12 Actors in Almost Unrecognizable Movie Roles

Dustin Hoffman (Hook)
Role: Captain Hook

Where else you know him from: Rain Man, Tootsie, The Graduate

Look, the dude’s got a big nose. If you were drawing a caricature of him, that’d be the defining feature you’d go to first. But slap some giant bushy eyebrows, a curly mustache, and a jet black colonial wig on the guy to take attention away from his huge schnoz, and it just might work. Coupling that with the way he changed his highly recognizable voice to somewhat mimic that of William F. Buckley and the fact that you likely saw this movie when you were seven years old, you may have never realized that Captain Hook and Bernie Focker from “Meet the Fockers” were one and the same actor.

Tom Cruise (Tropic Thunder)
Role: Les Grossman

Where else you know him from: Mission: Impossible, Jerry Maguire, Top Gun

We’ve mentioned this before in our “15 Best Movie Cameos Ever” piece, but it should be reiterated in this case: people legitimately didn’t know this was Tom Cruise until the end credits. This is mostly due to the fact that he has major box office pull. Therefore, when you snag him for a role, you usually don’t dress him up like a fat, balding douchebag with way too much body hair and oversized prosthetic hands. No one saw it coming, and it was perfect.

Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs)
Role: Albert Nobbs

Where else you know her from: Damages, 101 Dalmatians, Fatal Attraction

Sure, the argument could be made that if we were going to mention a role where Glenn Close not only played an unrecognizable role, but also a man, the choice should be her character Gutless from "Hook" (seen here). But we already covered "Hook." In “Albert Nobbs” she really looks like a man. She may not have had to try very hard in the film to make it happen (let's face it, she’s sort of Albert Nobbs all the time), but in “Hook,” she’s in full pirate garb, complete with full pirate beard, and that's just a little too much to count.

Tim Curry (Legend, It, The Rocky Horror Picture Show)
Role: Darkness, Pennywise, Dr. Frank-N-Furter

Where else you know him from: The Three Musketeers, Clue, countless cartoon voiceovers

You could call him the man of a thousand faces – all terrifying. That would explain why he’s moved toward voice acting over the years. All joking aside, Tim Curry has a very unique look to him. So to be able to make him unrecognizable is no easy task. But he’s proven time and again that he’s up for it, as evidenced by the three memorable characters listed above.

Random trivia just for kicks: Pennywise’s hair in “It” was Tim Curry’s actual hair, dyed red. You learn something new (and utterly useless) every day.

Dave Grohl (Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny)
Role: Satan

Where else you know him from: Lead singer of the Foo Fighters

Tim Curry is not the only person on this list to have portrayed the Lord of Darkness. That’s right, legendary drummer/guitaist/vocalist Dave Grohl took on a similar look for his role in this “Tenacious D” film. It took seven hours to get him camera ready for his short scene as the hard rocking Devil, but it was well worth it. He played the same role in Tenacious D’s music video “Tribute” and contributed to several songs on their self-titled album.

Willem Dafoe (Shadow of the Vampire)
Role: Max Schreck

Where else you know him from: Spider-Man, The Boondock Saints, Platoon

Willem Dafoe is a master of the craft. There is seldom a role that he doesn’t knock out of the park, so it’s no surprise that he took on a part like this to expand his acting chops all the more. In a part written specifically for him, Dafoe plays a man who becomes too engrossed with his role of Nosferatu. That’s an actor playing an actor who acts like a vampire. Heck, HE probably couldn’t even remember what he really looked like after all that.

John Leguizamo (Spawn)
Role: Clown / The Violator

Where else you know him from: Ice Age, The Pest, Super Mario Bros.

He’s not the most recognizable actor in the world or anything, but even if you do know his work, it’s pretty hard to tell that John Leguizamo is under all that fat suit and makeup.

Mickey Rourke (Sin City)
Role: Marv

Where else you know him from: Iron Man 2, The Wrestler, Nine ½ Weeks

You’d think making Mickey Rourke look unrecognizable for a role would be pointless considering boxing and plastic surgeons did a pretty good job of that already. But for several roles including his own in “Sin City,” even though the actors already somewhat looked like the characters they were to play, makeup and prosthetics were added so they looked less like themselves, and more like their comic book counterparts.

Charlize Theron (Monster)
Role: Aileen Wuornos

Where else you know her from: Prometheus, Snow White and the Huntsman, The Italian Job

Making Charlize Theron look anything but gorgeous (and unrecognizably ugly at that!) is already next to impossible. Since they pulled it off in “Monster,” however, she earned herself an easy spot on this list. If you want to read more on her transformation, check this out.

Zoe Saldana (Avatar)
Role: Neytiri

Where else you know her from: Colombiana, The Losers, Star Trek

Yeah, we know this one is technically computer animated, but we’re the ones making the rules here so it counts! Besides, the movie is 60 percent CGI and much of that was created using motion capture technology. Zoe Saldana even prepared for the role by hiking through Hawaiian jungles with her fellow actors wearing a fake alien tail like the one she has in the film. So, all the work she put into it and the end result it created surely justifies her place here.