Jennifer Aniston, Charlize Theron, Gwyneth Paltrow, Renée Zellweger – dedicated Hollywood actresses who ‘got fat’ or lost the make-up to play a character
From piling on more than 20kg to forgoing exercise and refusing make-up, these actresses showed bravery in changing their appearance for the worse because the job demanded it
Sometimes the ideal actor or actress isn’t on the casting books. That has led many Hollywood professionals to undergo remarkable body transformations to look the part for certain films – think Christian Bale’s dramatic weight loss and skeletal figure in The Machinist or his perfectly buff investment banker in American Psycho.
For women, such extreme physical transformations are tougher given the intense scrutiny their physical appearance is under on a daily basis. Still, that hasn’t stopped some of Hollywood’s top talent from risking an “ugly” look to give proper consideration to the character they’re playing. Here are five examples of women who changed their appearance for the “worse” because the job demanded it.
Renée Zellweger in Bridget Jones’s Diary
One of the most famous – even celebrated – examples of an actress putting on weight for a role was when Renée Zellweger signed up to play Bridget Jones, a 32-year-old unmarried woman with concerns about how much she weighed. Zellweger added 30 pounds (13.6kg) for both of the first two Bridget Jones films. For the sequel that meant jumping from a size 4 to a size 14.
Charlize Theron in Monster
Jennifer Aniston in Cake