To suit the movie roles, actors frequently must change their appearance, and sometimes they look like an entirely different person. Especially losing weight might be one of the most pronounced and all-consuming alterations to an actor's look. With dozens of pounds lost, you may not recognize them at all!
So, below, we put on view a list of 25 performers who had dramatic weight loss for film roles. Let's scroll down to see these spectacular transformations!
#1 Tom Hanks, Philadelphia, 1993
Source: People
For his Oscar-winning role as HIV/AIDS patient Andrew Beckett in the movie Philadelphia, Tom Hanks shed an incredible 26 pounds.
#2 Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables, 2012
Source: IMDb
For her part as Fantine in the 2012 version of the Broadway musical, actress Anne Hathaway lost 25 pounds in total. Hathaway stated in an interview that the goal was to appear "near-death" for the role. She lost 10 pounds while filming and another 15 before.
#3 Jake Gyllenhaal, The Nightcrawler, 2014
Source: The Washington Post
Gyllenhaal shed 30 pounds to portray a crazy, career-hungry freelance journalist.
#4 Christian Bale, The Machinist, 2004
Source: IMDb
Bale shed a whopping 63 pounds for the part, which is a very high level of weight loss.
#5 Michael Fassbender, Hunger, 2008
Source: IMDb
For his role as IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands in the 2008 movie Hunger, Fassbender underwent a 40-pound weight loss.
#6 Zoe Kravitz, The Road Within, 2014
Source: IMDb
To play the part of Marie, an eating disorder sufferer, Kravitz shed 20 pounds.
#7 Chris Hemsworth, In the Heart of the Sea, 2014
Source: Variety
To play a shipwreck survivor, Hemsworth shed 33 pounds, which, according to an interview on Good Morning America, made him look "moody."
#8 Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club, 2013
Source: IMDb
In the movie Dallas Buyers Club, actor Matthew McConaughey shed 47 pounds to play Ron Woodruff, a Texan who contracts AIDS in the 1980s.
Source: IMDb
Liam Neeson portrays a Jesuit missionary called Ferriera in the historical drama Silence. The Northern Irish actor underwent a 20-pound weight loss for the part.
#10 Joaquin Phoenix, The Joker, 2019
Source: DC Comics
Joaquin Phoenix portrays comedian Arthur Fleck who later transforms into the villain The Joker in this spin-off of the Batman movies. To fit the part, Phoenix shed 52 pounds. Phoenix said in an interview that the extremely restrictive diet made him "go mad," despite the fact that he was under medical supervision.
#11 Mila Kunis, The Black Swan, 2010
Source: Time Out
Kunis shed 20 pounds in just five months for the psychological ballet thriller The Black Swan. The star smoked a lot of cigarettes and followed a strict diet in order to lose weight.
#12 Tom Hanks, Cast Away, 2000
Source: People
Tom Hanks shed 53 pounds for the part. Hanks portrays Chuck Noland, a FedEx operations executive who crashes his planes at sea and ends himself on a barren island.
#13 Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club, 2013
Source: IMDb
Leto shed about 40 pounds to fit the part of a transsexual living with HIV in the 1980s. Leto explained to Vulture in 2012 that it was more important to "represent the character" than it was to lose the most weight.
#14 Natalie Portman, The Black Swan, 2010
Source: IMDb
Alongside Kunis, Portman portrays a dancer in The Black Swan. The actor shed 20 pounds for the part, much as Kunis did. According to Portman, who ate just carrots and almonds, some nights, she actually believed she was going to die.
#15 Ben Kingsley, Gandhi, 1982
Source: Amazon
Ben Kingsley, a British actor, played Gandhi in the 1982 movie of the same name. He adopted a vegetarian diet to mimic Gandhi's and shed a total of 20 pounds for the role. Kingsley also learned yoga and started practicing meditation.
#16 Adam Driver, Silence, 2016
Source: IMDb
The star claims he lost weight both before and during the filming of the part, losing 51 pounds to represent the impact of his character's prolonged round-the-world trek.
#17 Lily Collins, To the Bone, 2017
Source: USA Today
For the role of an anorexic woman in the movie To the Bone, Lily Collins underwent severe weight loss. Although reducing the weight was exceedingly challenging for Collins, who has a history of eating disorders, she believed it was vital for the role.
#18 Jonah Hill, Moneyball, 2011
Source: IMDb
For the 2011 film Moneyball, Jonah Hill reduced his weight by roughly 40 pounds. Jonah portrays Yale-educated economist Peter Brand. Hill claimed that drinking less beer and eating less helped him lose weight.
#19 Chris Pratt, Guardians of the Galaxy, 2014
Source: IMDb
In order to portray Peter Quill in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, actor Chris Pratt had to lose 60 pounds. Pratt didn't eat less to lose weight—instead, he ate more. To put on the muscle mass required to play the part in this action movie, he needed 4,000 calories every day.
#20 50 Cent, Things Fall Apart, 2011
Source: IMDb
He portrayed a promising football player with cancer in the movie. In order to fit the character,
50 Cent lost 50 pounds and became unrecognizable.
#21 Jennifer Lawrence, Red Sparrow, 2018
Source: Amazon
For the 2018 movie Red Sparrow,
Jennifer Lawrence played a ballerina-turned-spy. Lawrence had to undergo "very harsh" weight loss to look like a genuine Russian dancer for the movie, as she normally doesn't follow a strict diet.
#22 Matt Damon, Courage Under Fire, 1996
Source: IMDb
In order to portray his part in the 1996 movie Courage Under Fire, Matt Damon had to lose a total of 60 pounds. Damon apparently had his own diet and ran 13 miles every day to decrease the pounds.
#23 Lilly James, Cinderella, 2015
Source: IMDb
Lily James portrays Cinderella in the live-action adaptation of the
Disney classic. The star had to stay in a small, tight corset the entire time. James didn't drop weight before the job, but the tight corset made it difficult for her to digest food, so she did to remain in the corset during filming.
#24 Michelle Pfieffer, Scarface, 1983
Source: IMDb
In the 1983 crime film, Michelle Pfieffer portrayed Elvira, a woman addicted to cocaine. Pfieffer claimed that she basically lived off of a diet of "tomato soup and Marlboros" to achieve the over-thin appearance of a long-term user.
#25 Matthew Fox, Alex Cross, 2012
Source: ENews
For his role in the 2012 murder thriller Alex Cross, the actor shed 40 pounds. Fox, who portrays a cage-fighting assassin in the movie, underwent a demanding five-month training program.