19 Actors and Actresses That Seem to Have a Stash of Polyjuice Potion for Every New Role

Many actors are afraid of becoming hostages to one role. But even a great script and gorgeous makeup are useless if an actor or an actress can’t portray different characters convincingly. We think that the people from our article are masters of transformation. It was a tough job choosing just 3 roles for each of them.

Cate Blanchett

• Cinderella (2015) — evil stepmother
• Thor: Ragnarok (2017) — goddess of Hel, villain Hela
• Don’t Look Up (2021) — glamorous tv-host

Eva Green

• Kingdom of Heaven (2005) — Sibylla, Queen of Jerusalem
• Cracks (2009) — mysterious teacher at a boarding school for girls, Miss “G”
• Dark Shadows (2012) — jealous Angelique Bouchard

Matthew McConaughey

• Dallas Buyers Club (2013) — terminally ill Texas cowboy Ron Woodroof
• Interstellar (2014) — farmer, widowed engineer, and ex-pilot Josef Cooper
• The Beach Bum (2019) — a strange poet named Moondog

Carrie-Anne Moss

• The Matrix (1999) — Trinity, hacker, and officer of Nebuchadnezzar
• Fido (2006) — housewife Robinson that met a zombie
• Silent Hill: Revelation (2012) — Claudia Wolf, high priestess

Jennifer Jason Leigh

• Dolores Claiborne (1995) — Selena St. George, journalist from New York, the daughter of a housekeeper, accused of a crime
• The Machinist (2004) — the only companion of the main character
• The Hateful Eight (2015) — convicted criminal, Daisy Domergue

Matt Damon

• The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) — amazing conman Ripley
• The Martian (2015) — astronaut Mark Watney
• The Last Duel (2021) — untitled gentleman Sir Jean de Carrouges

Sharon Stone

• Total Recall (1990) — the fake wife of the main character, Lori
• Last Dance (1996) — a young woman on death row, Cindy Liggett
• Ratched (2020) — eccentric heir of a wealthy estate, Lenore Osgood

Geoffrey Rush

• Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) — Sir Francis Walsingham, chief secretary to Queen Elizabeth I
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) — the main pirate, Captain Barbossa
• The King’s Speech (2010) — the speech therapist Lionel Logue, who treated King George VI

Anne Hathaway

• Becoming Jane (2007) — the daughter of a poor village priest, Jane Austen
• Les Misérables (2012) — Fantine, a character of Hugo’s novel
• The Witches (2020) — Grand High Witch

Kathy Bates

• Misery (1990) — Annie Wilke, the fan of a famous writer
• Titanic (1997) — Molly Brown, one of the passengers
• American Horror Story (2011–2022) — unstoppable overseer, Miriam Mead

Sarah Jessica Parker

• Hocus Pocus (1993) — one of the witch sisters
• Ed Wood (1994) — American actress Dolores Fuller
• Mars Attacks! (1996) — ambitious TV journalist Nathalie Lake

Julianne Moore

• Safe (1995) — Carol White, a young woman who is diagnosed with a strange illness
• Far From Heaven (2002) — exemplary housewife whose life is derailed when she learns her husband’s secret
• The Glorias (2020) — journalist, and leader of a feminist movement, Gloria

Renée Zellweger

• Jerry Maguire (1996) — 26-year-old widow, single mom, Dorothy Boyd
• Cold Mountain (2003) — Ruby Thewes, who knows how to achieve her goals
• Judy (2019) — American singer and actress Judy Garland

Stanley Tucci

• Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) — Doctor Abraham Erskine
• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013) — the host of the Hunger Games
• Beauty and the Beast (2017) — court composer Cadenza

Catherine O’Hara

• Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) — Kate McCallister, the mother of the inventive Kevin, who somehow always gets left alone
• For Your Consideration (2006) — actress Marilyn Hack, who’s hearing rumors she’ll be nominated for an Oscar
• Schitt’s Creek (2015–2020) — the wife of a billionaire whose business collapsed and soap opera actress, Moira Rose

Frances McDormand

• Fargo (1996) — the fearless 7-month-pregnant police officer Marge Gunderson
• Burn After Reading (2008) — gym administrator, dreaming of plastic surgeries and trying to achieve her goals, Linda Litzke
• Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) — desperate mother, Mildred, that lost her daughter

Vivien Leigh

• Gone With the Wind (1939) — Scarlett O’Hara, a coquette and the heir of a wealthy estate, who sees the horrors of war
• Ceasar and Cleopatra (1945) — Egyptian Queen Cleopatra
• Ship of Fools (1965) — unhappy, middle-aged, wealthy woman

Robert Pattinson

• The Bad Mother’s Handbook (2007) — an awkward teenager who helps his friend deal with a pregnancy.
• Good Time (2017) — bank robber, trying to escape and taking huge risks
• The King (2019) — Louis, Grand Dauphin

Emily Blunt

• Empire (2005) — vestal that sees the future
• The Devil Wears Prada (2006) — senior assistant to the chief editor of a fashion magazine
• The Huntsman: Winter’s War (2016) — a powerful witch that controls ice and snow

Who is your favorite actor or actress? What movies with them are you ready to watch over and over again?