From Heath Ledger to Charlize Theron, 25 Best Acting Transformations in Films

Role: Margaret Thatcher

Distributed by: The Weinstein Company
Directed by: Phyllida Lloyd
Written by: Abi Morgan

Awards Outcome: Won best actress Oscar

The narrative to get Meryl Streep her third Academy Award was going on for years, especially after big losses for “Adaptation,” “Doubt” and “Julie and Julia.” It took stepping into the prime minister’s shoes and narrowly edging out SAG winner Viola Davis (“The Help”) to get her 3/4 of the way to Katharine Hepburn status. Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland also won the Oscar for best makeup for their craftsmanship.

Role: Richard Nixon

Distributed by: Buena Vista Pictures
Directed by: Oliver Stone
Written by: Stephen J. Rivele, Christopher Wilkinson, Oliver Stone

Awards Outcome: Nominated for best actor

Oliver Stone’s takes on political figures and subjects have been well embraced over his career, most notably “Platoon” and “Born on the Fourth of July.” His 1995 examination of disgraced president Richard Nixon didn’t live all the way up to its expectations, especially following his masterful “JFK” (1991). Still, Anthony Hopkins more than gives himself to the role and keeps the audience engaged for its run.

Role: Irving Rosenfeld

Distributed by: Sony Pictures
Directed by: David O. Russell
Written by: Eric Warren Singer, David O. Russell

Awards Outcome: Nominated for best actor

Academy Award winner Christian Bale (“The Fighter”) has always had a knack for gaining and losing weight for his roles (i.e, “The Machinist”). His balding Irving Rosenfeld, who finds himself entangled in the FBI Abscam operation, as well as a love triangle that includes Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence, garnered him critical acclaim and an Oscar nomination for his efforts. While he remains one of the brighter spots of the black comedy, many still feel he took a spot reserved for Tom Hanks (“Captain Phillips”).

Role: Judy Garland

Distributed by: Roadside Attractions
Directed by: Rupert Goold
Written by: Tom Edge

Awards Outcome: Won best actress Oscar

Don’t call it a comeback, just call it one of the most committed and devoted turns of 2019. After an Oscar win for “Cold Mountain” (2003), Renée Zellweger disappeared into Hollywood obscurity, but that all changed when she landed her portrayal as Judy Garland. Jeremy Woodhead, Oscar-nominated for makeup and hairstyling, transforms Zellweger into the “The Wizard of Oz” star, with all integrity and prosthetics intact. She won her second Oscar for her efforts.

Role: Megyn Kelly

Distributed by: Lionsgate
Directed by: Jay Roach
Written by: Charles Randolph

Awards Outcome: Nominated for best actress

This Oscar-winning makeup team, which includes Kazu Hiro, Anne Morgan and Vivian Baker, who also worked on “Darkest Hour,” brings Megyn Kelly to life under the watchful eye of Charlize Theron in Jay Roach’s look at Fox News’ sexual misconduct allegations. Her co-star Nicole Kidman also underwent prosthetics to become Gretchen Carlson, but Theron nails the mannerisms and internal conflict about her allegiance to the controversial Kelly.

Role: Lisbeth Salander

Distributed by: Music Box Films
Directed by: Niels Arden Oplev
Written by: Rasmus Heisterberg, Nikolaj Arcel (based on “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” by Stieg Larsson)

Awards Outcome: Snubbed by the Oscars

American audiences may be more familiar with David Fincher’s take on the first novel of the popular book series by Stieg Larsson that got Rooney Mara’s first Oscar nomination for best actress in 2011. Still, the original Swedish version has actress Noomi Rapace disappear under the multiple face piercings and slick hairstyle. While its two sequels, “The Girl Who Played With Fire” and “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest,” were released the same year, and frankly paled in comparison, we’ll always remember Rapace’s fearless portrayal opposite the late Michael Nyqvist.

Role: Queen Elizabeth I

Distributed by: Focus Features
Directed by: Josie Rourke
Written by: Beau Willimon (based on the novel “Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart” by John Guy)

Awards Outcome: Snubbed by Oscar

Coming up short in her respective awards year, Margot Robbie manages to prevent you from thinking of Cate Blanchett’s stunning performance in “Elizabeth” (1998). Nominated for a SAG award, the Oscar-nominated makeup team of Jenny Shircore, Marc Pilcher and Jessica Brooks takes on Elizabeth’s flaws under the crown with subtle resolve.

Role: Billie Jean King

Distributed by: Fox Searchlight Pictures (now Searchlight Pictures)
Directed by: Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton
Written by: Simon Beaufoy

Awards Outcome: Snubbed for Oscar

There was a moment during the 2017 Telluride Film Festival (where the Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris sports biopic premiered), when chatter erupted on Film Twitter and among critics that Emma Stone’s stunning performance could have her go back-to-back with Oscar wins, since she had just won for “La La Land” the year prior. But, alas, it wasn’t meant to be as the film could only muster Golden Globe nominations for Stone and her co-star Steve Carell (as Bobby Riggs), before getting passed over by the Academy.

Role: Édith Piaf.

Distributed by: The Weinstein Company
Directed by: Olivier Dahan
Written by: Isabelle Sobelman, Olivier Dahan

Awards Outcome: Won best actress Oscar

While definitely overlong at 140 minutes, Marion Cotillard’s take on the famous French singer who focused on love, loss and sorrow was beloved by critics. With Globes and BAFTA in hand, she was able to squeak by Julie Christie (“Away from Her”) and Elliot Page (“Juno”) for the Academy Award. She also became the first French actress to win an acting Oscar for a French-language film. Makeup team Didier Lavergne and Jan Archibald also walked away with wins for their work on her transformation.

Role: Count Olaf

Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Directed by: Brad Silberling
Written by: Robert Gordon (based on the book “A Series of Unfortunate Events” by Lemony Snicket)

Awards Outcome: Snubbed by Oscar

When Jim Carrey enters a comedy, either good or bad, he gives it his all. Recalling the 2003-2004 awards season, there was minimal but real buzz for his performance as Count Olaf. Many people suggested he could have been a contender for best supporting actor, especially after multiple snubs for “The Truman Show,” “Man on the Moon” and the same year for “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” However, with four Oscar noms for the film and one win for Valli O’Reilly and Bill Corso’s makeup work, a place on this list will have to be enough.

Role: Dick Cheney

Distributed by: Annapurna Pictures
Directed by: Adam McKay
Written by: Adam McKay

Awards Outcome: Nominated for best actor

Fresh off his Academy Award win for adapted screenplay for “The Big Short,” writer and director Adam McKay steered Oscar-winner Christian Bale (“The Fighter”) to become the disgraced and monstrous former vice president of the United States. Bale slides into him with perhaps too much ease before we realize it’s no longer Bale under the layers. Guess that would explain makeup and hairstyling winners Greg Cannom‍‍‌, Kate Biscoe and Patricia Dehaney.

Role: Rayon

Distributed by: Focus Features
Directed by: Jean-Marc Vallée
Written by: Craig Borten, Jean-Marc Vallée

Awards Outcome: Won best supporting actor Oscar

Jared Leto easily could have been listed for a few of his prior performances, such as in “The Little Things” and “Requiem for a Dream,” but he lost a staggering 30 pounds, shaved his eyebrows and waxed his entire body to play Rayon, a trans woman with HIV in Vallée’s biographical drama. Even though Rayon is a fictional person, Leto offers an excellent counterbalance to his co-star’s committed turn. His upcoming “House of Gucci” and “Morbius” might be enough to get him extra spots on this list in the future.

Role: Oswald Cobblepot / The Penguin

Distributed by: Warner Bros
Directed by: Tim Burton
Written by: Daniel Waters, Sam Hamm (based on the characters created by Bob Kane)

Awards Outcome: Snubbed by Oscar

Probably a role that Danny DeVito was born to play, his villainous Oswald Cobblepot is playing to cheap seats in the back row, but it’s fun, scary and terrifically executed. Veteran makeup artists Ve Neill, Ronnie Specter and Stan Winston were nominated by the Academy for their efforts. DeVito suffered the genre bias that has accompanied many genre movies in cinema history.

Role: Alphonse “Big Boy” Caprice

Distributed by: Buena Vista Pictures
Directed by: Warren Beatty
Written by: Jim Cash, Jack Epps Jr (based on the characters by Chester Gould)

Awards Outcome: Nominated for supporting actor

With seven Oscar nominations and three statues at the end of the 1991 ceremony, Warren Beatty’s “Dick Tracy” was loved for its technical craft and the over-the-top but infectious work of Al Pacino, just one year before he would win the Oscar for “Scent of a Woman.” Unfortunately, Bruce Davison (“Longtime Companion”) and eventual winner Joe Pesci (“Goodfellas”) had all the buzz going into the night. Still, the wins for John Caglione Jr. and Doug Drexler in makeup sure helped heal the wound.

Role: Ron Woodroof

Distributed by: Focus Features
Directed by: Jean-Marc Vallée
Written by: Craig Borten, Jean-Marc Vallée

Awards Outcome: Won best actor Oscar

Matthew McConaughey and his other Oscar-winning co-star Jared Leto lost a significant amount of weight to prepare for his turn as AIDS patient Ron Woodroof in Jean-Marc Vallée’s best picture-nominated drama. Losing 47 pounds and getting down to a staggering 136 pounds, all the efforts paid off on Oscar night, along with the makeup team of Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews also picking up statues for their efforts.

Role: John du Pont

Distributed by: Sony Pictures Classics
Directed by: Bennett Miller
Written by: E. Max Frye, Dan Futterman

Awards Outcome: Nominated for best actor

All three stars of Bennett Miller’s dark and brooding look at toxic masculinity resulting in tragedy could make the list: Channing Tatum’s jaw and Mark Ruffalo’s hairline are more than worthy. Still, it’s the work of makeup nominees Bill Corso and Dennis Liddiard and Steve Carell’s dedicated and terrifying turn that creates a gem of a film that only gets better as time passes.

Role: Tonya Harding

Distributed by: Neon
Directed by: Craig Gillespie
Written by: Steven Rogers

Awards Outcome: Nominated for best actress Oscar

In my favorite film of 2017, Margot Robbie creates a relatable and heartbreaking character out of the disgraced figure skater Tonya Harding. With fantastic transformations around her, including her Oscar-winning co-star Allison Janney and the incredible Sebastian Stan and Paul Walter Hauser, the bombshell beauty never peaks out of the trashy, unpolished athlete that threw it all away. We can also address the egregious Oscar snub for best makeup that it endured, which has to go down as one of the worst in the last 20 years.

Role: Betelgeuse

Distributed by: Warner Bros
Directed by: Tim Burton
Written by: Michael McDowell, Warren Skaaren, Larry Wilson

Awards Outcome: Snubbed by Oscar

An undisputedly worthy winner for best makeup (Ve Neill, Steve LaPorte and Robert Short), cinema historians have to revisit the year 1988 and declare it Keaton’s year with a powerhouse turn in “Clean and Sober” just after “Beetlejuice” dominated the box office and captured the zeitgeist. Not that the Academy was even really considering him (they totally should have), but I’m sure there was a bit of category confusion surrounding him regarding where he belonged, in either lead or supporting. My vote is for lead and that he should have been there.

Role: Andrew Beckett

Distributed by: TriStar Pictures
Directed by: Jonathan Demme
Written by: Ron Nyswaner

Awards Outcome: Won best actor Oscar

The first of Tom Hanks’ back-to-back Oscar wins in the mid-90s stands as the best of his career, and one of the best in the history of modern cinema. Alongside the prowess of Denzel Washington, Hanks lost tremendous weight, with the magic of makeup work by Academy Award nominees Carl Fullerton and Alan D’Angerio, transforming him into a man dying of AIDS who sues his former employer.

Role: Daniel Hillard

Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Directed by: Chris Columbus
Written by: Randi Mayem Singer and Leslie Dixon

Awards Outcome: Snubbed by Oscar

In one of Robin Williams’ richest and most realized performances, his dedication to a father trying desperately to be with his children is purely spent. Unfortunately, only the makeup team (Greg Cannom, Ve Neill and Yolanda Toussieng) snagged Oscar noms and wins. Williams and the movie were passed over by the Academy, despite best picture and actor (comedy or musical) trophies from the Golden Globes. With incredible transitioning from his regular voice to a British soccer player who has it out for Pierce Brosnan, the role just sings, and it’s a travesty it was ignored. However, it’s hard to stay mad at the Academy considering he would win his Oscar four years later for “Good Will Hunting.”

Role: Professor Sherman Klump / Buddy Love / Papa Cletus Klump / Mama Anna Klump / Grandma Ida Mae Jenson / Ernie Klump Sr. / Lance Perkins

Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Directed by: Tom Shadyac
Written by: David Sheffield, Barry W. Blaustein, Tom Shadyac, Steve Oedekerk (based on “The Nutty Professor” by Jerry Lewis and Bill Richmond)

Awards Outcome: Snubbed by Oscar

The greats Rick Baker and David LeRoy Anderson picked up an Oscar statuette for best makeup for turning comedian Eddie Murphy into seven different characters, all distinct from the next. It surely helped that “The English Patient,” which ran away with nine Oscars, missed out on a nom from the category, preventing it from tying as the most nominated film in history. Murphy himself was a Golden Globe nominee, the runner-up at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association to eventual winner Geoffrey Rush (“Shine”) and won the prestigious National Society of Film Critics Award for best actor. Unfortunately, comedy is always getting the shaft.

Role: Virginia Woolf

Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Directed by: Stephen Daldry
Written by: David Hare (based on “The Hours” by Michael Cunningham)

Awards Outcome: Won best actress Oscar

One part of a fantastic trio of powerful female performances, Nicole Kidman won her Oscar for best actress for her prosthetic nose and inspired turn as famed novelist Virginia Woolf in Stephen Daldry’s sophomore film. Alongside the likes of Julianne Moore (double-nominated that year for this and “Far From Heaven”) and Meryl Streep (nominated in supporting for “Adaptation”), she disappears into the film that picked up multiple noms, including best picture. The best actress race of 2003 was one of the most exciting, leading us to the triumphant moment with the previous year’s best actor winner Denzel Washington said, “by a nose…Nicole Kidman.”

Role: Winston Churchill

Distributed by: Focus Features
Directed by: Joe Wright
Written by: Anthony McCarten

Awards Outcome: Won best actor Oscar

Spending a total of over 200 hours sitting to have makeup applied has to get you a spot on this list, especially if you won the Oscar for best actor. Gary Oldman has delivered dozens of memorable turns, some of which have required massive physical alterations, such as his industrialist Zorg in “The Fifth Element” or his turn as the immortal vampire in “Bram Stoker’s Dracula.” However, his execution as the political leader Winston Churchill in Joe Wright’s exquisite look at the historical figure stands as his single best yet.

Role: Aileen Wuornos

Distributed by: Newmarket Films
Directed by: Patty Jenkins
Written by: Patty Jenkins

Awards Outcome: Won best actress Oscar

Charlize Theron is utterly unrecognizable and delivers a blistering and ferocious performance as real-life serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Patty Jenkins’ intense thriller from the early 2000s. At the time, the late Roger Ebert was so taken by her and the film, he named it the best film of the year, calling Theron’s role “one of the greatest performances in the history of cinema.” Unfortunately, while she won her Oscar against a killer lineup (no pun intended), one of the most significant snubs was the makeup that failed to make the Academy shortlist.

Role: The Joker

Distributed by: Warner Bros
Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Written by: Christopher Nolan, David S. Goyer (based on the DC Comics)

Awards Outcome: Won best supporting actor Oscar

Brilliant, vengeful and downright a masterclass in acting, one of the final performances of Heath Ledger has a cemented place in cinema history. Not only did he win the Oscar posthumously following his untimely death and just months before the film was also released, we now have an expanded best picture lineup because it was omitted from the top category. Nolan’s film picked up eight nominations in total, including makeup for John Caglione Jr. and Conor O’Sullivan, and won two for Ledger and sound editing.