Biopics always put pressure on actors, as they try to imitate the real person’s mannerisms and quirks. It’s not just actors though, makeup artists are also in for a challenge. They need to somehow get one person to look exactly like someone else and that someone else is usually a famous face — so it’ll be obvious if they don’t get it right. These artists, though, understood the assignment and they absolutely nailed it!
Renée Zellweger as Judy Garland
Renée Zellweger is no stranger to changing her appearance for a role. She famously gained 30 pounds for Bridget Jones’s Diary, lost it, and then gained it again for the sequel.
Therefore, no one was really surprised when Renée agreed to spend two hours a day in a makeup chair getting prosthetics, wigs, and contact lenses applied — all in order to play Judy Garland in the drama/musical Judy. Clearly, all those hours were worth it because Zellweger won an Oscar for the role.
Hilary Swank as Amelia Earhart
Hilary Swank is undeniably beautiful but her features aren’t exactly one-of-a-kind (just look at a photo of her next to Jennifer Garner). Therefore, not too much needed to be done in order to transform the actress into Amelia Earhart for the movie Amelia.
The main thing was cutting Hilary’s hair short, after which she donated it to women who have lost their own hair to cancer. Now, Swank is encouraging other women to donate their locks as well.
Demetrius Shipp Jr. as Tupac Shakur
Thousands of people auditioned for the role of Tupac Shakur in All Eyez on Me, however, no one else stood a chance once producers saw Demetrius Shipp Jr.
At that time, the actor was working in retail and his colleagues called him “Pac” due to his uncanny resemblance to the rapper. In fact, since the movie has come out, people have been scouring the internet to see if the two men are related (they aren’t)!
Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles
Maybe people consider Jamie Foxx’s portrayal of Ray Charles in Ray to be his best performance yet. However, transforming into the musician wasn’t easy. Jamie lost 30 pounds and he glued his eyes shut in order to learn how to navigate the world like Ray, who was blind.
“Once I got down to that weight, and when we got the hair together, and I put those shades on, and I listened to that music, I said, ‘Watch out. Something is about to happen.’” Foxx wasn’t wrong! In fact, he won both an Academy and Golden Globe award for his performance in the film.
Emma Stone as Billie Jean King
Emma Stone needed to obtain Billie Jean King’s athletic figure before she could play the tennis icon in Battle of the Sexes. The actress gained 15 pounds of lean muscle in order to achieve the look and, of course, she learned how to play tennis.
To complete the transformation, Emma was given spray tans, minimal makeup, a new hair color, and of course, a pair of glasses just like Billie Jean’s.
Charlize Theron as Megyn Kelly
In order to prepare for the movie Bombshell, all of the actresses and their real-life counterparts were 3D body scanned and casts of their faces were created. Of course, Charlize Theron was part of this process for her transformation into Megyn Kelly.
Charlize wore prosthetic pieces, makeup, and contact lenses — a process that took roughly three hours. Apparently, the hardest thing to get right where Megyn’s eyes. Charlize had to wear fake lashes and prosthetic eyelids, which made it difficult for her to blink.
Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett
Kirsten Stewart did an amazing job portraying Joan Jett in The Runaways and we love her just as much as the next person. That being said, we have to admit that this photo of Joan makes us think of Aubrey Plaza more than Kristen.
That being said, Joan was a producer on the movie and said that Kristen would “listen to my accent and watch my body language. She’s an actress of weight, honesty, integrity, and depth.” So, who are we to argue?
Taron Egerton as Elton John
If you had trouble recognizing Taron Egerton in the movie Rocketman, don’t worry — you’re not the only one. In order to properly portray Elton John, Taron had to be willing to completely change his look and, according to the movie’s makeup artist, the actor was up for anything!
“He was very up for dying his own hair and taking his hairline back and shaving a little bit away at the front.” Additionally, Taron was given sideburns, eyebrow piercings, and tooth enamel.
Robert Downey Jr. as Charlie Chaplin
Robert Downey Jr.’s portrayal of Charlie Chaplin in the 1992 hit Chaplin was a career-defining moment for the actor. Robert was dedicated to looking, moving, and behaving just like Chaplin.
Therefore, the actor learned how to play tennis and the violin with his left hand. He changed the way he walked and his overall demeanor, with the help of a coach. In the end, Robert’s efforts paid off, as he got an Oscar nomination for this role.
Philip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote
Philip Seymour Hoffman faced a unique challenge while playing Truman Capote in Capote. The actor was 5’8″ but Truman was only 5’2″. In order to keep Capote’s stature realistic, the director cast taller actors opposite Philip and even had other people stand on boxes when sharing a scene with him.
Additionally, Philip lost weight and spoke in a higher pitch than usual, for this role. Philip had once said that changing his appearance helped his acting, as he learned, “It couldn’t have been easy being that guy.”
Jennifer Lopez as Selena
Jennifer Lopez’s transformation into Selena for the movie Selena was more about the singer’s movement than physical appearance. While J.Lo left capturing Selena’s aesthetics to the makeup artists, she worked on performing like Selena.
According to producers, Jennifer was the only one, out of thousands who auditioned, that actually changed her dancing to match that of Selena’s. This role catapulted J.Lo into stardom and made her the first Latina actress to ever make a million bucks for a movie role.
Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe
We don’t envy the actress who ends up getting compared to Marilyn Monroe, but that’s exactly what Michelle Williams signed up for when she was cast as the icon in My Week With Marilyn.
Michelle obtained her Marilyn-esque look via weight gain, wigs, makeup, and, of course, a fake mole. However, the movie’s makeup artist chose not to use any prosthetics. ”We weren’t doing a look-alike thing. The film is about the person behind the image.”
Nicole Kidman as Virginia Woolf
Nicole Kidman spent three hours a day in the makeup chair while filming The Hours so that she’d look like Virginia Woolf. The main element of her transformation was a prosthetic nose that made Nicole unrecognizable.
So much so, in fact, that moviegoers would watch the entire movie without realizing who the famous lead was! Nicole enjoyed the fake nose, saying it was a nice break from fame. “It was fun to be able to go out of my trailer and not have anyone know me.”
Bill Hader as Andy Warhol
Usually, when this much effort is put into making an actor look strikingly similar to a real person, it’s for some sort of biopic or drama. However, that wasn’t the case when it came to Bill Hader transforming into Andy Warhol for an extended cameo in Men in Black 3.
Bill’s performance, albeit short, was so spot on that many people thought that Warhol himself had actually appeared in the film!
Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs
Ashton Kutcher famously took on method acting to play Steve Jobs in Jobs, including adopting the Apple founder’s diet. Therefore, it’s no surprise that the actor’s body changed to duplicate Jobs’s. However, Ashton’s facial hair proved to be a problem.
He wanted to use his real beard and simply change the length according to the scene. Unfortunately, that didn’t work because the movie wasn’t filmed in chronological order. In the end, Ashton had to shave off his beard and wear a fake one.
Steve Carell as John du Pont
Steve Carell getting cast as John du Pont in Foxcatcher was controversial, as people weren’t sure the typically comedic actor could handle such a dramatic role. Clearly, Steve proved the critics wrong by seemingly morphing into John on screen.
Not only was his personality unrecognizable but so was Steve’s appearance. The actor wore a prosthetic nose, lips, and eyebrows, as well as makeup to make his skin look paler. All in all, becoming John took three hours a day and completely altered Steve’s career.
Audrey Tautou as Coco Chanel
Audrey Tautou got the opportunity to wear some of Coco Chanel’s most iconic designs while playing the fashion designer in Coco Before Chanel.
Audrey felt that Coco’s androgynous style helped her get into character as a woman who struggled to be taken seriously in a world that caters to men. “I think it changes the way men are looking at us. You stop being just an object of desire or of fantasy.”
Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II
Starring in The Queen gave Helen Mirren the distinction of being the only actress to ever portray both Queens Elizabeth I and Elizabeth II. Helen says resembling the Queen was easy as she believes they share the same “default” facial expression of a slight frown.
In order to perfect her portrayal, Mirren wore a wig and glasses and studied Queen Elizabeth II’s mannerisms. The actress did such an incredible job that her performance earned the movie a five-minute-long standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival.
Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison
Val Kilmer’s excellent portrayal of Jim Morrison in The Doors was largely due to method acting. The actor immersed himself in Morrison’s lifestyle (we hope he left out some of the less healthy aspects of Jim’s activities).
Val wore the same clothes, imitated his way of speaking, and adopted his mannerisms. He also lost weight and spent six months learning The Doors’ songs, in order to convincingly imitate the troubled artist. Kilmer explains that his goal was to perfect the singer’s “edge.”
Evan Rachel Wood as Madonna
Julia Garner may have been chosen to play Madonna in her biopic but Evan Rachel Wood was selected to play the Queen of Pop in Weird: The Al Yankovich Story.
Evan explained that the hardest part of becoming Madonna was embodying her presence. “She is just fully confident, completely self-assured. She is controlling every room that she’s in. So that was a switch I had to lean into and flip, I think.”
Jennifer Hudson as Aretha Franklin
The makeup artists who worked on the film Respect were tasked with turning Jennifer Hudson into Aretha Franklin and they understood the assignment perfectly!
Makeup artist Stevie Martin explained that they’d look at old photos of Franklin and they “took inventory of when she wore eyeshadow and when she didn’t, when her winged liner was intense and when it wasn’t, when she was sweating and when she wasn’t.” All that information would then be applied to Jennifer’s costume.
Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate
Margot Robbie was tasked with becoming the beloved Sharon Tate in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood. Production had an interesting challenge in that clips from Tate’s movie The Wrecking Crew appear in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood.
Rather than recreating those scenes with Margot, production decided to just use the original movie with Sharon herself. Margot’s portrayal of Sharon was so spot on that most audiences didn’t even notice a different actress was featured in the clip!
Cynthia Erivo as Harriet Tubman
Cynthia Erivo admires the fact that Harriet Tubman was a strong woman, both physically and emotionally. Therefore, the actress wanted to build up her strength in order to play Tubman in Harriet. Cynthia rode her bike for two hours a day in preparation for the role.
She also rode horses while wearing corsets, so she’d be used to moving around in such clothing. “I just wanted to make sure I was ready physically so I didn’t have to think about that when I was on set.”
Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg
Clearly, there’s something about men with last names that end in “berg,” as evidenced by Jesse Eisenberg, Andy Samberg, and Mark Zuckerberg appearing on Saturday Night Live together, looking like triplets. Jesse famously played Zuckerberg in The Social Network before ever meeting him.
When asked about how accurate Eisenberg’s portrayal was, Mark said that his personality was misrepresented. The wardrobe, however, was on point. “Every single fleece and shirt I had in that movie is actually a shirt or fleece that I own.”
Nicole Kidman as Gretchen Carlson
As with all of the Bombshell cast, Nicole Kidman bore a striking resemblance to her character’s real-life counterpart, Gretchen Carlson. The actress was given a prosthetic nose and chin, as well as body padding as Carlson is more curvaceous than Kidman.
The rest of Nicole’s uncanny resemblance to Gretchen was achieved through a wig, makeup, and excellent acting. Unsurprisingly, Bombshell won an Oscar for Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling.
Naomi Watts as Princess Diana
Casting Naomi Watts as Princess Diana in the movie Diana surprised roughly zero people, as the actress moves with the same regal air as the late princess herself. Unfortunately, critics absolutely tore Diana apart.
Although, to be fair, their issue wasn’t with Naomi but with the script. Regardless, a lot of work was put into turning Watts into Diana. The actress was given a prosthetic nose, four wigs, and worked with a dialogue coach for six weeks. Sadly, that wasn’t enough to salvage the film.
Margot Robbie as Tonya Harding
If you’re surprised to see Margot Robbie appear on this list twice, we invite you to look up a photo of her, Jaime Pressly, and Samara Weaving… and then try to tell them apart. Robbie seems to have chameleon-like abilities, which were demonstrated when she played Tonya Harding in I, Tonya.
Margot was given wigs, dated makeup, a neck prosthetic (to add bulk) — as well as prosthetics for her nose, cheeks, chin, and eyes. Of course, the actress received ice skating training, as well.
Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe
Michelle Williams wasn’t the only actress to portray Marilyn Monroe. Ana de Armas also morphed into the iconic beauty for the 2022 film Blonde. Ana spent three hours a day getting her hair and makeup done to look like Marilyn.
The process involved custom-made wigs, prosthetics to cover Ana’s natural hairline, colored contact lenses, and the actress had to have her eyebrows shaved and bleached. The movie’s makeup artist has predicted that Monroe’s fans will “lose their minds” when they see the film.
Will Smith as Muhammad Ali
Will Smith gained 35 pounds of muscle in order to play Muhammad Ali in the biopic Ali. Smith’s trainer, Darrell Foster, explained, “I took Will up to 10,000 feet in Aspen, Colorado so he could understand what it felt like to experience oxygen deprivation […] and how it feels to actually not be able to breathe and you’ve still gotta keep fighting.”
Foster continued, “He fell to his knees and I made him write Ali’s name in the snow. And he said: ‘Now I get it.’”
Daniel Radcliffe as Weird Al
Daniel Radcliffe’s face and hair perfectly matched Weird Al’s in the movie Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, however, his body confused fans. Radcliffe’s physique was more buff than the real Al’s body type.
The actor explained that he wasn’t asked to lose muscle mass because the producers thought a strangely ripped Al was funny. Yankovic himself has praised Radcliffe’s performance by saying, “This is the role future generations will remember him for.” Either he’s joking or Weird Al has never heard of Harry Potter.
Charlize Theron as Aileen Wuornos
Transforming the conventionally beautiful Charlize Theron into Monster’s Aileen Wuornos was no easy feat! The actress had to gain 30 pounds, which she achieved by not saying ‘no’ to foods she usually declines, and giving up exercising altogether.
Charlize also had to damage her hair and barely wash it, so it’d look greasy. She wore prosthetic dentures, colored contact lenses, and makeup that made her skin look damaged. All in all, the actress was completely unrecognizable!
Eddie Redmayne as Stephen Hawking
Given that Eddie Redmayne portrayed Stephen Hawking at various ages, and in various degrees of health, in The Theory of Everything, the makeup artists had to constantly change his look. Some parts of the movie just required makeup, while others called for prosthetics.
In order to make Eddie appear to be shrinking, he was purposely given clothes that were too big for him and a wheelchair that was too large. Redmayne also spent time with ALS patients so he could better understand their experiences.
Lady Gaga as Patrizia Reggiani
Lady Gaga is usually known for her outlandish looks but when it came to playing Patrizia Reggiani in House of Gucci, the pop star had to tone everything down. Gaga dyed her hair brown and wore dated makeup looks.
She also had to wear wigs for the role (which isn’t exactly new to her) and used makeup to create wrinkles on her face. The makeup artists insisted on getting Gaga to naturally look like Patrizia — without any prosthetics or visual effects. Mission accomplished!
Andre 3000 as Jimi Hendrix
Andre 3000 was nervous about playing Jimi Hendrix in Jimi: All Is by My Side because Jimi was 27 when he passed away and Andre was in his late 30s at the time. However, the director and Andre’s teenage son were both persistent, finally persuading the actor/rapper.
Andre explained that he had to lose weight and get a perm for the role. He also had to learn how to walk like Jimi, talk like Jimi, and play guitar with his left hand — just like Jimi.
Sandra Bullock as Leigh Anne Tuohy
Sandra Bullock may have been cast as Leigh Anne Tuohy in The Blind Side but, originally, the role was written for Julia Roberts. Sandra was chosen as a replacement and the real Leigh Anne was delighted with the studio’s choice.
“It was amazing! I mean, she wore my same makeup, fingernail polish, my clothing. She would go through my stuff, I was like, ‘Sandy, no one knows this, get over it.’ But she’s a perfectionist.” Clearly, that perfectionism is how one wins an Oscar!
Tom Hanks as Walt Disney
Tom Hanks always seems to transform himself into whatever character he’s playing, but the actor really outdid himself when portraying Walt Disney in Saving Mr. Banks. In preparation for the role, Hanks grew out his mustache to match that of Walt’s and he also went to Disney’s family museum.
“I spent like six hours there each day. I looked at every piece of video and heard every piece of audio and looked at every piece of artifact that was there.” It shows!
Austin Butler as Elvis
The production team in general, and Austin Butler in particular, went to extreme lengths to turn the actor into the famed King of Rock & Roll. Regarding the physical transformation — as they went through Elvis’s life, Butler had to wear more and more prosthetics, starting with just the cheekbones and end with a full-body suit.
As for the famous voice, Butler practiced relentlessly to change his voice to match the late star. So much so that he claimed in an interview that he probably changed his voice forever “with all that singing.” In fact, thanks to his transformation, he’s actually the one singing in many of the film’s musical numbers!
Julia Roberts as Elizabeth Gilbert
Eat, Pray, Love isn’t the first movie Elizabeth Gilbert inspired. Coyote Ugly is also based on Gilbert’s experiences as she used to work at the establishment and was a Coyote herself.
This means that Julia Roberts’ portrayal of Elizabeth wasn’t the first, though it was impressive! However, fans were disappointed that while Gilbert gained 30 pounds in Italy, Roberts only gained 10 for the role. If you ask us, that’s just being nitpicky!
O’Shea Jackson Jr. as Ice Cube
O’Shea Jackson Jr. had a little extra help looking exactly like a young Ice Cube in Straight Outta Compton and that help came in the form of genetics. As you may have guessed, O’Shea is Ice Cube’s son!
While O’Shea’s physical appearance was already on point, the actor still had to learn his father’s mannerisms, how to rap like him, and the lingo of the ‘80s. As for the final result? The Ice Cube says that he’s proud of his son’s work.
Angela Bassett as Tina Turner
Angela Bassett must’ve felt the pressure on the set of What’s Love Got to Do With It as Tina Turner was present, and was able to see exactly how Angela was portraying her. Bassett spent hours a day in dance training in order to obtain both Turner’s physique and her choreography.
The actress also learned how to speak like Tina and imitate her mannerisms. The two women became fast friends and Tina even braided Angela’s hair on set, leading to her look being truly authentic!
Jared Leto as Paolo Gucci
Jared Leto’s mesmerizing portrayal of Paolo Gucci in House of Gucci is nothing short of a cinematic transformation. The Oscar-winning actor effortlessly channels Paolo’s eccentricity and charm, with a physical resemblance so uncanny it’s as if he stepped straight out of the ’80s fashion scene.
Leto’s commitment to embodying his characters shines through, from his gaunt appearance in Dallas Buyers Club to the maniacal laughter of the Joker in Suicide Squad. Leto’s metamorphic prowess continues to redefine the boundaries of on-screen immersion, making him a chameleon in the realm of unforgettable performances.
Elle Fanning as Michelle Carter
Elle Fanning made waves as Michelle Carter in The Girl From Plainville, perfectly capturing the real-life drama surrounding the infamous texting-suicide case. Fanning’s eerie resemblance to Carter adds an extra layer of authenticity to the chilling narrative.
