Charlize Theron, the actress known for several of her iconic roles such as Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road and Atomic Blonde has devoted all of herself to her roles in Hollywood. The actress has gone through an intense journey of losing and gaining weight rapidly to suit her roles.

Much like Charlize Theron, there are several iconic actors in Hollywood that have exercised to their limits and eaten to their heart’s fill for several roles that required a change in their physical appearances to really deliver the story. Here’s a list of 11 actors who changed their physical appearances for their beloved projects.

1) Charlize Theron
Charlize Theron
Charlize Theron, the actress known for her role in the 2003 movie titled Monster, has had quite an incredible journey of gaining weight while shooting the 2018 movie Tully. In an interview, the actress revealed that she had to gain 50 lbs in just three months!

“And then, after three weeks, it’s not fun anymore. Like, all of a sudden, you’re done eating that amount and then it becomes a job.” She further continued, “I was very heavy, literally and figuratively. My soul just felt really heavy on this film, and I was just really unhealthy.”

2) Matthew McConaughey
Hollywood star Matthew McConaughey

Starring in Interstellar, it’s hard to imagine the actor portraying a cowboy role with AIDS but that is exactly what he did back in 2013 with Dallas’ Buyers Club. For the role, the actor had to eat less than 500 calories per day for the role of a cowboy stricken with AIDS and he portrayed it beautifully.

In 2016, the actor starred in Gold wherein he had to gain weight rapidly for his role! The actor gained 47 lbs for the role and the movie went on to receive an average rating of 6.7/10 on IMDB.

3) Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson

Although he is a rapper, he starred in the 2011 movie titled All Things Fall Apart. Portraying the role of a football player battling cancer, the rapper lost 54 lbs in a little under nine weeks for his portrayal! As per the rapper, he lost this much weight by having a diet of liquids and a three-hour daily workout.

“The weight started coming off, and my manager told me: ‘You better get yourself to a doctor!’ I just didn’t want to go because I had to match the look in my mind” said 50 Cent.

4) Chris Pratt
Chris Pratt in Parks and Recreation
Chris Pratt found fame by starring in the role of Andy Dwyer in the 2009 American sitcom Parks and Recreation. Following his run in the sitcom, the actor found the golden opportunity to star in the 2014 MCU movie Guardians of the Galaxy as the lead role of Peter Quill.

As per the reports, the actor lost 60 lbs for his role and stated that “I actually lost weight by eating more food, but eating the right food”.

5) Christian Bale
Christian Bale in The Machinist.
The iconic actor known for going to extreme lengths for his role, did go to extreme lengths for his role in the 2004 movie The Machinist. Christian Bale reportedly lost 62 lbs for his role in the movie and revealed that he had a filthy habit of smoking cigarettes.

“Also, at the time I was engaged in a very filthy habit of smoking. So, I was rolling my own cigarettes and sitting there puffing away,” said Bale. He revealed that he used to have a diet of an apple, a tuna can, and some black coffee which amounted to less than 200 calories per day.

6) Jared Leto
Jared Leto in Suicide Squad (2016)
Back in the year 2000, Jared Leto lost 25 lbs for his role in the movie titled Requiem for a Dream. Although it wasn’t that dramatic of a weight loss, he rapidly gained a whopping 60 lbs for his next role in the movie titled Chapter 27. 

“I’m not sure it was the wisest choice, A friend of mine was recently going to gain weight for a film, and I did my best to talk him out of it. Just because you can lose the weight doesn’t mean the impact it had on you isn’t there anymore,” said the actor after the added weight was so much to bear that it left him with gout and that he wasn’t able to walk to the set anymore!

7) Anne Hathaway
Anne Hathaway in Les Miserables
Anne Hathaway starred in 2012 in the iconic musical movie Les Misérables. She portrayed the role of Fantine, a starving pro*titute in the musical. As per the report, the actress lost a whopping 25 lbs for the role.
“I just had to stop eating for a total of 13 days shooting. I was on a starvation diet to look like I was near death in a film… but I went at it with a plan and I had a guide, a nutritionist kind of helped me with it”. 
The actress lost 10 lbs during pre-production and another 15 lbs during the shooting of the movie.

8) Renée Zellweger

Renée Zellweger gained 30 lbs for her role as Bridget Jones in the 2001 movie titled Bridget Jones’s Diary which earned her an Oscar nomination. The actress reportedly had a diet of 4000 calories per day to rapidly gain weight.

The actress revealed that “For Bridget, I sat around and ate a lot of milky, high-fat things. And after filming was over, I just stopped and went back to the gym”. 

9) Zac Efron

Zac Efron in Baywatch
For his role in the 2017 movie Baywatch, the actor revealed that to attain that muscular six-pack physique, he had developed insomnia as he often started his workouts at 4 in the morning. Speaking to Men’s Health, the actor recalled that maintaining that physique took a heavy toll on Efron’s life.
“I started to develop insomnia, and I fell into a pretty bad depression, for a long time. Something about that experience burned me out. I had a really hard time re-centering.”
10) Hugh Jackman
Hugh Jackman as Wolverine
Hugh Jackman found international acclaim when he portrayed the role of Wolverine in the X-Men franchise. Being a lethal killing machine with a muscular physique to maintain, the actor had to follow a very strict diet to portray the role of Logan.

As per the reports, the actor gained 20 lbs of muscle each time he had to reprise his role as Wolverine in the Foxverse. Having a strict diet and intense exercise to follow, the actor revealed that he does not regret taking up the role and that he enjoys the intense regime.

11) Hilary Swank

Ending this list on one of the actors who are underappreciated, Hilary Swank starred in the 2004 movie titled Million Dollar Baby. In an interview, the actress revealed her intense regime and how she impressed the producers by gaining 9 additional pounds.
“My training was two and a half hours of boxing and approximately an hour and a half to two hours lifting weights every day, six days a week. The producers asked me to gain 10 pounds of muscle. I gained 19 pounds of muscle. I started at 110 and went to 129. And in order to do that, I had to eat 210 grams of protein a day.”
These actors indeed gave it their all in dedication to their roles as every actor received high recognition for their roles and movies.