Every actor aspires to win at least one Oscar award in their career because it’s the highest honor any actor can receive. For some, it’s an honor just to be nominated. For this reason, actors never stop challenging themselves to star in big projects. Many of them spend years chasing an Oscar and finally get the recognition they deserve in their careers. Whether they are budding actors or seasoned ones, they have the same goal, getting an Oscar statue.
However, many stars don’t strive for getting an Oscar statue, they just want to convey the depth of the characters they portray to the audience as much as possible. And this is the main reason why these actors and actresses go through serious preparation before filming.
Below are 10 actors who portrayed their roles so well and they deserved to get a standing ovation.
#1 Gwendoline Christie — Game of Thrones
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Before her audition, Gwendoline Christie decided to lose almost 22 lbs. For her portrayal of Brienne Tarth, she continued to gain about 13 lbs of muscle mass. She even sacrificed her hair though after that she cried for 2 hours.
#2 Austin Butler — Elvis
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To fulfill the main role in “Elvis”, Austin Butler watched as many video recordings with Elvis Presley as he could. Furthermore, one year before filming, he took vocal lessons almost every day because he wanted to imitate Elvis’ voice.
#3 Emilia Jones — CODA
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For Emilia Jones, playing the only person in a family who can hear was a big challenge. The actresses had to study sign language for 9 months. She also learned to fish and sing for the sake of the role.
#4 Kirsten Dunst — The Power of the Dog
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Whether her character is a main role or a supporting one, the actress is so responsible. For her portrayal of Rose, she had to learn to play the piano. It was a coincidence, her husband, Jesse Plemons was one of the main characters of the movie so they’d be able to rehearse some scenes with each other. Sometimes, the actress refused to communicate with anyone to have that “lump in the throat” like the one her character had.
#5 Julia Garner — Inventing Anna
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Julia Garner had only 3 weeks for preparing for her role as Anna Delvey. The real Delvey lived in several countries, which affected her accent greatly. So, the actress managed to get an accent by wearing fake teeth on set to match her role. That was her personal idea and it was a wise decision. Moreover, Garner met Delvey and realized that the woman had a sense of humor.
#6 Benedict Cumberbatch — The Power of the Dog
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Before shooting, Benedict Cumberbatch went straight to Montana to get to know his role, Phil, one of the owners of a ranch there. He lived with a family of ranchers who took him around the state and taught him the cowboy trade like grazing cattle and riding a horse.
#7 Michael C. Hall — Dexter
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In preparation for his role, Michael C. Hall studied thoroughly criminals, their motives and their methods. He admitted that he went to the city several times, looked for people who were alone, and followed them. He even mentally endowed people with the qualities the victims of his character would possess.
#8 Emma Watson — Noah
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Emma Watson appeared as the pregnant wife of Noah’s son. To make the process of pregnancy and childbirth look natural as much as possible, she got information about experienced women as well as obstetricians. The actress even asked the costume designers to create a fake tummy for her. It weighed as much as a real one that made Emma so tired.
#9 Zendaya — The Greatest Showman
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Zendaya had to film some scenes without stunts. So she learned circus gymnastics and it wasn’t an easy task. On the set, she wasn’t equipped with a safety net and the trapeze was different from the one on training sessions. Anyway, she had a good performance.
#10 Liu Yifei — Mulan
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It is a fact that there are about 1,000 candidates for the role of Mulan. Liu Yifei spent more than 2 hours auditioning. After the audition, the actress was sent to the gym with a coach for 1.5 hours to check her physical abilities and stamina. And the actress did very well. Before filming, the cast of Mulan, including the actress, had to experience a special boot camp for 6-7 hours each day.