15 Actors That Became Unrecognizable in Roles

Being an actor means entering a constant state of transformation, and a little makeup never hurts the metamorphosis. A radical bodily transformation, a robust heaping of prosthetics, and oversized dentures are just some of the ways that actors have fooled audiences more convincingly than David Blaine.

While critics often praise performances where the actor seems wholly immersed in a role, these Oscar-winning performances don’t necessarily require a performer to look drastically different than they do at an LA-based Starbucks. Some roles, though, call for more than method acting or a virtuoso performance — they require the actor to look nothing like their natural self.

Being unrecognizable does not guarantee a good performance. In many cases, though, a thoroughly disguised actor allows viewers to forget they are watching a movie more easily than they otherwise could. For this reason alone, unrecognizable roles deserve recognition.

1. Colin Farrell: The Batman (2022)

Colin Farrell has ridden his rugged, brooding Irish looks to a lucrative career chock-full of roles reserved for the handsome action hero. Since his 1995 debut in Frankie Starlight, Farrell has proven adept at playing both the anti-hero and the antagonist, with memorable turns in Minority Report, Miami Vice, In Bruges, and True Detective reinforcing his M.O. as a good-looking lead with plenty of bad habits and intentions.

In 2022’s The Batman, Farrell does not rely on his looks at all — in fact, under a costume store’s worth of prosthetics, Farrell’s The Penguin looks more like Jason Clarke than Colin Farrell. Nevertheless, the Irishman’s habit of scene-stealing is alive and well in The Batman.

2. Christian Bale: The Machinist (2004)

Christian Bale makes it clear he’s a real-deal thespian. Don’t believe him? Would a non-dedicated actor lose (or gain) ungodly amounts of weight in a matter of months just to collect a paycheck? From American Hustle to Vice, Bale has a penchant for making his audiences squint before they recognize his unusually jowly or bony facial structure.

Even by Christian Bale’s standards, his dedication to the role in The Machinist is abnormal. If the goal was to evoke genuine concern for Bale’s health, he nailed it. After losing 63 pounds to play a sleep-deprived industrial worker, Bale appeared on screen as a literal shell of himself.

3. Gary Oldman: Darkest Hour (2017)

Whenever a recognizable actor plays a well-known historical figure, executives can bet on a hefty makeup budget. Darkest Hour is Exhibit A.

Gary Oldman had become a household face thanks to his turn as Lieutenant James Gordon in the 2008 classic The Dark Knight. Winston Churchill has been a stalwart in virtually every World War II documentary produced, with his ever-present scowl conjuring immediate recognition among those with a ninth-grade education. Yet, despite Oldman admitting that he looks nothing like the polarizing Prime Minister, legendary makeup artist Kazuhiro Tsuji fooled audiences convincingly.

4. Tilda Swinton: Suspiria (2018)

Few actresses have as unique a look as Tilda Swinton, whose almost extraterrestrial features qualify her for cold, detached roles. Yet, makeup has always served as the transformative property that allows great actors to immerse themselves in non-routine roles, as was the case with Tilda Swinton in the 2018 dark drama Suspiria.

Swinton, rather than occupying her usual role of Machiavellian businesswoman or stressed-out mother of a psychopathic child, plays an 82-year-old man in Suspiria. In a case of Hollywood hijinks, director Luca Guadagnino attempted to hide the fact that Swinton played the character (instead insisting that the actor was a first-timer named Lutz Ebersdorf).

5. Michael Keaton: Beetlejuice (1988)

“Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Bettlej-Michael Keaton?”

In what could have easily been one of Tim Burton’s incoherent, gimmick-reliant flops, Beetlejuice instead became one of the director’s most acclaimed and beloved movies. It’s no coincidence that the dark comedy won the 1989 Oscar for Best Makeup. Keaton’s turn as the eponymous ghost removal expert would not have been possible without his trademark frenetic energy. It was the makeup, though, that made Keaton into a believable visitor from the underworld.

6. Emma Thompson: Nanny McPhee (2005)

Born in 1959, Emma Thompson has gracefully sashayed her way into conversations about ageless beauty. Yet, you’d never know it if your only Emma Thompson experience was Nanny McPhee.

A movie that combines Supernanny with Harry Potter, Nanny McPhee sees Thompson playing a snaggle-toothed, frizzy-haired witch (governess, to let the IMDb description writers tell it). The actress’ Miss Trunchbull demeanor is also a stark departure from her typical airy ways, and many audience members may not have realized Thompson was in the film until the credits rolled.

7. Brendan Fraser: The Whale (2022)

While Brendan Fraser (former action star) did experience a drastic real-life weight gain, the actor wore a fat suit to portray a morbidly obese instructor who refuses to use his camera when teaching his class remotely. If someone saw the Brendan Fraser outrunning ghouls in The Mummy and the Brendan Fraser confined to the couch in The Whale, “unrecognizable” is arguably the most fitting descriptor.

While everyone’s looks fade over time, Fraser has proven that physical fluctuations can’t define his acting ability — in fact, his turn in The Whale earned him his first Best Actor Oscar.

8. Jared Leto: Dallas Buyers Club (2013)

Jared Leto became a whole new person (who became a whole new person) when playing the transgender woman Rayon in Dallas Buyers Club.

Not only was Leto’s wig and makeup obstructing viewers from noticing him, but the polarizing actor also lost 40 pounds to portray someone dying of AIDS. While the perpetually upset crowd complained that Leto was not actually transgender, the Academy liked Leto in the role. He took home the 2014 Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

9. Josh Brolin: Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Some might place Josh Brolin in a different category than several other shape-shifting actors on this list. After all, how much credit does an actor get when CGI creates their camouflage?

The accomplished leading man belongs among the others on this list because Thanos is far more than high-definition animation. Brolin’s deliberate, gravel-voiced acting also made the villain one of the most iconic and convincing in comic-book film history. Frequent pop-culture references to Thanos signal just how real audiences considered the larger-than-life antagonist to be.

10. Marion Cotillard: La Vie En Rose (2007)

While she is now one of the more accomplished female actresses, Marion Cotillard was hardly a household name when she starred in Le Vie En Rose in 2007. In fact, most consider this Cotillard’s breakthrough role, earning her the 2008 Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of French songstress Edith Piaf.

Yet, as Cotillard has proceeded to star alongside the likes of Johnny Depp and Leo DiCaprio, fans who return to her role as Piaf might be shocked at the high hairline, pencil-thin eyebrows, and utter unfamiliarity.

11. Austin Butler: Dune: Part Two (2024)

Fans of the Dune franchise might have raised an eybrow upon hearing that the guy who portrayed Elvis Presley play the lead villain in Dune: Part Two. Stranger yet, Austin Butler would portray a bald-headed Harkonnen with a serpent’s demeanor and a Machiavellian drive for Arrakis control.

The clean-shaven head was part of Butler’s transformation, but his improvisational and immersive dedication to the role of Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen had audiences quickly placing their reservations aside. An off-script kiss on his Jabba the Hutt-like co-star was one of many signs that Butler was totally dedicated to tricking audiences.

12. Brad Pitt: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

David Fincher’s 2008 drama The Curious Case of Benjamin Button garnered plenty of marvel and anticipation. Between the can’t-miss director and a beloved leading man at the top of his game, audiences flocked to the theaters to see what Brad Pitt aging in reverse would look like.

The film sat on Hollywood’s back-burner for years, with studies daunted by the prospect of portraying someone who goes from old man to infant (rather than the usual course of aging). Director Fincher and makeup artist Greg Cannom oversaw a constant makeup application process that required 18 months to film, and the result is visually glorious.

13. Steve Carell: Foxcatcher (2014)

Fans know Steve Carell as a man of many costumes. Whether he donned a bandana as Prison Mike or entered the office with a second papier-mache head, audiences had practice spotting Carell’s attempted illusions.

Even so, his portrayal of the tortured heir John DuPont was unlike any role Carell had occupied to date. From the unpredictable, interpersonally detached persona to the bony appearance and an avian prosthetic nose, Carell dove headfirst into his first meaningful dramatic role. It paid off, too: Carell nabbed his first Oscar nomination for his performance.

14. Tom Hardy: Bronson (2008)

Tom Hardy often gets jacked for film roles. From Warrior to The Dark Knight Rises, Hardy has proven himself one of the actors most capable of bulking up before the boom mics go live.

The scene-stealing actor’s portrayal of notorious English ne’er-do-well Charles Bronson required Hardy to shave his head, lift heavy weights, and get intimate with his most unhinged instincts. As a method performer, Hardy reportedly met with the real-life Bronson in high-security psychiatric facilities, getting a glimpse into the effects of near-lifelong solitary confinement.

15. 50 Cent: All Things Fall Apart (2011)

Some might cringe at calling 50 Cent an “actor,” but even his greatest critics (looking at you, Ja Rule) have to admit Fifty’s commitment to All Things Fall Apart. Perhaps the rapper-turned-actor heard the chatter that he was not fit for the craft because he lost more than 50 pounds (how fitting) through a liquid diet and vigorous workout routine.

What a shame that the musician’s role as a football player who faces a cancer diagnosis went largely unseen. Those who did see it didn’t find the film all that impressive, but one has to laud the oft-swoll rapper’s metamorphosis into a bony figment of himself for the film’s sake.