Actors that went above and beyond for an impeccable role

Hollywood is known for its glitter and fabulous environment, which leads us all to presume that the job of an actor is an easy-peasy, effortless one. But sometimes, in order to keep the leading rule in the Hollywood's headlights, actors and actresses have to conduct some major body transformation.

Below we present you just a few of the actors that don't mind being transformed from handsome to ugly in order to complete the role of the character that they were hired to present.

Natalie Portman in the movie "Black Swan"

While watching the "Black Swan", you couldn't just watch pass the petite figure of Nina Sayers, a nearly anorexic ballerina that was obsessed with ballet. The character was successfully played by Natalie Portman, who had to lose 9kg in order to really get into Nina's skin...and bones.

Thanks to her amazing transformation and performance she later gained many awards. We hope she gained some weight as well!

Natalie Portman stated that one of the most difficult challenges of making the film - aside from training and dancing - was modifying her voice. She stated that before working with Darren Aronofsky, directors had constantly criticized what they perceived to be the childish quality of her voice, and encouraged her to work with vocal coaches to make it sound deeper and more adult. The role of Nina required Portman to regress backward and make her voice more child-like. She felt that doing so took her back to a point she worked hard to leave behind.

Anne Hathaway for the film "Les Miserables"

The young and attractive actress demonstrated that she is up for role transformation, whether it is required by the producer or not! 
For the role of skinny Fantine in "Les Miserables", Anne Hathaway went beyond producer's requirements and lost 11kg along with part of her hair. Yes, you heard right! To make the scene more authentic, she had her own hair cut instead of fake ones.
Good job, Anna!

Anne Hathaway actually allowed her hair to be cut very short for the scene where Fantine's hair is cut. Her male hairdresser was put in a dress to double as the haircutting woman, actually cutting Hathaway's hair on set.

Chris Pratt for the "Guardians of the Galaxy"

Chris Pratt definitely did an amazing transformation for the starring role in "Guardians of The Galaxy" and was probably the only one among these actors that is thankful for it!

With losing 27 kg in just six months and replacing them with huge muscles, he didn't just get in shape for the performance, but also gained a body "to die for".

Chris Pratt went on a very strict training regimen and diet for six months and dropped sixty pounds, eventually getting a six-pack for his shirtless scenes. He said it was a lot of hard work, almost "torturous", but when he was filming his shirtless scenes and saw the playback on the monitor, he felt the effort was well worth it and was "extremely excited to see the best possible physical version of himself".

50 CENT in the film "All Things Fall Apart"

The emotional plot of the movie "All Things Fall Apart" was a reference to 50's Cent personal experience, as he had recently lost a dear friend to cancer. But as all strong persons, he decided to be inspired by it and went through an unrecognizable transformation, in order to portray the body of a cancer-dying person.

He lost 23 kg in only nine weeks and didn't stop even when advised to do so by his doctor.

50 Cent weighed 160 pounds when he portrayed the cancer-stricken Deon. The rapper went through a nine-week liquid diet and went on a treadmill three hours a day, losing his entire muscular frame. He has gained more than 40 pounds back after filming wrapped.

Rooney Mara in the movie "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo"

The bad-ass, dark main character of "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" is far from the sweet and cute Rooney Mara, who was chosen to perform it. 
To be successful in this role, she died her hair black and got an edgy haircut, lost 7 kg and pierced her ears, lower lip, nose, eyebrow, and even a nipple.

She later told in an interview that the transformation had an effect on her normal life, making her more confident in choosing a different style.

Mara got the piercings in a series of sessions in Brooklyn and Sweden. The ear, nose, eyebrow, and lip piercings were removed after shooting completed, but she kept the right nipple piercing for possible sequels. "It's not something I want to ever get re-pierced," she said. "So I'm going to keep it in".

Charlize Theron in the film "Monster"

One of the most attractive celebrities, Charlize Theron, was barely recognizable while playing the role of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in the film "Monster". No one knew that you can go so fast from hot to ugly just by not wearing make-up and gaining weight! Charlize Theron did gain 14 kg and wore a denture to make the character look more realistic.

Charlize Theron won the Academy Award for playing Aileen Wuornos.

Matt Damon

While some actors are required to do it once in their career, for others, like Matt Damon, role transformation is part of the job. Matt Damon lost 22 kg when he starred in the movie "Courage Under Fire" (1996) and gained 13 kg for "The Informant!" (2009). Then he quickly lost those additional kilos and gained 7 kg of muscles to look like the guy of our dreams again in the film "Invictus" (2009).

To prepare for the role of Mark Whitacre, Matt Damon purposely gained weight prior to filming. He did this by eating lots of hamburgers, pizza, and dark beer, which he described in an interview as being "really, really, really fun."

Tom Hardy

If you need a guy that goes from handsome to gross, Tom Hardy is the right address. By gaining 20 kg of muscles and fat and being bold he definitely made a good actor and a not-so-good physical appearance in "Bronson" (2008). In 2011 he transformed again, gaining 14 kg of muscles and... a ton of girl's hearts. And he went even further for "The Dark Knight Rises" (2012) with additional 20 kg of muscles.

Tom Hardy stated that the most difficult parts of the movie to shoot were the fight scenes. Not because of the physicality of them, but because he was such a huge Batman fan growing up, that he said: "it felt like I was beating up my childhood hero".

Jared Leto

Famous for his amazing 18 kg weight-loss for the film "Dallas Buyers Club", where he played an HIV positive transgender patient, Jared Leto went through some breathtaking look changes later for the film "Chapter 27", he gained 30 kg.

To add the weight needed to play Chapman, Jared Leto told Jimmy Kimmel he put pints of chocolate Haagen Dazs ice cream in the microwave so he could drink them - with olive oil and soy sauce added: "to get me bloated even more".

Christian Bale

Our absolute winner, between actors who are prepared to get from thin to fat and opposite in a matter of months, if not even days!
Bale is not a stranger to the so-called jo-jo diet. He lost 29 kg for the film "The Machinist" (2004), which was closely followed by "Batman Begins" (2005), where he was again all muscles and strength. 
In 2013 he became overweight as he gained 20 kg of fat for the movie "American Hustle".

Bale noticed he couldn't run for longer than a minute or two because his body had begun to eat away at his muscles.

The main stars of Hollywood have shown that acting is a demanding job and more importantly, they are prepared to submit extreme changes in order to perfect it.