By Jessica Wedemeyer
8:26am PST, Jan 7, 2020
Wonderwall.com is taking a look back at some of the stars who've shaved their heads for major film and TV roles, starting with Kristen Stewart. The former "Twilight" star sported a brunette pixie cut at a screening of "Personal Shopper" in Los Angeles on March 6, 2017. The very next day, she debuted a drastically different look for a movie role…
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Kristen Stewart dyed her hair blonde and then shaved it all off for her role in the action-thriller movie "Underwater," which hits theaters on Jan. 10, 2020. "I play a mechanical engineer who is working on an oil rig on the bottom of the ocean floor, so for me it's practical," she said of her new 'do during an appearance on the "Today" show. "I'm not going to be able to have touch-ups once I put the helmet on, so I must shave my head!"
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Joey King shaved her head for her Emmy-nominated turn as Gypsy Rose Blanchard on Hulu's "The Act," which debuted in March 2019. Gypsy's mother, Dee Dee Blanchard, regularly shaved her only child's head to mimic the appearance of a chemotherapy patient.
Natalie Portman wore her hair in a wavy bob during the Golden Globes on Jan. 16, 2005. Just a few months later, she started sporting a dramatically different look…
Natalie Portman famously had her head shaved as cameras rolled for the 2006 dystopian political thriller "V for Vendetta." She later told MovieWeb of the experience, "I was so trying to focus, be in character; because we had one shot to do it. I don't really have any personal memories of the experience."
Charlize Theron sported a shoulder-length blonde bob at the MTV Movie Awards in Los Angeles on June 3, 2012. Within months, she'd shaved her head for one of her most iconic roles…
Charlize Theron shaved her head for her role as Furiosa in 2015's "Mad Mad: Fury Road." The Oscar winner said during a press conference for the post-apocalyptic action flick that it was actually her idea to shave her head for the part: She felt like Furiosa, a mechanic, needed to "disappear" and "melt into this underworld mechanics place where she was almost forgotten as a woman." Added Charlize, "I just didn't know how to do that with a ponytail."
Demi Moore's extra-long, stick-straight brunette locks were on full display when she and then-husband Bruce Willis attended an amfAR benefit on Valentine's Day in 1996. She spent the rest of the year sporting a vastly different look…
Iconic! Demi Moore shaved her head to star as a woman training in an elite Navy program in 1997's "G.I. Jane."
Before returning to the role of Ellen Ripley in "Alien 3," Sigourney Weaver rocked a brunette bob — as pictured during an outing in New York City on Feb. 22, 1990.
Sigourney Weaver shaved her head for her third turn as Ellen Ripley in 1992's "Alien 3." She later told the Chicago Tribune that the look wasn't her idea: She joked that after director David Fincher told her that he pictured Ripley as bald — to avoid catching lice while trapped on a prison planet — she responded, "Of course if I have to shave my head, I'll have to ask for more money."
Hugh Jackman sported quite the head of hair for his hosting duties during the 68th Annual Tony Awards in New York City on June 8, 2014. Just two days later, he shaved his head…
Hugh Jackman shaved his head to play the villainous Blackbeard in 2015's "Pan." The Australian actor told "Access Hollywood" of his look for the Peter Pan origin story, "I really shaved my head. I recommend everyone to shave their head at least once in their life. … Hair is just a hassle."
Kate Hudson's shoulder-length blonde waves made their final public appearance at the premiere of "Snatched" in Los Angeles on May 10, 2017.
Kate Hudson shaved her head in July 2017 for her role in "Music," a drama written and directed by Sia. (The Oscar nominee showed off her new look while shooting a scene with co-star Maddie Ziegler in Los Angeles on Aug. 22, 2017.) "For me, it was a necessary thing to do for this part. I was so excited about it. So it was like, 'OK, let's just shave it," Kate told E! News.
Recognize this wavy-maned cutie? It's Millie Bobby Brown before her star-making turn on "Stranger Things." Then known for her work on the BBC America series "Intruders," the English actress sported longer hair at the BAFTA Los Angeles TV Tea party in Beverly Hills on Aug. 23, 2014.
Millie Bobby Brown shaved her head for her role as Eleven on the first season of Netflix's "Stranger Things," which debuted in 2016. "The day I shaved my head was the most empowering moment of my whole life. The last strand of hair cut off was the moment my whole face was on show and I couldn't hide behind my hair like I used to. The only image I had in my head about what I could possibly look like is Charlize Theron in Madmax," she recalled on Instagram in January 2018.
Jake Gyllenhaal sported a close-cropped 'do at the Italian premiere of "Source Code" in Rome on April 6, 2011. By the end of the month, he'd officially bid "addio" to his hair…
Jake Gyllenhaal shaved his head for his role as a police officer in the 2012 action-thriller film "End of Watch."
Sanaa Lathan wore her hair in a topknot during the premiere of "Girls Trip" in Los Angeles on July 13, 2017. Not long after that, she completely shaved her head…
Sanaa Lathan shaved her head as the cameras rolled while shooting the 2018 Netflix film "Nappily Ever After." During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the actress called the process of shaving her head "intense." "I had butterflies for the week before because I knew that it was very crucial for [my character's] journey and it was a one-shot deal," she said. "It was really an emotional rollercoaster, so many emotions that came through. It was terrifying, but like most terrifying things, once you jump, it turns out to be surprisingly great. I actually continued shaving my head for four months after we finished the film because it felt so freeing, so good."
Karen Gillan's long auburn locks made their final public appearance at the U.K. premiere of "Star Trek: Into Darkness" in London on May 2, 2013. Just two months later, she surprised fans by debuting a new look at the panel for "Guardians of the Galaxy" during Comic-Con.
Karen Gillan shaved her head for her role as Nebula in 2014's "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1." During Comic-Con 2013, the Scottish actress said of her follicle transformation, "It's liberating. I think everyone here should shave their heads."
Bryan Cranston rocked a close-cropped 'do at a press conference for "Breaking Bad" — for which he later shaved his head — in Beverly Hills on May 19, 2008.
Breaking bald! Bryan Cranston shaved his head as part of Walter White's transition into Heisenberg on AMC's "Breaking Bad," which aired from 2008 to 2013. During a Reddit AMA, the Emmy-winning actor described the importance of Walt's decision to shave his head: "When he was in remission from his cancer and he decided even though his hair was growing back, he decided to shave his head some more … that was [a] big thing for me because it made a statement that he was truly accepting this new life of his."
Cate Blanchet sported a two-tone bob with darker strands on the bottom during the 57th Venice Film Festival premiere of "The Man Who Cried" on Sept. 3, 2000. Sometime between then and October, she shaved her head for a role…
Cate Blanchett had her head shaved on camera for the 2002 romantic thriller "Heaven." A decade later, she told HuffPost that she's always been a fan of the shaved-head look: "When I was at school, I used to shave my hair really close. It was like a Victorian schoolboy haircut. It was just so easy," she said.
Antonio Banderas has shaved his head for a number of roles over the years. Here's how he looked at a charity event in Los Angeles in October 2012 before he made a follicle transformation for a 2014 sci-fi flick…
Antonio Banderas shaved his head for his role in the 2014 Spanish-Bulgarian post-apocalyptic sci-fi flick "Autómata."
Amandla Stenberg wore their hair in long auburn braids during the Sundance Next Fest premieres of "Morris From America" and "Best To You" in Los Angeles on Aug. 3, 2017. They started 2017 on a much different note…
Amandla Stenberg shaved their head to portray a young German woman who's imprisoned in a concentration camp in the 2018 drama "Where Hands Touch." In an essay for InStyle, the former child star described the process of shaving their hair, "I wanted to truly connect with my character, and that meant understanding firsthand what it was like to live without hair," they said.
Olivia Cooke spent the first half of 2014 with a shoulder-length auburn bob like the one she sported during A+E's Upfronts presentation in New York City on May 8, 2014.
Olivia Cooke shaved her head to portray a teen with leukemia in the 2015 dramedy "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl." The English actress told MTV News that it was actually her decision to shave her head instead of wearing a bald cap for the film. She then described her emotional reaction to the experience: "I was feeling my scalp and I was trying not to cry, and then this weird bubble of scream-cry came out of my throat. I've never produced that sound ever. And then I just started crying," she said.
Keanu Reeves has rocked a number of longer 'dos over the years. Here's how he looked in December 1997 — just a few months before undergoing a major change on the 1998 set of "The Matrix."
Keanu Reeves shaved his head for Neo's real-world scenes in 1999's "The Matrix." Neo's "residual self-image" — the "mental projection" of his "digital self" — has longer hair, naturally!
"Game of Thrones" alum Natalie Dormer ended 2013 with a perfectly pretty blonde shoulder-length bob, which she showed off at a BAFTA screening of "A Long Way From Home" in London that Dec. 7. But by January 2014, she'd experienced a pretty major change…
Natalie Dormer shaved half of her head for her role as Cressida — a propaganda film director for the rebellious District 13 — in 2014's "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1." The actress admitted during an interview with E! News that when it was time for her to shave her head, she felt "a little trepidation" but was also "excited." Added the blonde beauty, "The hair department of 'Mockingjay' did it and I love it."
Cara Delevingne spent the first few months of 2017 with her hair in a platinum-blonde bob like the one she wore during the Fourth Annual unite4:humanity gala in Los Angeles on April 7, 2017.
Model-actress Cara Delevingne shaved her head to play a cancer patient in the drama "Life in a Year." (She's seen here at the MTV Movie & TV Awards on May 7, 2017.) "Before I even got the project, I said to the director, 'I want to shave my head for it.' My agents and managers were like, 'Please don't! Why would you do that?'" she recalled to ELLE, adding that she "needed to feel what it would be like to have no hair" because the film is "about cancer."
