Actors who had the longest makeup jobs for their movies


Ah, Hollywood. The place where people go to achieve their dreams and reach their goals. You might have heard of people going through extreme transformations to become a character for a movie, but what about when it takes a whole team of makeup artists to transform these stars into the roles they’re about to play? Sometimes it takes mere moments to get ready; other times, it could take hours. These actors were so determined to look the part; they had the longest makeup jobs for their movies.

Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort

Yes, the villain of Harry Potter really does have a nose. So just how did the team of makeup artists get actor Ralph to look like the monstrous creature he was in the franchise? Well, that was plenty of prosthetics and two and a half hours in the makeup chair. Better hope Ralph didn’t get an itch on his no-nose!

Jeff Goldblum as Seth Brundle

What happens when an experiment goes wrong? You need a cast that can live up to the looks of your imagination, of course. That’s precisely what happened back in the 1986 film The Fly when Jeff needed to become Seth Brundle. Amazingly, the actor was in the makeup chair for five hours and walked away with five pounds of prosthetics for the role.

John Hurt as the Elephant Man

It might not be hard to see how it took so long to turn John Hurt into The Elephant Man. And when we say long, we mean long. Between seven and eight hours to be precise. In fact, the actor has to start his makeup at 5am to be ready for the day’s filming, and could only work on alternate days due to the stress it took on his body.

Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger

Being the thing of people’s nightmares everywhere isn’t an easy feat. In fact, becoming Freddy Krueger every day was one of the longest parts of filming the Nightmare on Elm Street movies for actor Robert Englund. The star of the films would spend around three hours in makeup every morning to get all those burns just right. Nicely done.

Jim Carrey as the Grinch

It’s not easy to become a fantasy character, especially when your character is a giant green Grinch covered in fur. Before Jim Carrey could even begin to play the part, the actor was forced to endure eight hours in makeup each and every morning to fully get into the role. This was all before filming and removing it all at the end of the day…

Michael Chiklis as The Thing

This actor was determined to spend as long as it took in the makeup chair to transform into his character, The Thing in the Fantastic Four movies. Why? Michael admits the producers wanted to use CGI, but he had his heart set on a real-life costume. For his efforts, Michael was rewarded with three hours in makeup before every day filming.

John Travolta as Edna Turnblad

This actor made his musical comeback when he took on the role as Edna Turnblad in the hit film Hairspray. However, playing someone’s mother wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. John had to wear a 30-pound weight suit to bulk up his frame, as well as having four hours in makeup to prepare for the character.

These actors really are dedicated to their roles thanks to all their time in makeup to transform into the characters. Although it might have taken hours to take into the roles, these stars have been rewarded with some of the most memorable parts in the history of Hollywood.

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