Love watching your favorite sci-fi shows and movies? Well, a lot goes into making sure that you get the best visuals possible. One of the most important things about the characters is their makeup.
Many times, you will see actors donning a lot of makeup to get into character. If you’re interested in looking at some of the most complicated transformations, then stay tuned.
We have compiled a list of 40 of your favorite celebrity transformations throughout this time. Get ready to be amazed to see certain faces that you would have never even imagined to play a particular character!
The Question Is HOW Did They Remove The Nose?
Who doesn’t remember Voldemort? He’s the Harry Potter villain without a nose! Harry Potter fans hate this guy, but also love how the perfectly it fit to the descriptions.
Ralph Fiennes portrayed this character and we’re all concerned about one thing- what happened to his nose? With the help of a ton of makeup and video edits, you were able to see the nose-less Voldemort on-screen.
The scary wizard took a lot of time to get ready as all that makeup definitely needed to be perfect. With adjustments made to the eyebrows, nose, and even the teeth, makeup artists really put in their all to get Voldemort’s character in shape.
Who Would’ve Thought The Real Pepper Looks Like That!
Can we all take a minute out to appreciate how Naomi Gross completely changed her entire look and got into Pepper’s character? Playing pepper was no easy task and she did it phenomenally, we can all agree to this.
But apart from that, look at the tons of makeup that must’ve gone on her! We can only imagine how much time it took to get her all ready for her play. This is one of the craziest transformations that we have seen.
From her hair to teeth, nose, and more, everything was completely changed to get her into character. We’re still in shock at the transformation.
Masking The Eyes To Perfection
We can all agree that Mads Mikkelsen greatest works is of Hannibal. But, there is so much more that this guy can do. Like, be the villain in Doctor Strange. He surely did a great job with the acting.
But, let us also appreciate all those details around his eyes. It looks so real that you could only tell it was makeup if you saw him up close. We guess he had an impeccable makeup team with him to get in all the small and minute details. Also, the entire makeup routine took hours to get ready! We can definitely see why.
That’s… Meryl Streep. Wow!
We cannot believe our eyes. No way is that Meryl Streep- that’s a man! How can someone get in such spectacular details and transform an entire person like that? Well, if anyone saw this picture, no one would be able to tell it is her anyway. Are we right?
The makeup team spent hours on her face trying to get in the beard, moustache, eyebrows, and whatnot! No wonder everything seems so perfect. She was completely converted into a man called Rabbi. Only if you look closely will you be able to tell that it’s her or perhaps not. We surely couldn’t.
From Harley Quinn To Queen Elizabeth I- What Can’t She Do?
Margot Robbie is known for her phenomena acting and the different roles she has taken over. One of her famous characters was Harley Quinn. But, there is so much more that she has done. For instance, look at this picture. She perfected the role of Queen Elizabeth I in the movie Mary Queen of Scotts.
Look at all that makeup and hair! It must have taken the makeup team a good amount of time getting her ready for the role. The white-washed skin and the eyebrows all must have required some time to perfect! Let’s not forget that red wig. We wonder how much time it took to style her.
No One Will Believe Who This Character Was Played By
What do we see? Is that Daniel Grover as a white man? There is no way that these two pictures are of the same guy! Can you? Surprisingly, they are the same person. Danial Glover took on the role of Teddy in Atlanta and we were all shook at his appearance in the TV-series. We still are.
We can only imagine the amount of makeup that went on him to get him to look like this. You thought Margot Robbie was white-washed? Well, this takes the whole thing up so many levels! Who knew makeup had so much power. The man is completely transformed.
All Those Details- We’re Amazed!
The movie, Guardians of the Galaxy, is one of the most astounding movies especially when it comes to the characters. Just take a look at Karen Gillan. Would you even be able to recognize her in the movie? You are probably trying to put together the pieces now! We are completely in awe of how different she looks in this entire getup. Aren’t you?
Gillan played the role of Nebula and surely did her justice. Her makeup, acting, and everything else were amazing. Look at all those details on her face and body. She is even wearing contacts to support her entire look!
Michael Rooker Surely Rocks His Blue Transformation
Another shocking transformation of Guardians of the Galaxy is of Yondu portrayed by Michael Rooker. You might think it is only blue paint, but look again! There is so much going on when you look at this character that the 6 hours his team spent creating him is definitely understandable!
He has paint, prosthetics, and so much more on. Imagine the patience Rooker had to exude while getting all this done. It isn’t an easy job is all we can say. The best thing about the entire look is the metallic Mohawk that gives a cooler look to the character!
Who Knew GoT’s Children Of The Forest Were This Beautiful
We had no idea the children of the forest from Game of Thrones could be this beautiful! Just look at Kae Alexander. Can you imagine the amount of time it took to get all of this put together? We cannot either! But can we all agree as to how mesmerizing this transformation is?
You might be thinking that all actors have to do is just read their lines. But that isn’t true! This transformation took about 10 hours to perfect. Imagine the patient that they all had to work with. Actors certainly don’t have it easy! This transformation proves it perfectly.
The Night King Couldn’t Have Looked More Harmless
If it isn’t the Night King from Game of Thrones! We all know how much we hated this and wanted him gone. But without all that makeup and prosthetics is Richard Brake who looks pretty harmless to us. We can seem to put any similarities between these two. How is it that it was portrayed by one person?
Well, thanks to all that makeup and editing, Richard Brake became the villain we all loved to hate! All those fine details must have taken hours to perfect. There are horns and flesh-like details that needed the extra attention. Not to forget the paint that went on him.
Who Can Say That’s Idris Alba?
Do you see what we see? That is Idris Alba in Star Trek: Beyond. We are beyond amazed at this transformation. How can this man look so different? The makeup, the prosthetics, the details, and everything else here is jaw-dropping amazing! But he had to wake up at 4 in the morning to get all his makeup done. How tiring must that be?
You probably would never believe that it was played by Idris Alba till you looked at the cast list. We are sure you went to check again. But trust us, makeup can do wonders when it comes to transformations! Just look at this. Who would have thought Idris Alba could look like that ever?
Gone But Never Forgotten!
Our favorite evil character of all time is Joker from the Batman. Heath Ledger portrayed the perfect character and we miss him immensely. We still watch Heath Ledger’s portrayal of Joker very frequently given the fact that he is such a phenomenal actor!
Even though you can’t really recognize him the movie, you can clearly see his acting skills shining through! So much makeup went into creating Joker’s look. The eyes, hair, and the prominent cut-from-the-corner lips fit with the character perfectly.
You will also find a lot of people donning Heath Ledger’s Joker look quite frequently. But no one is able to perfect it like this man did! We all miss him.
We Wonder How Long It Took To Get All Those Details On!
Rebecca Romjin was Mystique way before Jennifer Lawrence took over. She perfected the character’s appeal by fully immersing herself into the role. Her shape-shifting character, however, came with a lot of work. The acting was the easy bit. All the other things that came with it were much more difficult, especially the makeup.
She mentioned how it would take about nine hours to get in the role of Mystique. Can you all imagine that? Having to stay put in one place and letting others work on your entire body for 9 hours can surely be taxing. We wonder when she woke up to get this all done.
Artists Had Their Work Cut Out For Apocalypse
We’re all fans of the X-Men and Apocalypse was the hated villain of all time. Oscar Isaac played the character and we cannot understand how a person can completely transform like this. We understand that camera tricks and edits are all part of the game, but this is too much!
The makeup team surely had their work cut out for them as we can tell. Just look at these two pictures. Does it look like this guy could be the Apocalypse? Well, he was! So, we are assuming it took lots of hours, paint, and prosthetics to get him into the character. Let’s not forget that heavy armor either!
That’s Nowhere Close To What Neil Patrick Harrison Looks Like
All these transformations are making us feel something. Just look at this one! Does it look like Neil Patrick Harrison in any way? We are used to him as Barney from How I Met Your Mother. Looking at him like this, we can surely understand all the work that went into this!
Neil Patrick Harrison is completely unrecognizable in this photo! We can see there are edits made to the nose and then there’s they eye patch. Also, the white fuzzy hair and the cap makes it a perfect disguise. It must have taken quite the imagination to get him to look like this.
How Long Did It Take To Cover Bautista’s Tattoos?
We all loved Bautista as a wrestler and we love him as an actor as well. His appearance on Guardians of the Galaxy was quite phenomenal as he played the role of Drax. He made sure to finesse his character and we don’t mean by his acting only. His entire look was just amazing.
Bautista has a lot of tattoos on his body. Makeup artists took hours to airbrush his body to perfect and then add silicone details all over it. The scars and all those flesh-like details look so real. Imagine having to paint someone’s entire body. It would take out all of our day!
Mary Chieffo Is Unrecognizable!
Where’s the similarity here? Can you honestly tell that the character on the right is the beautiful Mary Chieffo? We cannot for a second think that it is her! There is so much going on in her character in Star Trek: Discovery that we are confused.
Her neck, eyes, nose, forehead, and almost everything else is covered with things and makeup. She is completely unrecognizable and looks entirely like an alien. Well, we guess that was the whole idea behind it, but we are living for this transformation! All these sci-fi movies give us a great range of transformations and this one takes the cake.
The Antennas Can Make All The Difference
Did you think we are done with Guardians of the Galaxy characters? Not even close! We all love mantis from the second volume of the movie series. Who doesn’t? She is perhaps the sweetest thing on there. Pom Klementieff played Mantis and had her due share of makeup and prosthetics application. While there isn’t a lot going on, it still took plenty of time to get her ready!
The antenna prosthetics were glued on to her forehead and to complete her look, she had to wear black lenses. While it may not be too many things here, they still transformed Pom completely.
Is That Tilda Swinton? Or Is This A Joke?
Are you seeing what we’re seeing? We see Tilda Swinton on the left, but who is that on the right? Tilda Swinton? No way! As shocking as it may be, it is in fact Tilda Swinton in both these pictures. We’re all shocked just like you are right now. How can a woman completely transform into a man? Even the features don’t match!
She took this role in the movie Suspiria where she played the role of a man. We truly believe that she had an amazing makeup and styling team on board to get her to look like this! It must have also taken hours to perfect this. We can surely see why!
Did You Really Think We Forgot Mrs. Doubtfire?
Here is our favorite actor of all times, Robbin Williams playing the role of Mrs. Doubtfire. The entire movie sent us into laughing fits and we always turn to it when we to have a good laugh. The entire get of Mrs. Doubtfire was phenomenal and we can only imagine how long it must have taken for the makeup team to get him all ready.
Robbin Williams performance was brilliant in almost every movie he has done. Mrs. Doubtfire will surely be remembered by people all over the world. The woman-like get up and the entire theme of the movie is a classic and we miss this actor dearly! We all know that there cannot be any other Mrs. Doubtfire like the one that Robbin Williams portrayed!
Eddy Redmayne Looks Beautiful In Both
Eddy Redmayne is a versatile actor and is known for his phenomenal skills. His character in the Danish Girl is quite different than anything that you commonly see. Eddy Redmayne’s conversion from a man to a woman is truly amazing and if you haven’t watched this movie, then you should definitely add it to your list!
We can easily say that Eddy Redmayne slayed both his looks. He immersed himself into the character and his skills are portrayed in the movie. The makeup surely must have taken a while to perfect. While there were no prosthetics as such used, it was still quite the transformation that we got to see on screen!
Zoe Saldana Can Blow Us Away Either Way
We told you we were not done with Guardians of the Galaxy cast Just look at Zoe Saldana in both of these pictures! This woman is just perfection. Whether she’s playing the character of Gomora with all that makeup or without it, she is the ultimate beauty that we all adore!
Her acting was surely amazing throughout the movie. And, with the entire makeup, she looked like the most beautiful alien that we have ever seen! Just look at those beautiful red locks and green skin. We always thought that aliens were supposed to be gruesome and ugly. But guess we were wrong. Here is Zoe Saldana in all her beauty depicting the perfect alien in Guardians of the Galaxy.
Well, If It Isn’t The King Of Transformations- Johnny Depp
Look who we have here! The icon who takes completely mesmerizing roles that require equally mesmerizing transformations. The Mad Hatter is one of the most popular transformation of Johnny Depp, and we are loving it! He absolutely stuns in almost every role he takes.
Remember Willy Wonka? That too was Johnny Depp! We can surely say he is the amazing at taking his characters to the next level. But that’s not the only thing. The makeup done on the Mad Hatter is stunning. The white skin and the colorful additions all over made this transformation a highly rated one almost everywhere.
Helena Bohman Stuns Us As A Human And Ape!
Do you only remember Helena Bohman from the Harry Potter series? Well, there is so much more that she can do such as become an ape! Here, you see her donning the getup of her role in the Planet of the Apes remake! She starred as a chimpanzee and we love how adorable she looks in this.
But can you imagine all the work that went into making her look like a chimpanzee? We can imagine hours of sitting still and the use of a lot paint and prosthetics! If only we all had the same kind of patient as she does!
Underneath All That Gory Makeup Is Robert Englund
Are you a big fan of the Nightmare on Elm Street series? Then you surely love this character! Robert Englund played Freddy Krueger from the horror movie series. We cannot possibly attach such fearful connotations towards Englund, but Freddy Krueger surely did give us nightmares! Just look at that face!
While we all enjoyed this horror film, Robert Englund went through hours in process to get the look. His face had a lot of makeup experiments done on to perfect the look of Freddy Krueger. With the cinematic edits and the makeup, he surely turned out to be pretty horrific!
What A Terrifying Yet Amazing Transformation
Did you think we missed out on Pennywise? This iconic transformation still scares us the most. The movie itself is pretty scary and with the entire getup on Bill Skarsgard, we had to keep our lights on at night while we slept! The movie It became extremely popular because of the horror rating it promised. Well, it was surely delivered as well.
All that makeup and those effects were quite horrific and sent shivers down out spine! The transformation is superb yet terrifying at the same time and we can’t believe it was Bill Skarsgard who played Pennywise. Can you?
That’s A Lot Of Gold Paint!
Is there anything such as too much gold? Well, we don’t think so. Elizabeth Debicki looks amazing in this entire look. And yes, this is another one from the Guardians of the Galaxy! But can you blame us? All of the characters in the movie have had such amazing transformations that we cannot help ourselves and show you guys!
Elizabeth was required to be on set hours before showtime just to get ready. Makeup artists head to paint her entire body golden and add all the relevant gold accessories for her role. She was, after all, the Golden High Priestess of the Sovereign!
Paul Bettany Looks Completely Different Here!
While some looks take too long to create, others take relatively less time. But does this mean that they’re not effective enough? Not at all. Take a look at Paul Bettany here as the Vision from The Avengers! He has completely transformed into a different being! With the use of paint, a red mask, and prosthetics, he turned into the Vision in about 3 hours.
While that is still a lot of time, it is actually much less than what many other characters took to get ready on set. Nonetheless, Paul Bettany surely perfected his role in The Avengers with this getup!
Jamie Foxx Turns Into Electro
Who is that on the left? It’s blue Jamie Foxx! He played Electro in one of the Spider Man movies and we can surely say that he rocked his entire look! Just see how he looks in his character. While his makeover did not include too many things apart from paint and contact, it still took sufficient time to get him ready.
Throughout his time playing the role, he would immerse himself in an activity to get into character. He would stare at himself in mirror in the getup to get the real feel of the character. Once he found the connection, he portrayed great acting!
Wonder How Long It Took Jason Flemyg To Get Into Character
Imagine having to get your entire body painted to get into character. The process of putting it all on and then off, and then on again! We can only imagine Jason Flemyg’s relief when he wasn’t a part of the X-Men sequels.
According to him, he had to wake up way early and head to the set just to get ready and into his character! It must have been exhausting to carry out regularly! While initially he was a bit sad about not being casted, he eventually was happy about the decision. He was in no mood to undergo all those transformations again!
Is That What Malekith Looks Like In Real World?
Malekith is the terrifying character in Thor: The Dark World. By looking at these pictures, can you imagine Christopher Eccleston playing this role? We certainly cannot! Just look at how all the makeup and other details transformed him into such a scary character. We are pretty amazed at how the makeup artists got him ready for his character.
Moreover, to make his character more appealing, Eccleston made sure to get into details of it. He would research and get all the relevant information to make sure that he portrays the perfect image of the role he was given. And, we all say his hard work!
This Doesn’t Look Like Tom Vaughan-Lawlor In Any Way!
We’re dumbfounded with this transformation. That looks nowhere close to what Tom Vaughan-Lawlor looks like! Where is does the similarity lie? This is one of the prime examples of a fascinating celebrity transformation for the role they played in movies.
Tom Vaughan played Ebony Maw, a character from Black Order and we were amazed at his transformation. Even his child was confused about his transformation when he saw him and went on to call him ugly in the mask! We cannot disagree with the child because this character made us shiver. Mostly because of the weird getup he was required to have.
Chris Sullivan Surely Pulled Off This Rough Look
Who doesn’t love Chris Sullivan? He portrays his characters so well no matter what he plays! While recently most people know him as Toby in This is Us, he has done many more roles that you might be unaware of. Take this one for instance. Yet another Guardians of the Galaxy character Taserface was acted out by Chris Sullivan. Do you see the resemblance now? We don’t either!
The whole magic lies in the hands of the makeup artists who created the look of his character. It is so gory that we are kind of disgusted looking at the details. It looks like a person with no skin and all flesh.
Hell Boy Took Hours To Get Ready!
Hell Boy is a favorite of many people and also ours! Sadly, Ron Perlman says that if he had the chance, he would never do this again. Why, you ask? Well, it took hours to get Hello Boy ready. Also, it isn’t the best feeling having to stand or sit in one position for too long just so you can prepare for your role!
What would you do if you were in his place? Take the opportunity of being Hell Boy but sit for over 4 hours to get ready or not do it at all? Well, we all know what we would say. But think about having to do that every day. Still the same answer?
Is Alex Denisof Recognizable?
Can we even think of this evil as Alex Denisof? Well, you will be surprised to know that he played this character in The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy. He played as a servant of Thanos called The Other and proved to be quite the villain.
You will not be able to figure out who played the character unless you take a look at the cast name. Mostly because Denisof’s face is entirely covered with pain and huge mask throughout. So, there’s barely any chance that you might recognize him. We’re all shocked to see how different a person can look with just paint and a mask!
Joaquin Phoenix’s Transformation Was Breathtaking
Well, if it isn’t the iconic character of Joker portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix! His transformation for the role isn’t only limited to the makeup and hair difference so all of the credits cannot go to the makeup team only. He lost so much weight for the role that we were all shocked to see his stick-thin appearance on the movie.
His character was truly mesmerizing. He showed a different side to the Joker we know. The dark and dramatic movie received quite the reviews and people were moved by the portrayal of the Joker’s life in this movie. Wasn’t his transformation completely iconic?
Goddess Of Death Or Angelic Beauty?
Who doesn’t love Cate Blanchett? Her aura on-screen is captivating and knows how to do justice to all of her characters. She played the role as the Goddess of Death named Helena and we surely loved her character in it.
She had to sit tight for a few hours to make sure that she got all her headgear on properly. She sure looks scary in that picture as well- truly like the Goddess of Death. Imagine having to transform this angelic beauty into the Goddess of Death. It must have taken a great amount of time and effort into it.
That’s A Lot Of Use Of Prosthetics!
Doug Jones is an under-rated actor that you probably might not know about! But he has played some of the craziest roles that involved excessive transformations by using prosthetics. Just look at this picture and analyze all the details that went into creating the character.
He played the role of Faun in Pan’s Labyrinth and we are stunned by the creation! Imagine a real person undergoing so much change and looking like this! This is like is forte. He likes taking roles that make use of a lot of makeup and prosthetics. No wonder no one really knows about him. We never get to see his real face!
Lee Pace Does Not Look Like Himself!
Lee Pace is that really you? Can you imagine this guy to be a villain? Well, he was one in (you guessed it) Guardians of the Galaxy! Ronan was the bad guy that all the Guardians wanted to destroy. We can imagine why just by looking at him. He sent chills down our spine.
There was a lot of paint involved in make sure that Lee got his evil-guy Ronan look perfect. But if that wasn’t enough, he also had a hood on to cover his identity. We surely did not recognize him in the movie at all. It was later that we got to know it was Lee Pace!
The Real Face Of The Alien Race Commander!
Finally, let’s get to our last transformation. It is the alien race commander, Talos! Ben Mendelsohn played this character but we can find not a spec of him when we look at Talos. That is because he is completely covered in prosthetics, fake ears, paints, contact lenses, and armor! We’re astonished by how this transformation took place.
The entire thing must have taken hours to get ready. That means Ben has to sit still for a very long time! While we feel for him for having to endure all work done to his face, we also love the results! His character was pretty great, wasn’t it?