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As character roles demand more and more from actors on the big screen, we take a look at the most dramatic actor-transformations over the past decade – the good, the bad, and the plain ugly…
1. Margot Robbie
The gorgeous Oscar-nominee Margot Robbie in her new film, Mary Queen of Scots (2018) undertakes a shocking transformation as Elizabeth I. With ghostly-white skin, pockmarks and auburn red ringlets, we’ll forgive you for failing to recognise the Aussie beauty.
2. Rooney Mara
American-born Rooney Mara’s portrayal of computer hacker Lisabeth Salander in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011), still stuns us today. Shaving her head and eyebrows, losing a remarkable amount of weight and getting various piercings, Mara nails the gothic look and intimidates the audience. Bravo.
3. Meryl Streep
Academy-awards-nominee Meryl Streep, renowned for her versatile roles, takes on the part of a terrifying witch in the 2014 film Into the Woods. A crowd favourite, Streep gave young children nightmares with her elongated fingers, ash-blue hair and wrinkled skin.
4. Charlize Theron
American-South African actress Charlize Theron completely transforms in 2003 film Monster, playing former prostitute and serial killer Aileen Wuornos. Blotchy and bare-faced, Theron is presented as ‘rough’ and raw, far from the beauty we know her as.
6. Anne Hathaway
A historical transformation, the 2012 film Les Miserables saw Anne Hathaway take on the character of Fantine. With a short haircut and gaunt figure, she nailed the brief of desperate and starving. A far cry from the confident and charming Hathaway we know and love.
7. Matthew McConaughey
Heartthrob Matthew McConaughey has captured hearts since his first comedy appearance in Dazed and Confused, but in Gold (2016) we’re not quite as head-over-heels… McConaughey as Kenny Wells, works his most remarkable transformation yet with a big belly and bald head.
8. Eddie Redmayne
In The Danish Girl (2015), Eddie Redmayne embodies artist Einar Wegener, one of the first men to undergo a sex-change operation. A confronting role, we hardly recognise him as an elegant, red-lipped woman. What a makeover!
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