Top 20 Actors Who Got Buff For a Movie Role

“The Wolverine” (2013)
After an entire trilogy of “X-Men” movies where he looks like a less-burly, less-muscular Wolverine compared to his comic book inspiration, Hugh Jackman finally got absolutely shredded to play the lead role in 2013’s “The Wolverine.” In order to get the ideal muscly, veiny, animalistic yet cut look for the film, Jackman adhered to a diet recommended by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson which required the actor to eat 6,000 calories a day in tandem with an intense workout regimen. And it seems to’ve worked, if you look at Jackman’s physique in 2000’s “X-Men” compared to “The Wolverine”. Talk about aging gracefully.

“Deadpool 2” (2018)
In 2018, this actor appeared in not one, but two high profile comic book movies. While as Thanos he had the benefits of motion capture CGI makeover to help him fill the sizable shoes of the Mad Titan, playing Cable took good old fashioned hard work. Considering that Brolin was pushing fifty at the time of filming, both his transformation and his results were incredibly impressive. To play the hulking, time-traveling mutant, he trimmed down and packed on a ton of lean muscle. To do so in just about 11 weeks, Brolin says he spent three hours a day in the gym and fundamentally altered his diet, including cutting out sugar entirely. In hindsight, he said jokingly, he wishes he’d just used steroids.

“Pain & Gain” (2013)
Years after his glory days as a muscle-bound Calvin Klein model, Marky-Mark regained his former build to play an eccentric body building ex-con in this crime-comedy. And he did it after having trimmed down to a relatively slim 165 for his role in the 2013 crime thriller “Broken City.” In order to look halfway normal-sized next to his 6’5”, 265-pound co-star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Wahlberg undertook an intense weight training routine and ate roughly 12 meals a day to pack on 40 pounds in just two months. And, of course, he had to keep this routine up while he worked long hours on set. Hey, no pain; no gain.

“Million Dollar Baby” (2004)
To say that this actress made a huge impression with her role in this 2004 sports drama is an understatement. Swank’s performance was absolutely incredible, and she rightfully took home the Academy Award for Best Actress. Of course, in order to be able to play Mary Margaret "Maggie" Fitzgerald convincingly, the usually thin actress needed to get into boxing shape. So in preparation for the role, she naturally did a whole lot of boxing specific training. Working out 4 to 6 hours a day and following a diet aimed at putting on mass, she packed on 19 pounds - which is huge consider her frame and height. She started at 110 lbs and ended off at 129.

“Creed” (2015)
In this spiritual successor to the Rocky franchise, the formerly slight Michael B. Jordan bulked up considerably in order to portray the illegitimate son of Apollo Creed. Jordan did most of his physical fitness training with celebrity trainer and body transformation specialist Corey Calliet, and it was as tough as you think: workouts 2-3 times a day, six days a week and a very bland diet for almost a year contributed to his impressive transformation. And, because he didn’t have a body double for “Creed,” Jordan also learned to box. The result of all this hard work was 24 pounds of muscle gained, a successful sequel filmed and the approval of Sylvester Stallone himself earned.

“Captain Marvel” (2019)
Have you ever tried pushing a jeep up a hill? Unless you’re working with a professional, don’t, but trust us when we say that it’s no small feat! As the star of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first female-led film, Brie Larson had a lot of pressure and expectations on her shoulders. Suffice it to say, in her prep to become Captain Marvel, she built up the sort of muscle mass that enables one to carry a heavy load. Larson trained for 9 months to get into superhero shape. And despite being a self described “not super athletic” person at the start of it, by the time filming began, she’d put on 15 pounds of muscle. We think the results speak for themselves.

“Thor” (2011)
Playing a superhero is tough enough, without the added pressure of also being a Norse god. Fortunately, the 6’4” actor rose to the occasion to play Marvel’s god of thunder so valiantly that when it came time to begin filming, Hemsworth’s Thor costume wouldn’t even fit. Adding about 20 pounds to tip the scales at 215, he reportedly adopted a high-protein diet and an ever-changing, intense weight-training workout. Unfortunately for Hemsworth, between 2011’s “Thor” and 2013’s “Thor: The Dark World,” the Aussie actor was cast in “Rush” as racecar driver James Hunt. That meant that he not only had to drop 30 pounds in four months; he also had to gain it back before he picked up his hammer again.

“Edge of Tomorrow” (2014)
She might the 21st century Mary Poppins, but before teaching the Banks children manners and important life lessons, Emily Blunt was slicing and dicing her way through hordes of extraterrestrials in this 2014 sci-fi action flick. For her role as the heroic Sergeant Rita Vrataski, Emily Blunt had to transform herself into a warrior worthy of her title as the “Angel of Verdun”. She only had about two and a half months to prep for the role, but by the time she showed up on set, co-star Tom Cruise reportedly stated that he’d never seen someone arrive so well prepared. Since she’d be filming in an exoskeleton suit weighing up to 85 pounds, she often trained while wearing weighted vests.

“Bronson” (2008)
Before he was Bane, Tom Hardy was Bronson. And his role as the infamous English criminal prompted him to seriously bulk up. But rather than getting ripped, Hardy needed to look like a guy who spent much of his life in prison, and most of his time there in solitary confinement – meaning he had a chance to attend to his muscles. He got that “brawler” look by adding 42 pounds of muscle and fat to his 5’9” frame in roughly seven weeks, thanks to a diet of chicken, rice, pizza, ice cream and Coke. His workouts involved press ups, push-ups and other exercises a prisoner might be able to do – and it worked. Even the real Bronson was impressed.

"13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi ” (2016)
It’s no secret that we have a soft spot for this celebrity couple. What can we say, they just seem like a perfect match! And sure enough, not long after Emily Blunt got into fighting shape, so too did husband John Krasinski. We spent years getting to know Krasinski as the rather lanky Jim Halpert on “The Office”. Master of pranks and endlessly endearing? Absolutely. Action hero? We never would have seen it. But for his co-starring role in this Michael Bay war film, he got jacked! The goal was lean, clean muscle, and he managed to pack on 25 pounds of it. He was playing a Navy SEAL, and he trained like one, dropping from 25% body fat to 9% in 4 months.

“Casino Royale” (2006)
The names Buff, James Buff...I mean Bond. While not one of the youngest actors on this list, Craig proved in “Casino Royale” that wisdom is not the only thing that comes with age; sometimes you can get a killer physique as well. In order to get in shape as perhaps the most built Bond yet, Craig cut the crap from his diet, focusing on quality proteins and greens and minimizing his carb intake, gave up smoking, and began weight training five days a week, with cardio on the weekends. Fun fact: when Craig learned he had the role, he contacted ex-Royal Marine Simon Waterson, who had trained other movie actors including former Bond, Pierce Brosnan.

“Rocky III” (1982)
Stallone is synonymous with fitness. Over the years, he’s transformed his body many times over. 1976’s “Rocky” was a true underdog story, and Sly had a physique to match. Sure, he was in better shape than the average man, but he wasn’t “movie boxer” fit. For the third film in the franchise however, he reportedly dropped down to a career low of 2.8% body fat, and did so by working out twice a day, six days a week - always working towards sleek, well-developed muscles. Of course, he’s not the only actor to radically change their body in the name of a boxing role - two other notable cases that deserve a mention include Robert De Niro for “Raging Bull” and Will Smith for “Ali”.

“American Sniper” (2014)
Another actor who bulked up to take on a military role; Bradley Cooper went from 185 pounds to a meaty 225 in just 10 weeks to accurately portray U.S. Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle. To get to his desired size, Cooper took on two workouts a day plus was reportedly force-fed over a 5,000-calorie-a-day diet. Cooper also trained as a sniper, a skill he picked up fairly quickly. But even so, the hardest part was eating every 55 minutes. Still, his hard-work did pay off, as Cooper received an Oscar nomination for best actor, so it was all worth it, right?

“Blade: Trinity” (2004) & “Deadpool” (2016)
Hard as it is to remember after a decade and a half of Ryan “the bod” Reynolds, there was a time when this actor wasn’t ripped as well as hilarious. When he signed on to play Hannibal King, he had a good physique, but it was more “frat boy hot”, as shown in Van Wilder. For “Blade Trinity” he made his torso look like that of a Greek god. The actor added roughly 25 pounds of muscle, understandably wowing audiences when that shirt came off in the 2004 film. He’s largely maintained an incredible physique ever since, but when he signed on to play the Merc with a Mouth, he packed on an additional seven pounds of muscle.

“Southpaw” (2015)
If you’re going to play an undefeated professional boxer, you gotta look like one, and Jake Gyllenhaal certainly did in “Southpaw.” In contrast to the unusually lanky build he took on for “Nightcrawler” just one year prior that resulted from his 30-pound weight loss, Gyllenhaal gained roughly 15 pounds of pure muscle for “Southpaw” by training twice a day, seven days a week. Those intense training sessions also helped him learn the fundamentals of the sport so he could appear to be a seasoned fighter in the ring. That dedication paid off, as Gyllenhaal was praised for his performance – both as an actor and a boxer.

“Zero Dark Thirty” (2012)
You may’ve been expecting us to choose his star-making role in “Guardians of the Galaxy.” And he did manage a significant transformation for that movie considering he’d just gained 60-pounds for 2013’s “Delivery Man.” But “Parks and Rec”’s lovable goofball Andy Dwyer first became a muscled hunk for “Zero Dark Thirty.” Whereas for “Guardians” Pratt had the help of a trainer and a nutritionist, for Kathryn Bigelow’s action thriller he bulked up the unhealthy way, by starving himself and pushing his body as hard as he could. Despite his resulting need for shoulder surgery, the move seems to have worked and Pratt successfully exercised his way to leading man status.

“Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (1991)
The key to surviving the early 1990s? Making sure that Sarah Connor doesn’t think that you’re a Terminator sent from the future to kill her son. Because that’s a fight you’re going to lose. By the time we caught up with Linda Hamilton’s character in the sequel, she’d become a tough-as-nails, fierce, resourceful and thoroughly pragmatic individual; and Hamilton developed a physique to match her character. She got lean and sinewy in a way that had rarely been seen before, or since, from a leading actress on the big screen. In preparation for the role, Hamilton embraced military-style training and it paid off in spades.

“Man of Steel” (2013)
For many people, Henry Cavill is the definition of the superhero body. The caped crime fighters seen in comic books are known for their unrealistic broad shoulders, massive biceps and just generally exaggerated musculature - physiques that are “impossible”. Well, at least as far as heroes on the big screen go, Cavill has brought the human body just about as close as you can get. What makes the Superman actor’s accomplishment so impressive is that his body, back in the day, would have best been described as relatively soft. As a kid, he was teased for his weight. But for his 2011 roll in “Immortals”, he got freaking cut, before bulking up in a huge way for his debut as Superman in 2013’s “Man of Steel”.

“Captain America: The First Avenger” (2011) & the MCU
It was a close race between Henry Cavill and Chris Evans, but ultimately, we felt that the Captain America actor deserved our top spot. Though Cavill has arguably put on more bulk, Evans has packed on an impressive amount of mass and maintained a high level of muscle definition. In short, he’s both jacked and cut, to a ridiculous degree. More impressive still, he’s seemingly only continued to improve his physique with each subsequent appearance as Steve Rogers. Evans is naturally slim, so it took hard work to widen his frame, and he achieved his goals by prioritizing tried and true exercises like squats, deadlifts and chin-ups. It’s hard to argue with the results!

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions:

Ben Affleck
“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” (2016)

Adam Driver
“Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi” (2005)

Alicia Vikander
“Tomb Raider” (2018)

Gerard Butler
“300” (2007)

Paul Rudd
“Ant-Man” (2015)

“Batman Begins” (2005)
This committed thespian is remarkable not only because of the seemingly superhuman bodybuilding he did to star in “Batman Begins,” but also because of where he started out. In 2004, Bale lost 62 pounds for his role in “The Machinist” by subsisting on water, apples, coffee and not much else. He was left with roughly six months after filming concluded to pack on the 100 pounds necessary to play a convincing Batman. With the help of a trainer, pizza and ice cream, he did it – and even surpassed his goal enough that he had to lose weight before filming began.