50 Iconic Movie Transformations

With nearly a hundred years of film history, we’ve seen all manner of fantastic characters come to life with the power of special effects makeup. Movies in many cases would not be possible without the advancements of prosthetics, dyes, and glues that allow us to create extreme makeup transformations, making the actors with makeup almost unrecognizable next to their normal selves. From the black and white movie makeup of the Universal Pictures monster era to the modern, fully CGI heroes we’ve come to love, this is history’s best movie makeup! Before and after, you can see what the actor looked like and what the film makeup and FX teams transformed them into, whether that’s a scary monster, evil villain, fun character, or a character almost exactly like them, but during old age. Makeup for film didn’t start consistently getting Oscars until the early 1980s, but there was a rich history already set as early as the 30s with the golden age of horror movie makeup. It’s time to take a moment to recognize the magic of movie making and skincare with this movie character makeup best-of list!

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