Edward Norton
Edward Norton immediately caught the public’s attention with his debut in 1996’s Primal Fear. Among his other films, the most notable transformation that Norton made to himself was for his acting credit as the terrifying Derek Vinyard in 1998’s American History X. Other films he has starred in include 2006’s romantic mystery The Illusionist, 2008’s superhero film The Incredible Hulk, and 2014’s comedy-dramas The Grand Budapest Hotel, and Birdman. Although Norton has developed a reputation for being an extreme perfectionist in his work, his colleagues highly respect him, even offering help in his film projects. Edward Norton has been considered one of the most talented actors of his generation due to his portrayal of various characters. He can play a hero, a villain, or a side character, and still give it his all.
Phillip Seymour Hoffman
If the dedication is what you’re looking for in an actor, you can definitely get that with Hoffman. Throughout his career, Phillip Seymour Hoffman is most notable for his dedication to the roles he takes. To the degree that if he were to portray a real person for a biopic, he would go to the extent of analyzing their mannerisms and manner of speaking. The result has always been fantastic. Hoffman truly embodies the characters he portrays – looking, speaking, and moving like them. Two films worth mentioning are 2005’s Capote and 2007’s Charlie Wilson’s War, where Hoffman depicts Truman Capote and Gust Avrakotos respectively. Even after his unfortunate passing, Hoffman is highly regarded as one of the best actors who has ever graced the film industry.
Leonardo DiCaprio
Among the A-list actors performing today, Leonardo DiCaprio carries a face and a highly respected and recognized name in the film industry. His films often vary from each other, from acting as a diamond smuggler in Blood Diamond to portraying a hunter trying to survive against enemies and nature alike in The Revenant. The films in DiCaprio’s repertoire include 1997’s Titanic, 2002’s Catch Me If You Can, 2010’s Inception, 2012’s Django Unchained, and 2019’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. With acting as one of DiCaprio’s most significant investments, his hard work has undoubtedly paid off through the years, even becoming one of the world’s most top-paid actors. Just like his character, Hugh Glass, DiCaprio will keep on at it for as long as he is breathing.
Gary Oldman
Gary Oldman has had quite the list of characters under his credit. From starring as the iconic vampire Dracula in Bram Stoker’s Dracula to being Batman’s trusted police partner Commissioner Gordon in The Dark Knight trilogy. Aside from his appearance, Gary Oldman has changed his voice so much in some of the films he starred in that he needed the assistance of a vocal coach after some of them to regain his original accent. But this setback hasn’t stopped him from performing his best in the roles he is given. Other characters he has portrayed include Ludwig van Beethoven in 1994’s Immortal Beloved, Sirius Black in the Harry Potter films, and as Winston Churchill in 2017’s Darkest Hour, earning an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in the latter film.
Daniel Craig
Although he has starred in other films like Layer Cake and Lara Croft: The Tomb Raider, Daniel Craig made a more prominent name for himself when he took on the 007 persona, debuting with Casino Royale. But more recently, Craig has shown moviegoers that he still has more tricks up his sleeve with his acting credit in the films Logan Lucky and Knives Out. Logan Lucky is a heist-comedy film where Craig stars as Joe Bang, a convict well-known for breaking open safe vaults. For Knives Out, Craig starred as Benoit Blanc, a world-famous private detective assigned to a difficult case. For these roles, not only did Craig change his overall persona, but he even went out of his way and spoke with a Southern American accent – an accent that is countries away from his actual voice!
Keanu Reeves
After seeing him in his more recent films like John Wick, it’s easy to forget Keanu Reeves has also played the role of Ted Logan in the more lighthearted Bill & Ted film franchise. But after getting acting credits for more action-oriented movies like Speed, Point Break, and The Matrix trilogy, Reeves eventually developed the “action hero” archetype. After a few hiccups here and there in his career and personal life, Reeves brought the public’s attention back to him when he starred as the breathtaking titular character John Wick. Despite that he’s already in his mid-50s, Reeves has shown the world that he can still pull off the action hero persona like it’s second-nature. With his lovable nature as a person, all we can wish for is nothing but the best for Keanu Reeves.
Natalie Portman
Natalie Portman is an actress who is well-known for portraying two characters: Padmé Amidala from the Star Wars prequels and the ballerina Nina Sayers in the psychological horror film Black Swan. Another performance worth mentioning would be when she portrayed Evey Hammond in 2006’s V for Vendetta. The film helped Portman become more notable in the film industry thanks to her outstanding performance throughout its runtime. For Portman’s performance in Black Swan, she prepared for her character by taking 8-hour ballet training routines six times a week – not to mention that she also had to work for 12 to 14 hours every day for filming. This dedication to the art didn’t go unnoticed, because Portman eventually received credit for it when she won the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Halle Berry
Halle Berry is an actress most notable for her acting credit as Storm in the X-Men movies. But aside from dying her hair white, Berry also went through a series of transformations to make herself look different – and that’s all for one movie! For the 2012 sci-fi film Cloud Atlas, Berry portrayed six different characters, including a doctor named Dr. Ovid. When she was in costume as the doctor from the year 2144, Berry was barely recognizable that even her daughter got shocked and wondered why there was a man who somehow sounded like her mother. Another film that has increased her popularity is John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, where she took on the role of Sofia, a former assassin who can still hold her own in a fight – along with her dogs as backup.
Denzel Washington
Some actors can transform into another person entirely from one movie to another, embodying the characters they portray. One such actor is Denzel Washington. For his 2000 biopic film Remember the Titans and 2001’s crime thriller Training Day, Washington’s characters for both films are, to a huge degree, the exact opposite of each other. For the former film, Remember the Titans, he portrays the American football coach Herman Boone, who’s trying to unite his team’s players. For the latter film, Training Day, Washington played Detective Sergeant Alonzo Harris, a ruthless member of society who can bend the law in whatever direction he wishes it to be. Other notable performances in Denzel Washington’s resume include the boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter in 1999’s The Hurricane, Frank Lucas in 2007’s crime biopic American Gangster, and Robert McCall in 2014’s action-thriller The Equalizer.
Michael J. Fox
Have you ever had someone tell you that you look like your mother or father? Well, for Back to the Future protagonist, Marty McFly, he and his daughter look so much alike. One reason behind that is because both Marty and Marlene, his daughter, are portrayed by the same actor, Michael J. Fox. Although throughout the trilogy, Fox was given acting credits for Marty, it was in the sequel, Back to the Future Part II, that he needed to put on some makeup and a wig for a moment for a scene that shows Marlene at home with her parents and brother. Furthermore, with a little movie magic, Fox can be seen on-screen performing three roles simultaneously: Marlene, old Marty, and Marty posing as his future son Marty Jr.