Actors Who Got Ripped For A Role

Film fans have long been obsessed with the great lengths that Hollywood actors will go to in order to physically transform themselves just for one role. On the one hand, the commitment to the craft is understandably inspiring, with great artists pushing themselves to their limits to create something they hope will be remembered long after they're gone. On the other hand, these transformations have had unintended consequences, such as mental and physical health issues, leading some actors to actually refuse to get ripped for certain roles.

Critics may also argue that a broad fixation on physicality rather than performance may leave some fans with misguided perspectives both on what it takes to be an actor and on what it means to be physically healthy. Regardless, examining the actors on this list — many now several years to a decade out from these roles — provides an interesting picture of fitness in the entertainment industry, and how it can impact certain actors in unexpected ways long after they leave the set. From actors who got into superhero shape for a comic book movie to sitcom stars who got jacked for a joke, the following thesps all got ripped for a role.

Now known as an Academy Award-winning dramatic actor thanks to his leading role in 2022 "The Whale," Brendan Fraser was once a bonafide action star in '90s and early 2000s. The peak of this era for Fraser was undoubtedly "The Mummy," a trilogy of action-adventure films that made a solid case for him being the next Harrison Ford. Just before that, however, he had to get in shape for the comedy "George of the Jungle," in which he played a man raised in the jungle wearing little clothing throughout the film.

With millions of people potentially seeing him immortalized as a shirtless Tarzan, Fraser felt a lot of pressure related to his appearance leading up to production. He began restricting his diet and exercising extensively, but as he revealed in a 2022 interview with Men's Health, it was never enough. This led Fraser to begin cutting out meals as well, a dangerous practice that impacted the actor's mental faculties.

For many, Zac Efron will always be known as the musical theater-loving basketball player Troy Bolton, the role that made him famous in 2006's "High School Musical." Through some combination of luck, talent, and hard work, Efron broke through the Disney Channel bubble to secure a career in mainstream Hollywood. One of the steps along the way was the star-studded 2017 film adaptation of "Baywatch." The film was undoubtedly a daunting challenge for Efron, not least of all because it would see him sharing top billing with the perpetually jacked Dwayne Johnson.

To make sure he was ready for the role of lifeguard Matt Brody, Efron dove headfirst into an intense bodyweight regimen with trainer Patrick Murphy. " Speaking about his "Baywatch" workout (via E! News), Efron said: "Rather than the typical bodybuilding type of movements I had become accustomed to, Patrick pushed me to my 'functional' limits with a very multifaceted style: strength, explosiveness, fast paced, calculated, diverse and gut-wrenching workouts. It was fun... you never know what he's going to throw at you the next day."

"Twilight" star Taylor Lautner was basically given a full-time job when he was tasked with packing on as much muscle as possible to play Jacob Black in 2009's "The Twilight Saga: New Moon." This sequel in the once-popular teen franchise sees Lautner's character go from being the quiet childhood best friend of Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) to a muscle-bound werewolf competing with vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) for her affections.

Because of this dramatic shift for the character, Lautner told People he was "forced to be in a gym multiple times a day, six days a week," building his weight up from 140 pounds to 175 pounds. He was able to maintain his physique while filming the remainder of the series, but working out that much wasn't realistic for Lautner long term. Living more normally led to some minor changes in his build that the general public were unfairly critical of for years afterward, leading to the actor struggling with his body image. Having grown from this experience, he now cautions others to focus on mental health more than physical fitness.

Mixed martial arts fans might have been impressed by how Jake Gyllenhaal got ripped to play a former MMA fighter in 2024's "Road House" remake, but he's been fight ready for much longer than they probably realize. Gyllenhaal was brought in to replace Marshall "Eminem" Mathers on the 2015 sports drama "Southpaw," which had been written with the rapper in mind. Directed by Antoine Fuqua and penned by "Sons of Anarchy" creator Kurt Sutter, the film follows a professional fighter whose personal and professional life unravels following the murder of his wife (played by Rachel McAdams).

While Eminem would have brought unique emotional authenticity to the role, Gyllenhaal went above and beyond when it came to physically portraying a boxer at the top of his game. He was on the slim side having lost 30 pounds to play an antisocial ambulance chaser in "Nightcrawler," but he managed to look the real deal in time for the shoot thanks in part to a daily regimen of 2,000 press-ups. Speaking to the Independent, the actor revealed that he had five months to get into shape and learn how to box. "I decided to train twice a day so it would give me an advantage, and it would seem like 10 months of training," he said.

Chris Pratt's "Guardians of the Galaxy" transformation represents the epitome of "normal" actors getting ripped for specific projects. The breakout comedic actor best known for playing goofy slacker Andy Dwyer on "Parks and Recreation" made headlines when he was cast as space scoundrel Peter Quill in James Gunn's Marvel Cinematic Universe debut, with people unable to see him in the role at first. Pratt shut the doubters up with an infamous Instagram gym selfie, stating that he overhauled his physique by not drinking beer for six months.

While cutting out the beer clearly helped, there was a lot more to Pratt's impressive transformation than that. In reality, he did six months of intense bodyweight training with Duffy Garver, who was impressed by Pratt's dedication. He told Esquire that Pratt "would go through his workout and the whole gym would pay attention to him. Not because he was a movie star [but because he] was just a guy who was killing himself in the gym."

Rob McElhenney is a dedicated performer, and he proved as much by transforming his body for the sitcom "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." He felt that his character, Paddy's pub co-owner Ronald "Mac" McDonald, would be funnier with a little more padding around the middle, so the actor gained over 60 pounds during a seven-month period. When people got used to that version of his character, McElhenney realized that it would be hilarious if Mac showed up totally jacked one day, so he got to work on a shocking body transformation.

Much was made of McElhenney's ripped new appearance, though the actor was quick to remind everyone that he was only able to achieve his goals because he had enough money, access, and time to do so. In a typically tongue-in-cheek Instagram post, he wrote: "Look, it's not that hard. All you need to do is lift weights six days a week, stop drinking alcohol, don't eat anything after 7pm, don't eat any carbs or sugar at all, in fact just don't eat anything you like, get the personal trainer from Magic Mike, sleep nine hours a night, run three miles a day, and have a studio pay for the whole thing over a six to seven month span."

Ryan Reynolds was no stranger to superhero movies when he signed on to 2016's "Deadpool." The actor had previously gotten in serious shape to play vampire hunter Hannibal King opposite Wesley Snipes in the 2004 film "Blade: Trinity," DC hero Hal Jordan in the 2011 flop "Green Lantern," and had even already played Wade Wilson in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" in 2009. But, for what was in many ways a passion project for Reynolds nearly a decade in the making, he wanted to go all out in every aspect — including his physicality. Reynolds got jacked to play Deadpool by mixing tailored workouts from trainer Don Saladino with smart nutrition choices, making sure he was giving his body the fuel it needed to grow.

Reynolds still uses Saladino to this day, though they took a slightly different approach for 2024's "Deadpool & Wolverine" on account of Reynolds not being a young man anymore. Speaking to Yahoo! about his work with Reynolds on his third Deadpool film, Saladino said: "Every movie, we implemented new things, and we had a little bit of a different mindset. What really became interesting with this project is that the word 'resiliency' was something I feel like he embraced a lot more. He's now 47 and he's definitely thinking a little bit differently than he was when I met him, when he was 32 or 33."

Ben Affleck had already gone through the superhero ringer when he was cast as Bruce Wayne/Batman in Zack Snyder's "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice." In addition to playing Superman actor George Reeves in "Hollywoodland," he famously (or perhaps infamously) played superhero-slash-lawyer Matt Murdock in the Fox "Daredevil" film from 2003. Whether it was an attempt to rise above this disappointing project, or in reaction to the prospect of facing off against Henry Cavill's gargantuan Clark Kent, Affleck wanted to completely transform himself for the role.

How did Affleck get into such good shape? Well, he sought the help of trainer Walter Norton Jr., whom he had previously worked with on the 2010 crime drama "The Town." On that film, he built Affleck up to 198 pounds — on "Batman v Superman," he had his client at 225 pounds. "This time around we did more bodybuilding," Norton Jr. told Men's Journal. "We wanted him to be strong but we wanted to add mass. The volume was higher. We lived on a lot of the basics, 80-pound dumbbell curls, heavy-loaded carries, and farmer's walks with 60-pound weights."

Though superhero fans know him primarily as the Marvel Cinematic Universe villain Thanos, Josh Brolin actually played another comic book antagonist in a blockbuster around the same time as he was causing havoc in "Avengers: Infinity War." In 2018, Brolin featured as the time-traveling mutant Cable opposite Ryan Reynolds in "Deadpool 2." The difference between these two roles is that, while Thanos relied on CGI to appear physically imposing, Cable required Brolin to be a real-life, Terminator-esque killing machine.

At 50 years old and with less than three months to get in shape, Brolin was facing an uphill battle — though nothing he wasn't willing to meet head-on. He worked in the gym three hours a day with trainer Justin Lavato, primarily on trimming down and sculpting his arms and shoulders. Brolin was "very happy with the outcome," he told Entertainment Weekly, though he admits that it was hard work. "I had this great midlife-crisis idea," he said. "Buy a Ferrari? No, I'll get into shape. And it was just a dumb decision."

Even before he donned the tights and cape of Superman, Henry Cavill was clearly someone that put a lot of work into his physique. In 2011's "Immortals" (one of the last films to feature the actor before he became globally recognized as the Last Son of Krypton), he had to get into fighting shape in order to play the legendary Greek warrior Theseus. But Cavill aimed to surpass even that level of work when he was cast as Superman in Zack Snyder's "Man of Steel."

Working with renowned trainer Mark Twight, Cavill got absolutely ripped to play Superman. He stuck to an intense weight and bodyweight training regimen that also included elements of martial arts. He ate between 3,5000 and 5,000 calories per day and often slept for 10 hours per night to give his muscles enough time to heal. Though it ultimately helped him pack on a significant amount of muscle and size, it also helped him gain the core strength to perform the extraordinary amount of wire and stunt work required of him on set.

After the disastrous "Wild Wild West," Hollywood heavyweight Will Smith needed a win — he sure hoped he had one in the form of Michael Mann's "Ali," a sports biopic about the legendary boxer Muhammad Ali. The "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" star had secured a $20 million salary for the role, and appeared determined to get in the ring even as the project experienced pre-production hiccups, but the real challenge came when it was time for him to get in competitive shape.

It has been rumored that Smith and the studio wanted him to not only train to be a plausible boxer, but to pack on 35 pounds of muscle to match Ali's competitive weight of 210. Originally, they sought to do this by hiring an entire team consisting of nutritionists and trainers, but they ultimately needed only one person — world class boxing trainer Darrell Foster, whose previous clients include world champion and Olympic gold medalist Sugar Ray Leonard. Foster effectively had Smith working out full-time, starting with a three-to-five mile run every morning before several hours of boxing and weight training in the afternoon.

Following in the footsteps of comedian-turned-Marvel Cinematic Universe action hero Chris Pratt, "Silicon Valley" star Kumail Nanjiani wanted to recreate himself as a walking god for the 2021 Marvel ensemble film "Eternals." The comic book fantasy epic has Nanjiani playing against type: He plays Kingo, a cosmic-powered immortal superhero who has become a Bollywood star, enjoying continued fame by posing as his own descendants. It's a role very far removed from the nerdier characters he had originally built his career on, like Dinesh Chugtai from "Silicon Valley."

Nanjiani actually worked with trainer and gym owner Grant Roberts while shooting "Silicon Valley" so he would be ready by the time "Eternals" began production. Like Rob McElhenney, he was both excited to share his progress but keen not to spread misleading messages to his fans. In a viral Instagram post, Nanjiani impressed upon his followers that he was only able to get ripped to such an impressive degree because of his privileged position. "I would not have been able to do this if I didn't have a full year with the best trainers and nutritionists paid for by the biggest studio in the world," he said.

Having played the role of ripped "X-Men" mutant Wolverine several times over the past few decades, Hugh Jackman is surely used to the physical demands of superhero acting. Each appearance required him to present himself physically as an apex predator. After his supposed swan song (the 2017 neo-Western drama "Logan"), Jackman thought he was done with the famous Marvel character, but his good friend Ryan Reynolds was able to convince him to star alongside him in his third outing as Deadpool. And with that, 2024's "Deadpool & Wolverine" was born.

The Australian A-lister hadn't played Wolverine in several years by this point, so how did Hugh Jackman get back in shape for the third "Deadpool" film? With lots of effort. He started an Instagram series under the hashtag #BecomingWolverineAgain to document his training for his highly anticipated Marvel Cinematic Universe debut (one that might even lead to a "Secret Wars" appearance). Fans have already seen Logan back in action in the trailers for "Deadpool & Wolverine," which show Jackman in impressive shape for his return.

When James Gunn announced that he would be replacing Henry Cavill with a new, younger actor as Superman in his rebooted DC universe, observers were anxious to see who would be next to don the iconic red cape. David Corenswet (then widely known for appearing in the period horror flick "Pearl") emerged early as a clear favorite among fans and eventually went on to win the role — as well as the task of getting himself physically ready to be one of the strongest characters in comic book history.

Judging by the pictures that have come out so far, Corenswet has without question risen to the challenge. Though we don't yet have all the specifics about how Corenswet got ripped for the role of Superman, we know that he's been training with specialist Paolo Mascitti, who estimates that Corenswet packed on as much as 40 pounds in preparation for the film. "He's 6'4" but we wanted to put more bulk on him," Mascitti told British GQ. "He probably went from 200lbs to 240lbs, but some of that mass will shed as he continues to tone up."