It’s not unusual to see actors shed a few pounds for a new role or to go the other way and pick up an extra ten. But this list has some shocking transformations that you won’t believe till you see them. Some actors went from spongecake to hardened steel(I’m looking at you, Ryan Reynolds). I was going to put people like John Goodman and Jonah Hill on this list, but while it’s impressive to lose 100 pounds or more, this list is for the actors who got their hard bodies at an all-time level. There’s no secret folks, eat mostly green things, hit the gym like a maniac and keep that diet tight and you will see results fast.
Gerard Butler – 300
I never thought Butler was soft until I saw how hard he became for his role in 300. Butler spent four months training and transforming his body into a work of art to become the Greek King Leonidas. He teamed up with world-class mountain climber Mark Twight, who pushed him to his limits. What was the workout he did? 25 pull-ups, 50 deadlifts with 135 pounds, 50 pushups, 50 jumps on a 24-inch box, 50 floor wipers, 50 single-arm clean-and-presses using a 36-pound kettlebell and 25 more pull-ups. Sounds like fun yeah?
Christian Bale – The Machinist
While this one isn’t a transformation from fat to thin, it was too intense not to add to the list. Christian Bale is a fine actor and his commitment to roles is legendary. When he lost over 65 pounds for his role in The Machinist, it shocked movie goers everywhere. He said of the role, “I didn’t take this job because I went, ‘Oh, there’s a physical transformation needed.’ I always go, ‘Damn! There’s a physical transformation needed!'”
Bradley Cooper – American Sniper
The funny guy with a happy face and relaxed demeanor underwent a massive makeover for this intense role. He gained over 30 pounds of muscle to play the war hardened American hero, Chris Kyle. The role earned Cooper a Best Actor nomination at the Oscars.
Matthew Fox – Alex Cross
Matthew Fox has always been in shape and that’s what makes this role so gnarly! He cut over 40 pounds to become a lean ball of intense muscle. He said of the role, “If I’m honest about it, sometimes I f**king hated it. I guess if you removed the ‘result’ part of it then I can’t say I enjoyed it.”
Mila Kunis – Black Swan
Lets just start by saying Mila Kunis is a a gorgeous woman and is perfect the way she is..BUT she went off the hook for her role in Black Swan, getting herself into the best shape of her life. Kunis said she liked the look but it was some of the hardest workouts she ever had. “I trained four hours a day, seven days a week, for seven months. I had one day off on my birthday and half a day off for the Emmys and the Golden Globes. On those days my ballet instructor worked with me from 5am to 11am, then I went to hair and make-up and on to the awards shows.”
Brad Pitt – Fight Club
Women everywhere still lose their minds when Brad Pitt comes out of the room and asks Ed Norton if he “wants to finish off” their bizarre love interest Marla from his incredible role in Fight Club. Pitt was already in great shape but turned it up a notch to make housewives select him as their “hall-pass.” All hail the body of Brad in this era, it’s truly untouchable.
Henry Cavill – Man of Steel
I have no idea who this guy is, other than when he played Superman. I think he nailed the role in a big way. When I started looking for photos of him, thats when I realized just how jacked the dude became for the role of the man of steel.
Chris Pratt – Zero Dark Thirty
Pratt has gone from chubby funny guy into full Hollywood hunk mode. He lost 50 pounds for this role. He says, of the time it took to lose the weight, “Six months seems like a long time unless you’re looking backwards… all you have to do is just a few things everyday and remain consistent, and time will fly just as fast as it flies if you’re working hard or not. If you just cut the crap out of your diet, and if you spend an hour a day doing something physical that will make you sweat, six months will pass by, you will feel better mentally, physically, spiritually — it all is tied together.”
Tom Hardy – the Dark Knight Rises
Tom Hardy – Bronson
If you havent seen Bronson, go out and rent immediately. It’s really good(but a bit violent) hardy does an amazing job in his roles of fully transforming into someone else. This role gave him a good base for what he would later become when he assumed the role of Bane in Batman. Hardy said, “I did very non-specific exercises such as press-ups, push-ups, abs work and resistance training with the help of my boy Pnut, who is 16 stone of pure muscle and also an ex-US Marine.”
Hugh Jackman – X-Men Movies
You can see Jackman’s transformation over the 15 year history of his role as Wolverine in the X-men films. He has become more jacked and chiseled in his 40’s than most people ever dream of in their prime. His secret? 8 hours a day in the gym for 4 months when he trains for his Wolverine roles.
Daniel Craig – Casino Royale
This little ball of muscle has been hard at work getting himself into shape as the buffest James Bond star of all-time. Craig worked with a trainer and logged some long hard hours, doing a “blend of power lifting, with a lot of compound exercises thrown in.” Women everywhere will agree that the work has paid off in spades.
Chris Hemsworth – Thor
The one time scrawny surfer boy from Australia who just wanted to go ride some waves has transformed himself into the actual God of awesomeness, Thor. His secret was to work out with an ex-navy seal and attack the gym with a calculated plan each day. “slow and steady wins the race,” he said. “plan your day and focus on specific body parts, it makes it more manageable.”
Christian Bale – American Psycho
If you have ever watched Bales chilling performance in American Psycho, you also noticed how much his character loved his body. Well this is the king of body transformations. From losing 60 pounds to play a dying person or gaining 60 pounds to play a fat lawyer, Bale has the diet and exercise routine on lockdown.
Through a combination of core and resistance training, coupled with plyometrics, he was able to gain the muscle he needed.
Mark Wahlberg – Pain & Gain
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I never thought that Marky-Mark was not fit. He was actually pretty damn buff, until I saw him in that god-awful movie Pain & Gain. What a turd it turned out to be. I did notice that Marky-Mark actually looks way too big now. Like whatever steroids he took for this role went a bit too far. The actor said he got up to 210 pounds by going old-school. “I’d start with benching, and then I’d do my squats and lunges, then I’d do a lot of old-school stuff.”
Ryan Reynolds – Blade: Trinity
The hero of this list. The average looking funny man went haywire when he he showed up on screen looking like a greek god in Blade: trinity. The actor went from frat-boy Van Wilder where he ate whatever he wanted to a physical specimen who over the course of three months doing six-day-a week workouts, and a 3,200-calorie daily diet, gained 25 pounds of muscle. My wife would leave me in a heartbeat for this guy. Pffft.
Jake Gyllenhaal – Southpaw
This amazing actor shows time and time again that he’s one of Hollywood’s finest. His transformations have become inspirational to all actors. He said of this role,”I went into full training-camp mode and I got myself—what I consider in my mind as an actor—in shape to fight. I was literally learning the skills of boxing, which is not only for the body, but also for the mind. You can’t play a boxer and just look like a boxer; you have to believe you can exist in that world.”
Chris Evans – Captain America
I think his big secret was shaving that chest hair, after that I’m sure it was easy getting into shape to become Captain America. Evans teamed up with a personal trainer who coached him through tedious workouts while a nutritionist got him on a 32oo calorie diet to help him gain the muscle needed for the role.Evans bulked up fast to assume his second role as a Marvel hero. His first attempt was as the Human Torch in the first Fantastic Four films.
Alexander Ludwig – Lone Survivor
Ludwig played the total ass in the Hunger Games when he killed that sweet little girl. He got what he deserved at the end when he was eaten by mutant dogs. Since that role, he has spent some serious time bulking up for his role in Lone Survivor where he played a rookie who watched his mates die. He’s now starring in the show, Vikings.
Jason Statham – The Transporter 3
This dude has been a Hollywood badass for a decade! While he has never been out of shape, he can get pretty jacked for his roles. Unlike most actors, he is in great shape and instead of hiring some expensive trainer, he just upped his workouts at the gym. Way to go Statham.
Jamie Foxx – Any Given Sunday
The one time funny man has expanded his career and even has won an Oscar. In his role in On Any Given Sunday, Foxx went HAM as he got in shape for the demanding role of a football player. He lifted weights every single day and ended up hitting the 200lb mark. While the movie was just OK, the role got Foxx to transform his body and he’s never gone back to being soft.
Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler
One of the weirdest Hollywood stories ever is Mickey Rourke. He was in a few great movies in the early 90’s like Barfly and Angel heart but went off the radar for a few years. When he reemerged, he was almost unrecognizable. His face had been beaten and his body was large and on steroids. But his role in the Wrestler was fantastic.
Will Smith – Ali
The transformation of Will Smith is among the greatest in Hollywood. When he was a scrawny kid from Philadelphia in the Prince of Bel Air he was cute and funny. Now he is chiseled from rock and plays some incredibly physical roles. But it was his role in ALI that shocked us all. The actor gained 40 pounds of muscle to play Muhammad Ali.
Edward Norton – American History X
While Ed Norton could never be confused with a buff guy in any movie role he’s had, he transformed his body for American History X. The role demanded him to gain 40 pounds of muscle to play the role of a white supremacist who changes his life and tries to help his brother see the light before he goes down the wrong path like he once did. The movie was great and Ed Norton proves that he can act with the best of them.
Tom Hanks – Castaway
The transformation of a middle-aged man back into having the body of a greek god is amazing in this role. Hanks said, “The hardest thing was the time. I wish I could have just taken a pill and lost all the weight but the reality was that I had to start in October knowing that we were going to go back in February. The idea of looking at four months of constant vigilance as far as what I ate, as well as two hours a day in the gym doing nothing but a monotonous kind of work-out, that was formidable. You have to power yourself through it almost by some sort of meditation trickery. It’s not glamorous.”