15 ACTORS WHO HAVE DRASTICALLY CHANGED THIER LOOKS FOR A ROLE

Even though it sounds clichéd, it is not an easy job to be an actor, not to mention a successful one. As James Dean said:

"Being an actor is the loneliest thing in the world. You are all alone with your concentration and imagination, and that's all you have."

The biggest part of the actors we love to watch on the big screen, seem to have had the luck to become so successful. However, this is not exactly true. These people play roles, which sometimes demand an extreme amount of attention and sacrifice. They go through a huge amount of diets and training sessions, in order to transform their bodies and meet the requirements for certain role. In the following lines we will show you 15 of the most amazing transformations in the history of cinematography.

15. Tom Cruise, Tropic Thunder (2008)

Tom Cruise's cameo as a Hollywood producer in the comedy Tropic Thunder required him to wear a fat suit, a bald cap and even prosthetic hands.

14. James Franco, Spring Breakers (2012)

The self-proclaimed musician, artist, screenwriter and director James Franco, has finally proved that he can join the ranks of the method acting individuals in Hollywood, by transforming into the controversial character Alien in the movie Spring Breakers. His role brought him only the ovations of the public, because the movie gathered mostly negative feedback from the critics. Nevertheless, his role will surely be remembered many years to come.

13. Matt Damon, The Informant! (2009)

For his role as a whistle blower, Damon sported a comb-over, mustache, nose appendage... and, oh, yeah, an extra 30 pounds. "At my age, all I had to do to gain weight was eat the way I did when I was in college and the weight went on instantly", Damon told the Daily News. "It was a little horrifying."

12. Hilary Swank, Boys Don’t Cry (1999)

In the late 1990s, Hilary Swank was relatively unpopular in the film industry. This was quickly changed when she played the role of a transgendered teen, Brandon, in the 1999s movie Boys Don’t Cry. To prepare, Swank did not only spent weeks researching and reading novels on transgender people, but also cut off her hair, strapped down her chest and lived as a male for a month. Her portrayal won her a Best Actress Oscar.

11. Jake Gyllenhaal, Southpaw (2015)

In order to transform into the boxing champion Billy Hope in Southpaw, Jake Gyllenhaal had to bulk up fast. The only horrifying twist was that he had to do so immediately after his dramatic weight loss for the movie Nightcrawler. It took him five months of intense diets and training to achieve this insanely fit body. It was pretty amazing.

10. Tom Hanks, Castaway (2000)

When Tom Hanks agreed to play the role of a man who is stranded on an abandoned island, he must have known that this was going to require quite a bit of a weight loss. And by quite a bit, we mean 50 pounds! He said he powered through with the help of mediation.

9. Chris Hemsworth, In the Hearth of the Sea (2015)

Aussie heartthrob Chris Hemsworth transformed from a handsome hunk to a horrifically homeless-looking drab for his role in the movie In the Heart of The Sea.

8. Christian Bale, American Hustle (2013)

Christian Bale merged so much with his character, Irv Rosenfeld, in David O. Russell’s movie American Hustle, that when Russell introduced Bale to Robert DeNiro (who had an uncredited role in the film), DeNiro failed to recognize him. “Nice guy,” he later said to Russell, “But where’s Christian Bale?”

7. Jared Leto, Chapter 27 (2007)

Jared Leto gained a whopping 67 pounds — eating nothing else but unhealthy snacks, like microwaved pints of ice-cream mixed with soy sauce and olive oil. However, Leto took it a bit too far and his dramatic weight gain led to serious health issues resulting in him landing in a wheelchair. "Toward the end of the shoot, one of the glaring issues was the pain I had with my feet," Leto told the NY Daily News. "I couldn't walk for long distances; I had a wheelchair because it was so painful. My body was in shock from the amount of weight I gained."

6. Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, All Things Fall Apart (2011)

In 2010, 50 Cent shocked his fans with a photo of himself looking unrecognizably skinny for the role of a promising college football player struggling with cancer. The rapper revealed that he dropped 55 pounds for the movie All Things Fall Apart, using a nine-week liquid diet and working out multiple times a day.

5. Nicole Kidman, The Hours (2002)

Talking about a tough job. Makeup artists had to transform Nicole Kidman into the homely novelist Virginia Woolf for The Hours, a task that took them three hours a day. The key element was a large prosthetic nose that rendered Kidman virtually unrecognizable. "I did enjoy being anonymous" the star said. "It was fun to be able to go out of my trailer and not have anyone know me." She was still shocked to find out that preview audiences sat through the movie without realizing it was her.

4. Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club (2013)

Jared Leto is a man of many talents. In addition to fronting Thirty Seconds to Mars and having some seriously enviable ombre hair, he beautifully portrayed the transsexual AIDS patient named Rayon in Dallas Buyers Club. For the role, Jared went through a major physical change in a short amount of time. The sacrifice he made for his body won him an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, 41 other awards and 23 nominations.

3. Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club (2013)

In order to play Ron Woodruff, Matthew McConaughey melted down to 133 pounds. At 6ft, the actor had a diet plan that included only egg whites, diet coke and piece of chicken per day. After his amazing transformation into Ron Woodroof, a diagnosed with AIDS electrician and hustler who works around the system to help AIDS patients get the needed medication, the actor was awarded with a huge amount of awards and nominations, the most prestigious of which were an Academy Award and a Golden Globe.

2. Cate Blanchett, I’m Not There (2007)

In the mid-sixties movie, I’m Not There, Cate Blanchett played the role of Bob Dylan. With the help of a wig, sunglasses and male clothes, she was completely transformed to be among the six actors depicting Dylan's different life phases.

1. Christian Bale, The Machinist (2004)

We believe that hundreds of lines can be written about this role, but we will make sure to keep it short. In order to play in the movie “The Machinist”, Christian Bale dropped from about 173 pounds down to about 110 pounds in weight. He actually wanted to drop down to 100 pounds, but was not allowed to do so out of fear that his health could be in serious danger. His diet consisted of one can of tuna and an apple per day. This 63-pound weight loss is also said to be a record in the cinema. Remarkably, Bale managed to regain his weight in only 6 weeks for his role in Batman Begins (2005).