understandably, many of the actors from American Horror Story: Freak Show don’t look like their characters in real life. In Ryan Murphy’s anthology horror series, American actress Naomi Grossman plays Pepper, an inmate at Briarcliff.

Pepper actually appears in two series of the show, including in American Horror Story: Asylum. To prepare for the role, the actress shaved her head. She also wears various prosthetics and false teeth. It would definitely be tough to identify the character in real life.

We reckon that Nicole Kidman’s transformation into famous author Virginia Woolf is one of the most impressive on this list. While the Australian star has been massively made over for various roles, this one is the furthest from her actual appearance. While she was filming, the star enjoyed walking around with total anonymity.

For this role in 2002’s The Hours, Nicole Kidman wore a prosthetic nose. As with some of the other stars on this list, Nicole earned an Academy Award for this role

Comedy drama series Ugly Betty follows Mexican-American Betty Suarez as she tries to make it at a high fashion magazine. The show revolves around the fact that Betty isn’t your usual fashionista. She wears braces, quirky colorful clothing, and is supposedly ‘ugly’ – hence the show’s title.

In reality, actress America Ferrera is nothing of the sort. She described her on-screen transformation as ‘Bettification.’ As Betty, America won the triple crown of acting. She also became the first Latina woman to win the Outstanding Lead Actress Emmy.

There are several actors from prison series Orange Is the New Black on our list. This makes sense as most of the show’s stars wore prison uniforms and no makeup in order to portray their inmate characters.

Blanca Flores was first seen in season one as an alarming character who constantly spoke of “el diablo.” In the show, Blanca has dark under eyes and a mane of hair. In real life, Dominican actress Laura Gómez is a striking beauty.

Actor Tom Hanks has physically transformed for several roles. In Baz Luhrmann’s 2020 musical drama Elvis, he plays the star’s controversial manager, Colonel Tom Parker. Though these two share the same name, they look rather different in appearance.

While beloved actor Tom Hanks is a dashing movie star, Colonel Tom Parker has his own unique look. For the role, Hanks wore prosthetics as well as bodysuits to mimic Parker’s larger size. As the movie takes place across decades, there were different prosthetics for each era.

What would this list be without some Star Trek characters? The beloved sci-fi series started in the ’60s and includes multiple movies, series, and comics. American actor Armin Shimerman plays Ferengi comic relief Quark, complete with an extra-terrestrial appearance.

Armin credits makeup artist Karen Westerfield for Quark’s appearance. He has said, “I always say that Karen helped create Quark as much as I did.” Unsurprisingly, the actor doesn’t look like his alien counterpart in real life. That must be a relief.

It’s time for another Game of Thrones character. Much like her co-star Lena Headey, actress Emilia Clarke transforms largely through her hairstyle. While dragon queen Daenerys Targaryen is known for her ice blonde braids, Emilia wears her hair short and dark.

English actress Emilia wore ornate wigs for the majority of her time on the fantasy series. However, she bleached her own hair for the final series. Unfortunately, this damaged her locks, causing her to chop them all off.

We’ve already covered Jared Leto’s turn as Paolo Gucci, but there were other transformations in 2021 crime drama House of Gucci. Singer and actress Lady Gaga is known for her platinum blonde hair, but she went brunette for this role. The movie’s hairstylists dyed almost a dozen wigs to get Patrizia’s look just right.

Lady Gaga also spoke with her friend and collaborator Tony Bennett about tastefully playing an Italian character. The actress studied Reggiani’s accent and body language to nail her performance.

Sitcom The Office has plenty of memorable characters, but none as visually recognizable as Dwight Schrute. The show’s assistant to the regional manager is known for his dorky haircut, old-fashioned glasses, and bland daily office wear.

Amusingly, when actor Rainn Wilson landed the role, he went to a barber and asked for the worst haircut possible. In his day to day life, the American actor looks much more normal. He usually sports a bushy beard, making him look much cooler than his fictional counterpart.

Here’s another sitcom transformation where an actor doesn’t look anything like the role they played. In Arrested Development, actress Judy Greer plays the disheveled and scheming Kitty Sanchez. The character has wild hair, a manic manner and an overall concerning demeanor.

On the other hand, American actress Judy Greer is put together, chic, and altogether not a danger to others. When asked whether it was difficult to play such a bizarre character, the actress responded, “Nah. it’s very freeing actually.”

It’s time for another method actor! Much like Jared Leto and Gary Oldman, actor Christian Bale gets fully submerged in his characters. This means that he has lost or gained weight, and even stayed in his characters’ accents for long periods of time.

To play con artist Irving Rosenfeld in 2013’s American Hustle, the English celeb gained 43 pounds. He has explained, “I ate lots of doughnuts, a whole lot of cheeseburgers, and whatever I could get my hands on. I literally ate anything that came my way.”

In general, actors starring in biopics go through significant transformations. While they might share some physical similarities with the people they’re depicting, they usually get some help from the makeup department.

In 2019 biographical drama Judy, actress Renée Zellweger transformed into iconic performer Judy Garland. For the part, the star wore a prosthetic nose, a brunette wig, and a set of false teeth. As with some of our other transformers, Renée Zellweger won the Academy Award for Best Actress in this role.

We’ve already seen Hilary Swank play a trans man, and here’s another gender-bending transformation. Actress Glenn Close became Albert Nobbs in 2011’s movie of the same name. The star first played this role on stage in the ’80s and spent years trying to get it made into a film.

In order to play the trans butler, Close spent two hours in makeup each day. She wore a silicon nose tip, gelatin earlobes, and dental plumpers. Much like Swank, the star also bound her chest for the role.

Many of the actors that played servants on Downton Abbey look rather different in real life. Much like the stars of Orange is the New Black, these performers were very stripped back during their time on the show. In real life, they’re much more glamorous and put together.

English actress Sophie McShera played kitchen maid Daisy Mason on the costume drama. To play the part, she wasn’t allowed to wear eyeliner or blusher, despite asking the makeup team for just a little.

And now to another character from Downton Abbey. Except we’re actually focusing on this star’s turn in historical drama Outlander. In season four of the series, audiences met Irish pirate and smuggler Stephen Bonnet.

The villainous character sports stringy hair and pirate swagger, unlike his real-life counterpart, Ed Speleers. It’s hard to reconcile that the polished English actor plays this loathsome character. Ed Speleers has said of the character, “I do think there’s a charm to him.” Perhaps that’s the only similarity.

It’s time to check in with the inmates of Litchfield Penitentiary. One of the show’s main characters from the beginning is Suzanne Warren, initially known as Crazy Eyes. The sympathetic and misunderstood inmate is played by American actress Uzo Aduba.

During her time on the show, she won multiple awards, including two Emmys. Uzo Aduba actually wore her hair in Bantu knots for her audition. This, along with her performance, made the showrunners sit up and pay attention. In real life, Uzo is much more glamorous than Suzanne.

Wes Anderson’s 2014 comedy-drama The Grand Budapest Hotel has a huge ensemble. In fact, seventeen actors make up the main cast. In the movie, Madame D. is a wealthy dowager who sets the basis for the entire plot.

This role was initially for Angela Lansbury, but she dropped out and long-time Anderson collaborator Tilda Swinton stepped in. Like some of the others on this list, Tilda Swinton often transforms for her roles. To play an 84-year-old, Scottish actress Tilda spent five hours in makeup.

Most people associate actor and filmmaker Charlie Chaplin with his most famous character – The Tramp. This iconic silent movie figure was known for his bowler hat and comic mustache, and he has lived on in film history.

Speaking about the costume, Chaplin said, “The clothes seemed to imbue me with the spirit of the character. He actually became a man with a soul—a point of view.” Most people wouldn’t be able to identify this Hollywood heavyweight dressed in his own clothing.

So far on our list, we’ve already seen one Lisbeth Salander transformation. But, we did mention that there are multiple versions of this story? In 2018 reboot The Girl in the Spider’s Web, the androgynous computer hacker is played by British actress Claire Foy.

Like Rooney Mara before her, Claire Foy’s version of Lisbeth had short, dramatic hair. It was dyed two shades darker and buzzed into an undercut. This time, the character had dark brows rather than bleached ones.

On the sitcom Modern Family, Ariel Winter plays bookish and well-behaved daughter Alex Dunphy. However, the actress has a rather different vibe in real life. In the comedy series, Alex is uptight and insecure. Her elder sister Hayley is the boy-mad, extroverted character.

But off the show, Ariel looks much more like an outgoing starlet. Perhaps because of her onscreen persona, Ariel Winter has faced scrutiny over cosmetic surgery. The star’s Instagram pics show her stunning long red hair and playful fashion sense.

We’re back in Westeros for our next entry. Though she’s known to British audiences as Cassie from Skins, Hannah Murray gained worldwide fame as Gilly in Game of Thrones. In the series, she played a wildling, often draped in colorless robes and smeared in grime.

In real life, the English actress has a much more varied look. She has sported red waves, brunette updos, and a chic blonde bob. Hannah has scooped up an array of awards for her work on TV and on stage.

It’s a tradition for Hairspray’s Edna Turnblad to be played by a man. In the 2007 movie adaptation of the rom-com musical, John Travolta stepped into Edna’s shoes. Makeup artist Tony Gardner was brought on to design and create the character’s larger than life look.

Because costume designer Rita Ryack wanted Edna to wear revealing outfits, Travolta had to wear full-body prosthetics. This included foam and latex arms and legs connected to a spandex and foam body suit, and silicone prosthetics on the star’s head and neck.

When Swedish actor Bill Skarsgård first saw himself as Pennywise the clown, he was horrified. The star has said, “It was an amazing, terrifying feeling of seeing the makeup go on for the first time […] I was looking at myself in the mirror, making faces to try to see what this character would eventually be.”

In the horror movie It, the child stars didn’t actually see Bill in costume until they filmed a scene. This means that their genuine reactions were captured on screen.

We’re returning to Star Trek, this time for Worf, played by actor Michael Dorn. In the ’90s sci-fi series Deep Space Nine, Klingon character Worf was added from former franchise The Next Generation. The alien has appeared in more episodes of Star Trek than any other character, making him a sci-fi icon.

Over the series, Worf’s appearance has changed somewhat. His forehead prosthetics were raised and his wrinkles toned down. According to Michael Dorn, the Starfleet officer Lieutenant’s makeup took around three hours.

In dystopian drama The Handmaid’s Tale, Ofwarren has one eye. This is achieved using a prosthetic, which Madeline Brewer says helps her feel connected to the character. She explained, “Having my eye closed and covered helps my process. It’s disorienting, but I need to feel a little outside of myself when I play her, I want to feel a little uncomfortable.”

As with others on our list, Ofwarren is often seen with no makeup at all. In real life, Madeline Brewer has striking red hair and bold style.

It’s time for another superhero! To play android Vision on screen, English actor Paul Bettany has to go through various processes. Firstly, he gets his face painted in Vision’s recognizable red. Then, he puts on a rubber balaclava that gets glued to his face.

Finally, he wears a “robot muscle suit” with tubes full of ice water to keep his body comfortably cool. The star has revealed that the whole costume is “pretty painful” and “uncomfortable.” In fact, he can’t hear particularly well when he’s all dressed up.

While Elizabeth Banks usually looks like herself on-screen, she certainly doesn’t in The Hunger Games. In the dystopian movie series, the actress plays Capitol-born chaperone Effie Trinket. In early entries of the franchise, Effie wears particularly ornate wigs, makeup, and costumes.

Elizabeth Banks has said that Effie’s long nails were particularly annoying and restrictive. She also struggled to stop touching her face when she was wearing full makeup. However, the star did enjoy chatting with the cast while she spent an eternity in the makeup chair.

We’ve seen that prosthetics make a huge difference to an actor’s appearance. This is true with fake noses, strange wigs and false teeth. In the case of Pennsatucky in Orange Is the New Black, it’s all about the teeth.

The character has struggled with addiction issues, leaving her with rotten and blackened gnashers. Outside of the show, American actress Taryn Manning has a set of pearly whites. Plus, she doesn’t walk around in a prison jumpsuit. And really, that makes all the difference.

While Oscar Isaac is an undeniably beautiful man, we can’t say the same for his ancient mutant character, Apocalypse. The American actor has called the transformation for the movie “excruciating,” saying “I couldn’t move my head, ever.”

He further explained, “I didn’t know when I said yes that that was what was going to be happening, that I was going to be encased in glue, latex, and a 40-pound suit — that I had to wear a cooling mechanism at all times.”

Could we interest you in one more entry from the Game of Thrones universe? On the series, Lord Varys is a very powerful and very threatening man. A central part of his appearance is his bald head.

But, what if we told you that Northern Irish actor Conleth Hill isn’t bald in real life? In fact, he has a full head of hair. To play the Master of Whisperers, Conleth Hill had to shave his head before every season. The actor found this particularly difficult.

Like some others on our list, actor Doug Jones struggled with his on-screen costume. To become The Amphibian Man, the star had to wear a tight foam, latex and rubber suit.

He said, “I can’t see as well, I can’t hear much, I can’t feel much, and I got these webbed fingers on — I can’t do anything for myself.” It took four people to get the American actor into his suit for 2017 romantic fantasy The Shape of Water.

We’ve already seen that shaving an actor’s head can have a huge impact on how they look. Like Conleth Hill, actor Nicholas Hoult also had to take a razor to his locks in order to fully get into character.

In post-apocalyptic action movie Mad Max: Fury Road, the English actor played War Boy Nux. It took two hours for Nicholas Hoult to transform into Nux. The makeup team used clay on his skin, and added various scars. The actor also lost weight for the part.

For three seasons, actress Amy Sedaris played Jerri Blank on ’90s comedy Strangers With Candy. The surreal show follows the troubled main character as she returns to high school in her 40s. The bizarre character wears very heavy makeup, has tattooed knuckles, and her hair mysteriously changes length within episodes.

In real life, American actress and comedian Amy Sedaris is much chicer. Hilariously, the star has said that Jerri Blank was intended to look “like somebody who owns snakes.”

Scottish actress Karen Gillan has starred in several sci-fi hits. She played the companion to the 11th Doctor Who and portrayed the blue-skinned alien Nebula in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The star first appeared as the extra-terrestrial warrior in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy.

Like others on our list, Karen Gillan shaved her hair off as part of her on-screen transformation. Apparently, her makeover took over four hours to apply each day and was eventually cut down to just two and a half hours.

As an actor, Joaquin Phoenix is known for playing dark and unconventional characters. In 2019, he won the Best Actor Academy Award for playing the title character in Todd Philips’ Joker. To prepare for the role, the star lost 52 pounds. He described this transformation as “difficult” but “very empowering.”

As impoverished party clown Arthur Fleck, Joaquin is an emaciated and wrinkled outsider. In real life, the actor is a smooth and polished movie star. He’s set to reprise his role in an upcoming sequel.

Fans are used to seeing singer Mariah Carey adorned with glitter and long flowing hair. However, to appear in 2009 drama Precious, she dropped her usual glam. Mimi played Ms. Weiss, the social worker of Gabourey Sidibe’s Precious.

Interestingly, English actress Helen Mirren was initially supposed to play this part. However, she dropped out for a larger role elsewhere. Director Lee Daniels had previously worked with Mariah and was “so impressed” with her performance that he hired her for this pared-back part.