# How many hollywood stars known for their good looks intentionally played ugly people **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 23, 2005, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hollywood-stars-known-for-their-good-looks-intentionally-played-ugly-people/305040 "2005-05-23T03:06:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hollywood-stars-known-for-their-good-looks-intentionally-played-ugly-people/305040/1 "2005-05-23T03:06:36Z")
What all celebrities who are known for their good looks decided to play a role where they would intentionally be made ugly and unattractive? Offhand I can only think of two. Leonardo Dicaprio in Whats eating Gilbert Grape Charlize Theron in Monster I’m not including attractive people who have been made ugly for a small part of the movie (Tom Cruise after he emerges from the swamp in Interview with the Vampire or Brad Pitt after being beaten up in Fight Club), i’m more wondering about a movie where the star becomes ugly for the whole role and did it intentionally. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hollywood-stars-known-for-their-good-looks-intentionally-played-ugly-people/305040/2 "2005-05-23T03:07:34Z")
Mel Gibson, Man Without a Face ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hollywood-stars-known-for-their-good-looks-intentionally-played-ugly-people/305040/3 "2005-05-23T03:23:02Z")
Cameron Diaz, _Being John Malkovitch_ ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hollywood-stars-known-for-their-good-looks-intentionally-played-ugly-people/305040/4 "2005-05-23T03:41:08Z")
Gwyneth Paltrow, _Shallow Hal_ Bette Davis (never a glamourpuss, but IMHO strikingly attractive), _Mr Skeffington_ (for later scenes so may not count) and _What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?_ (although she was past her best days she certainly wasn’t as hideous as Jane Hudson) Joan Crawford, also in _What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?_ (although she did her damndest to subvert it) ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hollywood-stars-known-for-their-good-looks-intentionally-played-ugly-people/305040/5 "2005-05-23T03:54:40Z")
Charlize Theron in _Monster_. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hollywood-stars-known-for-their-good-looks-intentionally-played-ugly-people/305040/6 "2005-05-23T04:02:26Z")
> [@LifeOnWry](#): > > Charlize Theron in _Monster_. Named in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hollywood-stars-known-for-their-good-looks-intentionally-played-ugly-people/305040/7 "2005-05-23T04:03:21Z")
> [@Larry Borgia](#): > > Cameron Diaz, _Being John Malkovitch_ Are you serious? I thought she was hot in that movie, and I normally don’t find her attractive. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hollywood-stars-known-for-their-good-looks-intentionally-played-ugly-people/305040/8 "2005-05-23T04:04:30Z")
Mickey Rourke in _Johnny Handsome_ and _Sin City_. (Okay, he’s not my idea of a really handsome guy, especially since he went in for pro boxing. I was shocked at his appearance on a recent David Letterman. It looked like he still had some of his Marv makeup on.) From the Golden Age: [Boris Karloff](http://us.imdb.com/gallery/mptv/1403/Mptv/1403/7554_0124.jpg?path=pgallery&path_key=Karloff,%20Boris) wasn’t a glamour boy, but was obviously nowhere near as ugly as the [monster.](http://us.imdb.com/gallery/ss/0021884/Ss/0021884/3?path=pgallery&path_key=Karloff,%20Boris) [Lon Chaney](http://encarta.msn.com/media_461528447/Lon_Chaney.html) made a career out of playing [hideous](http://us.imdb.com/gallery/mptv/1189/Mptv/1189/3494_0002.jpg?path=pgallery&path_key=Chaney,%20Lon)[character](http://us.imdb.com/gallery/mptv/1229/Mptv/1229/17119_0001.jpg?path=pgallery&path_key=Chaney,%20Lon)[roles,](http://us.imdb.com/gallery/mptv/1229/Mptv/1229/18526_0002.jpg?path=pgallery&path_key=Chaney,%20Lon) but I don’t think you’d say he was someone known for his [good looks](http://us.imdb.com/gallery/mptv/1189/Mptv/1189/0810_0410.jpg?path=pgallery&path_key=Chaney,%20Lon) without makeup. Same is true of [Charles Laughton](http://us.imdb.com/gallery/mptv/1316/Mptv/1316/0542_0032.jpg?path=pgallery&path_key=Laughton,%20Charles): no Clark Gable, but his [Quasimodo](http://www.hollywood-north.net/hwslee.htm) (scroll halfway down the page) was remarkable (and remarkably ugly). ---
**Author:** ![brickbacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@brickbacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brickbacon)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hollywood-stars-known-for-their-good-looks-intentionally-played-ugly-people/305040/9 "2005-05-23T04:38:48Z")
Tom Cruise in **Vanilla Sky** Halle Berry in **Jungle Fever** ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hollywood-stars-known-for-their-good-looks-intentionally-played-ugly-people/305040/10 "2005-05-23T04:43:07Z")
[Gerard Butler](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0124930/) played the Phantom in the latest version of _The Phantom of the Opera_. [Oh](http://dvdtoile.com/ARTISTES/1/1346.jpg) [my](http://film.onet.pl/_i/news/duze/g/gerard_butler_2.jpg) [god](http://www.gerardbutler.de/themes/random/small.jpg), [hottie](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v235/natasha925/Misc/Gerard11-2.jpg). As the Phantom and unmasked, not so much. ([With the mask](http://news.mywebpal.com/partners/356/images/news/Entertain1%20(1).jpg), still pretty hot.) A lot of people thought that Nicole Kidman uglified herself to play Virginia Woolf in _The Hours_. I disagree with this, because I really don’t think Virginia Woolf was ugly – [plain](http://www.faculty.sbc.edu/mares/images%20folder/brits/virginia-woolf.jpg) when she was older, but she was [quite striking](http://rasputina.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/virginia_1.jpg) as a young woman. Also, while I’m not particularly fond of Ms. Kidman, I don’t think she was [ugly](http://www.smh.com.au/ffxImage/urlpicture_id_1040174434779_2002/12/21/kidmanwoolf.jpg) in _The Hours_, either. Tangentially related, but [Janeane Garofalo](http://www.sergioleone.net/mm-14.jpg) was supposed to be the ugly one in _The Truth About Cats and Dogs_. What? She’s adorable. I remember there being a rash of articles about actresses who “uglify” themselves getting an automatic Oscar nod. I suppose the actual uglification is better than the old Hollywood method of tossing a girl in glasses and rendering her automatically unworthy of a man’s attention. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hollywood-stars-known-for-their-good-looks-intentionally-played-ugly-people/305040/11 "2005-05-23T05:10:55Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > Named in the OP. Good grief, so she is. Sorry. I was driving for six hours today, I’m a little brain-damaged right now. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hollywood-stars-known-for-their-good-looks-intentionally-played-ugly-people/305040/12 "2005-05-23T05:41:19Z")
> [@Miss Purl McKnittington](#): > > Tangentially related, but [Janeane Garofalo](http://www.sergioleone.net/mm-14.jpg) was supposed to be the ugly one in _The Truth About Cats and Dogs_. What? She’s adorable. I’ve never understood the Garofolo as ugly thing myself, she is a 9 out of 10. I nominate [Christian Bale](http://www.filmmesse-leipzig.de/filmbilder/the_machinist.jpg) in “the Machinist” as another. He lost 60 pounds and grew some facial hair for that one. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hollywood-stars-known-for-their-good-looks-intentionally-played-ugly-people/305040/13 "2005-05-23T05:47:38Z")
Eddie Murphy in the _Nutty Professor_ movies and _Bowfinger._ Goldie Hawn in _Death Becomes Her._ ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hollywood-stars-known-for-their-good-looks-intentionally-played-ugly-people/305040/14 "2005-05-23T05:57:23Z")
Michelle Pfeiffer starred in [Frankie & Johnny](http://imdb.com/title/tt0101912/) as a “plain jane” waitress. It was based on a Terrance McNally play about a love affair between two decidedly unglamorous people and, of course, was Californicated into… well, a role for Michelle Pfeiffer. Jeffrey Hunter’s only action-figure role was as the horribly deformed Jeremy Pike in _Star Trek_. That episode (the pilot rewritten and adapted into a two-parter) was in part based on the 1945 movie [The Enchanted Cottage](http://imdb.com/title/tt0037671/), in which homely couple Robert Young and Dorothy McGuire fall in love and are beautiful (sans make-up) to each other. Tina Louise played her homely doppelganger in an episode of _Gilligan’s Island_. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hollywood-stars-known-for-their-good-looks-intentionally-played-ugly-people/305040/15 "2005-05-23T06:01:21Z")
Ah, and Emma Thompson’s characters included a butch nurse and a deranged homeless woman in [Angels in America](http://imdb.com/title/tt0318997/). ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hollywood-stars-known-for-their-good-looks-intentionally-played-ugly-people/305040/16 "2005-05-23T07:05:02Z")
Brad Pitt in Kalifornia (and to a lesser extent, Twelve Monkeys). ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hollywood-stars-known-for-their-good-looks-intentionally-played-ugly-people/305040/17 "2005-05-23T07:15:15Z")
> [@Talon Karrde](#): > > Are you serious? I thought she was hot in that movie, and I normally don’t find her attractive. He’s right. She looked very unglamorous, dressed crappily, wore that gross wig, etc. It didn’t succeed for you, I guess, but she was trying to look plain. And like somebody who worked with monkeys. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hollywood-stars-known-for-their-good-looks-intentionally-played-ugly-people/305040/18 "2005-05-23T07:27:08Z")
Minnie Driver went mousy and plain in _Owning Mahowny_. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hollywood-stars-known-for-their-good-looks-intentionally-played-ugly-people/305040/19 "2005-05-23T07:57:01Z")
Count me as another who only noticed Cameron Diaz was actually attractive in _Being John Malkovich_. Does John Hurt count, in _The Elephant Man_? He was known as a handsome fella, although he was already starting to look a bit boozy and aged by the time _Elephant Man_ started shooting, and now looks pretty convincingly like a railroad tramp. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2005, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hollywood-stars-known-for-their-good-looks-intentionally-played-ugly-people/305040/20 "2005-05-23T09:05:29Z")
Johnny Depp, possibly the best-looking actor of his generation, has played down his looks on several occasions - most notably in _[Edward Scissorhands](http://www.justmarystuff.com/filterfrenzy/edward.jpg)_. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hollywood-stars-known-for-their-good-looks-intentionally-played-ugly-people/305040.md?page=2)