11 actors who were made up beyond recognition in films (16 photos + 1 video)

A small selection of impressive transformations of actors in Hollywood cinema. Add your options in the comments.





Hollywood actors are increasingly spending time in the dressing room: for example, Jared Leto transformed himself beyond recognition for the film “The House of Gucci.” Colin Farrell in last year's Batman trailer is unrecognizable behind a layer of makeup. And Lily James is almost indistinguishable from the real Pamela Anderson in the TV series Pam and Tommy.

Here are eleven impressive transformations from Hollywood cinema. The selection did not include actors who became famous for their images in makeup - for example, Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise from It. There are no actors here who transformed physically for the sake of the role, like Christian Bale in “Power.”

John Hurt in The Elephant Man (1980)



David Lynch planned to invite Jack Nance, who played him in Eraserhead, to play the main role in his second film. The producer of The Elephant Man, Mel Brooks, in turn, insisted on the candidacy of Dustin Hoffman: the actor expressed interest in the project and had already given preliminary consent.

Everything changed when Lynch watched the British tragicomedy The Naked Official, in which John Hurt played the leading role. So the director found the ideal actor for The Elephant Man.

Hurt was to play John Merrick, a disfigured man with a rare "elephantiasis disease" that caused him to be born with growths all over his body. The plot of The Elephant Man is based on real events: the real Merrick died in 1890 at the age of 27. The production team had access to a plaster cast of his body in the private museum of the Royal London Hospital, and based on it, the make-up artists created a suitable image for John Hurt.

Interview with John Hurt and The Elephant Man make-up artist Christopher Tucker

During filming, the actor got up every day at 5 am so that he could have time to apply makeup. The entire process took seven to eight hours, and removing the suit took another two hours. For his efforts, John Hurt received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, but the statuette went to Robert De Niro, who played boxer Jake La Motta in the film Raging Bull.

Hurt himself later stated that he considered The Elephant Man one of the best films of his career. In addition, he refused a fee for participating in the film: the actor even asked the producers not to tell his agent about it.

Tim Curry in Legend (1985)





Tim Curry has repeatedly appeared in makeup: in the mini-series “It” he played the clown Pennywise, and in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” he played the crazy transvestite doctor Frank N Furter. But the role of the Lord of Darkness, the main villain of the fantasy drama Legend by Ridley Scott, stands apart.

During her filming, Tim Curry had to sit in the dressing room for five and a half hours to have a cast applied to his entire body. Then the costume was glued on to him using alcohol glue, and only then the actor went to filming. After every day of work, Curry took a bath for an hour to wash off any remaining glue.



Tim Curry in the dressing room on the set of Legends

One day Curry got tired of the uncomfortable outfit. The actor tore off part of his costume, but immediately regretted it: part of the skin came off along with the glue. To recover from the injury, the actor had to spend a week in the hospital.

Unfortunately, in the year of its release, critics and audiences did not appreciate “Legend”: the film failed at the box office and received low ratings. But at the Oscars, the work of the make-up artists was appreciated: they were nominated for the appropriate award. True, she received a statuette for “The Fly” by David Cronenberg. After the release of the director's cut, Legend became a cult film among Ridley Scott fans.

Charlize Theron in Monster (2003)



Charlize Theron is often called one of the most beautiful actresses of our time, and in 2003 she was given the title of the most desirable woman in the world. But to play the prostitute Aileen Wuornos, who killed seven male clients, the actress decided to sacrifice her beauty.

In preparation for filming, Theron gained thirteen kilograms, shaved her eyebrows, dyed her hair, and put on contact lenses and dentures. Make-up artists also artificially aged her skin and added pigment spots.



The result was impressive. Charlize Theron completely got used to the role, during production she did not leave her character and communicated with the film crew the way her character would communicate.

Her convincing performance earned her an Oscar for Best Actress. After Monster, Theron played in makeup several more times, for example in Mad Max: Fury Road and Scandal.

Idris Elba in Star Trek Beyond (2016)



Idris Elba is no stranger to villain roles: he played villains in Beasts of No Nation and Hobbs and Shaw. But in the third installment of the Star Trek reboot, he played his most unusual role yet - former Starfleet Major Kroll, who vowed to destroy the Federation.

There are scenes in the film where Elba's character appears without makeup, but the rest of the time he is still the same stern mutant. Every day before filming, he had to apply makeup for two hours. Sofia Boutella, who played the role of Jayla, also wore makeup.

At the Oscars, the film received a nomination for best makeup and hairstyles, but the award was won by Suicide Squad.

Gary Oldman in Hannibal (2001)



Gary Oldman successfully portrayed various characters, and even received an Oscar for his role as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour. But in the actor’s filmography there is an image in which he is almost impossible to recognize. For the role of Mason Verger in Hannibal, he spent up to six hours a day in the dressing room, and also worked on his voice so that the audience could not guess him.

To transform, he did not have to change physically in any way - the make-up artists did all the work for him. They worked on his face, putting fake skin on his head and putting on a wig. After this, the actor went to the set.



Before filming, Oldman asked the producers not to mention his name in the credits and promotional materials. The actor wanted complete anonymity, but he was unable to negotiate it with the studio.

However, many viewers really didn't recognize Gary Oldman in Hannibal. Unfortunately, the film was not even nominated for Best Makeup at the Oscars.

Joel Edgerton in Bright (2016)



Joel Edgerton mostly plays tough, middle-aged men, but in Bright he appeared as the insecure orc cop Nick Jacobi. At the beginning of the film, his hero becomes the partner of experienced detective Daryl Ward, played by Will Smith.

This is the most unusual role of Edgerton's career. To transform into an orc, the actor spent three hours in the dressing room. Filming for Bright took about 60 days, so he had to act in his costume for almost two months.

“Bright” was shortlisted for Best Makeup at the Oscars, but for some unknown reason did not make the final list. Now Netflix is ​​preparing a sequel to the film, in which the hero of Joel Edgerton should appear.

Tilda Swinton in Suspiria (2018)



In the loose remake of Suspiria, directed by Luca Guadagnino, Tilda Swinton played one of the main roles - ballet school teacher Madame Blanc. But after the release of the film, it became known that the actress played two more characters in it - for example, the elderly doctor Joseph Kemperer.

Swinton began preparing for the role 18 months before filming began. To test whether she looked convincing in the role of an old man, make-up artists put artificial ears, wrinkled skin, a wide nose and a wig on her. And already during filming, the actress asked to create a fake penis for her so that she could properly fit into the role of a man. To do this, the make-up artists made a special silicone model, which Swinton wore during production.



Before filming episodes with Joseph Klemperer, the actress spent up to four hours in the dressing room. Before Suspiria premiered at the Venice Film Festival, she even pretended to be the elderly German actor Lutz Ebersdorff.

The first viewers did not notice the catch: no one recognized Tilda Swinton in this role. Later she had to admit that it was she who played Klemperer.

Nicole Kidman in The Hours (2002)



The Hours is a drama about three women connected by a book by Virginia Woolf. Nicole Kidman played the writer herself, who wants to commit suicide. For this role, she wanted to match the appearance of her heroine as closely as possible and went for a transformation.

Before filming, make-up artists worked on the actress’s appearance for three hours a day. Most of the time was spent on applying the artificial nose: with it, Kidman was practically unrecognizable during production.

The actress later stated that she was surprised by the reactions of the audience at test screenings: no one recognized her in the role of Virginia Woolf. For her work, she received the only Oscar of her career.

Tom Cruise in Tropical Soldiers (2008)



Initially, Tom Cruise was not supposed to play in "Tropic Soldiers": Ben Stiller, the film's writer and director, did not plan to include producer Les Grossman in the plot. But he decided to show the work to Cruise, and he advised Stiller to come up with a bright secondary character. Two weeks later, the director returned to his friend and invited him to play Grossman.

Stiller wanted Cruise to appear in his usual role, but the actor rejected the idea. He came up with the image of Grossman from scratch and asked the make-up artists to give him large fake hands, a wig with a bald head and a hairy chest model. In this image, he performed a dance for test filming and received Stiller's approval.

Later this dance was included in the credits of “Soldier of Trouble.” Tom Cruise received praise from critics and audiences for his role, and then appeared as Les Grossman at the MTV Movie Awards.

Glenn Close in Captain Hook (1991)



Glenn Close usually plays complex dramatic characters: during her career, she even received eight Oscar nominations. But in 1991, she appeared in a cameo in Steven Spielberg's Captain Hook. In this film, she played a pirate who is punished by the main villain.

The cameo fit into the film so well that most viewers did not recognize Glenn Close in this image. For the role, the actress did not have to spend a lot of time on makeup: she only put on a beard, a wig and a dummy with hair on her chest. But this was enough to convincingly play the old pirate.

Martin Sheen in Judas and the Black Messiah (2020)



Martin Sheen is known for his roles in Apocalypse Now, The Departed and The West Wing. During his career, he played in more than two hundred films and TV series, and viewers easily recognize his face. All the more surprising is his transformation for Judas and the Black Messiah, a drama about the Chicago branch of the Black Panther organization.

In the film, Sheen played John Edgar Hoover, the controversial head of the FBI who held this post for more than forty years. For the transformation, the actor spent more than three hours in the dressing room: during this time, he was given a wig with a bald head, an artificial nose, neck and chin. Specialists also worked on his skin and eyes.

After the film's release, Martin Sheen admitted that he was disgusted to play Hoover: he had ruined thousands of lives over the decades. Nevertheless, the transformation was successful: many viewers did not recognize Shin in this image.