Hair often feels like a major part of a person’s identity. Actors may have to abandon their preferred style in order to fully embody the character they are cast to play.
Here are 15 actors who have undergone major hair makeovers for roles (and whether you love it or hate it).
1. This is Michael Cera in early 2024. This was before she bleached her hair for her role in Wes Anderson’s new film The Phoenician Scheme.
Fraser Harrison/Getty Images
Before appearing on Late Night with Seth Meyers in July of the same year, producers told Seth they wanted him to know in advance that Michael had gone blonde. The actor said, “Well, I just want to apologize, my hair is in a weird place right now, and I know this is going to be reported on TV and stuff, but that’s all I really wanted to say.” ”. ”
“The problem is I can’t cut it now because then the tip will become matted. Or I’ll dye it back to my color, which I think is wrong,” he said.
via NBC/youtube.com
Here’s the before and after:
black hair michael
2. This is what Ariana Grande’s hair looked like years before she was cast as Cat Valentine in Victorious.
Joe Corrigan/Getty Images
She said, “For the first four years of playing Kat, I had to bleach my hair and dye it red every other week…As you can imagine, it completely destroyed my hair.”
In a 2014 Facebook post, she said, “I’m wearing a wig right now with Sam and Cat. My real hair is back to brown and I have extensions, but my real hair is very… It’s broken and you can never see it, so I put it in a ponytail.” When I loosen it, it becomes rickety and absurd. ”
Micah Smith/Getty Images
Here’s the before and after:
ariana with dark curls
3. This is Leon Thomas III’s hair in 2016, the year before he played Daryl in the 60s-set film Detroit.
Paul Redmond/WireImage/via Getty
He had to overcome his fears for this role. In 2023, he said on the Zach Sun Show, “I hated that. I hated that they put me through that.”
He said, “Even before we started filming, there was a lot of talk about the Oscars, so the team was like, ‘We’ll do whatever they need us to do, trust us.'” So I thought, “Okay.” And to do that, I let go of my fear, but to be honest, I learned a lot. And because I solved my fear, I was able to get the role on Insecure. ”
François Duhamel. ©Annapurna Distribution / Provided by Everett Collection
Here’s the before and after:
Leon with shoulder-length dreads
4. This is Rooney Mara’s hair before she cut it to play Lisbeth Sanders in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Noel Vasquez/Getty Images
In 2011, she told Style magazine: “My wardrobe has completely changed. I had to do that in part because of my hair and in part because of the clothes I used to wear. “It’s because I no longer feel comfortable.”
“After living as Lisbeth for 14 months, I don’t feel comfortable wearing that outfit anymore,” she said.
Balder Bragason/©Columbia Pictures/Courtesy of Everett Collection
Here’s the before and after:
long hair rooney
5. This is K.J. Apa’s natural black hair in A Dog’s Purpose, which he filmed before being cast as the iconic redhead Archie Andrews on Riverdale.
Michael Kubeisy / © Lionsgate / Provided by Everett Collection
It took eight hours at the salon to dye her hair and eyebrows red, and she needed touch-ups every two weeks to keep them that way.
In 2017, he told Teen Vogue: “It was definitely really weird to see, but now I have no recollection of what it looked like before. Only 2 percent of the world’s population are redheads. I heard that, so that’s what I think.” I feel really good right now. ”
Dean Buescher / ©The CW / Provided by Everett Collection
Here’s the before and after:
Black haired KJ Apa
6. This is the hair Joey King shaved off the year before to play Gypsy Rose Blanchard in The Act.
JB Lacroix/Wire Image/via Getty
In 2018, she told Allure, “I’ve never had a special attachment to my hair. I didn’t care what happened to my hair. I never felt nervous or worried about it. There was no part of me thinking about it. So many people would ask me, “Are you really scared?” or “Are you nervous?” or “You’re so brave.” And I said, “I don’t have the courage, I’ll just cut my hair.”
She added: “I think it’s crazy and a lot of people won’t agree, but I think every woman should shave her head at least once in her life.”
This was actually the third time Joey had shaved his head. When I was 11, I shaved for The Dark Knight Rises, and when I was 14, I shaved for the camera for Wish I Was Here.
Brownie Harris / ©Hulu / Provided by Everett Collection
Here’s the before and after:
Joey with long black hair
7. This is Tom Hiddleston’s natural blonde hair before he starred in Loki.
WWD/Penske Media (via Getty Images)
“For both seasons of Loki, I used my own hair. I grew it out and dyed it,” he said at MegaCon Orlando.
“It’s always a moment when the dye comes in…it’s so weird. The first day the dye comes in, it’s a change. When you’re brushing your teeth at the end of the day, you think, ‘Oh, there he is!’ “”
©Disney+/Marvel Studios / Provided by Everett Collection
Here’s the before and after:
curly blonde short hair tom
8. This is what Daniel Radcliffe’s hair looked like before he got extensions for his role as Igor in Victor Frankenstein.
Larry Busacca/Getty Images
In 2013, he said on The Graham Norton Show: “This is real dead human hair…I think it’s from someone who passed away or someone who donated their hair.”
Daniel Bob wears a Victorian-era suit in a dark and cluttered workshop.
Long-haired Daniel wears a suit jacket and tie and smiles during a talk show interview
Alex Bailey / TM and Copyright © 20th Century Fox Film Corp. All Rights Reserved / Provided by: Everett Collection, BBC / Via youtube.com
Here’s the before and after:
short hair daniel
9. This is what Cynthia Erivo’s hair looked like a few months before she was cast as Elphaba in Wicked.
52nd Naacp Image Award/via Getty Images
Before filming, she shaved her head in order to paint the scalp green under the wig.
Cynthia shaves her head and sings on stage
Elphapa with his long dark har pulled back
The Walt Disney Company, via Getty Images, © Universal Pictures /Courtesy Everett Collection
In 2024, she told Vanity Fair that she “would love to do it again.”
Here’s the before and after:
Cynthia with short and bright hair
10. This is what James Marsters’ hair looked like in Northern Exposure, years before he went on to play Spike on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
CBS
The label on the bottle of bleach he used to create Spike’s platinum hair warned that it should only be used every six weeks, but he said, “Because the vampire died, the hair I used it every 8 days because it doesn’t grow.
In 2016, James told the Minnesota Star Tribune, “They told me over and over again that my hair was going to fall out, or rather, I didn’t know if it would grow back until the end…The makeup department… I was really particular about it. It’s impossible for your hair to have roots.” So for seven years we agreed to bleach every episode, and I don’t know if we agreed for seven years when we thought we were going to die in five episodes.
TM and Copyright © 20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved. Courtesy of Everett Collection.
Here’s the before and after:
James with short black hair
11. This is what Hayley Kiyoko’s hair looked like before Lemonade Mouth.
Michael Thalberg/Getty Images
In a 2022 TikTok, she wrote, “I’ve been holding onto this secret for so long, almost a decade, that I feel like I have to tell you the truth about Stella’s hairstyle. It wasn’t supposed to be asymmetrical. We were trying to get a symmetrical look, but the hairdresser cut my hair too short on one side and didn’t have enough time to put in extensions to even it out. ”
she continued. “So, we rocked an asymmetrical look…and gave it a Stella vibe. And that’s how Stella cut her hair, and some of you may want to cut your hair too.” That’s the way.”
via Disney Channel / Disney+
Here’s the before and after:
bob haley
12. This is Tom Felton with his natural blonde hair who played a pre-Harry Potter role in Anna and the King.
He famously bleached his hair to play Draco Malfoy, which he says was “painful” and “felt like fire ants were gnawing at my scalp”.
In his 2022 memoir Beyond the Wand, he writes: “Then they said we had to try it again and I begged them to stop. My pleas went unheeded. I went straight back into the hairdresser’s chair. At first I didn’t. It took six or seven rounds over several days to complete the color. It was important for the filmmakers to see how Malfoy’s blonde looked compared to Weasley’s ginger and Granger’s brown. ”
Peter Mountain / © Warner Bros. / Provided by Everett Collection
Here’s the before and after:
natural blonde hair tom
13. This is Kevin Bacon in 1982. The $1,500 haircut “started doing that because of the way I looked” a few years ago, when he was cast as Len McCormack in Footloose.
Lynn Goldsmith/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images
At the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival, he said: “It just occurred to me…I was told it would cost $1,500 for a haircut. That’s an outrageous amount in 1984, right?” “Trying to be cool” sent his compilation to studio heads.
“They started playing it and she watched it. Legend has it she watched for 30 seconds and the lights were still out and she stood up and said, ‘Yeah, you can hire him. That’s fine,’ he said.
(c) Paramount / Provided by: Everett Collection
Here’s the before and after:
Kevin with shoulder length hair
14. This is what Kaley Cuoco’s hair looked like in season 7 of The Big Bang Theory, before she debuted the pixie cut she got for the role of Katy in the indie film Burning Bodhi.
Monty Brinton/©CBS / Provided by: Everett Collection
In The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive Inside Story of the Blockbuster Series, she said: The funny thing is, even though I loved my hair and makeup team, I thought cutting my hair would mean less time in the hair and makeup chair. ”
However, this decision ultimately “bitten[her]in the butt.”
She said: “This is the worst decision! What was I thinking?! I thought I’d been cutting my hair all this time because I didn’t want to go into the house and get ready. So I cut it at 6 and 7, but it was difficult to style and took even more time. ”
Monterey Media Inc./via youtube.com
Here’s the before and after:
long hair kaley
15. And finally, this is Keri Russell’s hair before Felicity Season 2’s infamous on-screen haircut.
©Touchstone Television/Courtesy of Everett Collection
At the 2018 ATX TV Festival, she said: “It was when they were finishing the first season that it all came together completely… and the hair guy was putting away all his stuff in a box, and there was a little boy’s wig. We put it up.” I took it at like 2 a.m. as a joke…and then I took a Polaroid and sent it to JJ (Abrams) and Matt (Reeves) over the summer and said, “I cut it.” I thought it would be really interesting. I hope you like my hair. ” Just kidding… I was at a lake somewhere with my girlfriend and I got this call… and (JJ) said, “Hey, here’s your picture.” Don’t laugh. “Are you sure you want to cut your hair?” And I said, “Really? ” I thought. ”
She actually cut her hair in front of the camera.
She said: “We shot that scene at about 4 a.m. on a Friday, and the hair girl was actually… in slow motion, like she was cutting my hair and sniping. And then a few hours later, I… I went to the hair salon.” They left it at the salon and someone cut off the rest of it. ”
©Touchstone Television/Courtesy of Everett Collection
Here’s the before and after:
long curly hair
Which hair change do you think the actor should have kept? Let us know in the comments!
