20+ Actors Who Were So Convincing in the Roles of Real People, That You’ll Totally Believe in Polyjuice Potion

When an actor embodies a real person onscreen, viewers have really high expectations about their work. An actor should look and act like the real-life person they are portraying. Some artists fail at this task and show the character grotesquely. But there are those who play their parts so perfectly that you’ll want to give them a standing ovation.

At Bright Side, we recalled the most successful embodiments of well-known people on the movie screen and compared the people who played these characters with their prototypes.

1. Zac Efron — Ted Bundy (Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, 2019)

2. Olivia Colman — Anne, Queen of Great Britain (The Favourite, 2018)

3. Elle Fanning — Mary Shelley (Mary Shelley, 2017)

4. Pierre Niney — Yves Saint Laurent (Yves Saint Laurent, 2014)

5. Margot Robbie — Sharon Tate (Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood, 2019)

• Margo Robbie was great. She really humanized Sharon Tate for me. © ChappellBoyd / Twitter

6. Nicholas Hoult — J. R. R. Tolkien (Tolkien, 2019)

7. Joaquin Phoenix — Johnny Cash (Walk the Line, 2005)

8. Holliday Grainger — Lucrezia Borgia (The Borgias, 2011–2013)

9. Taron Egerton — Elton John (Rocketman, 2019)

10. Emily Watson — Jacqueline du Pré (Hilary and Jackie, 1998)

11. Amanda Seyfried — Linda Lovelace (Lovelace, 2013)

12. Stephanie Sokolinski — Loie Fuller (The Dancer, 2016)

13. Éric Elmosnino — Serge Gainsbourg (Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life, 2010)

14. Jonathan Rhys Meyers — Elvis Presley (Elvis, 2005)

15. Keira Knightley — Colette (Colette, 2018)

16. Adrien Brody — Harry Houdini (Houdini, 2014)

17. Timothée Chalamet — Henry V of England (The King, 2019)

18. Diane Kruger — Marie Antoinette (Farewell, My Queen, 2012)

19. Octavia Spencer — Madam C. J. Walker (Self Made, 2020)

20. Gwilym Lee — Brian May (Bohemian Rhapsody, 2018)

21. Christian Bale — Ken Miles (Ford v Ferrari, 2019)

22. Christopher Plummer — Leo Tolstoy (The Last Station, 2009)

23. Ralph Fiennes — Charles Dickens (The Invisible Woman, 2013)

Which other actors, in your opinion, perfectly embodied real people? Share your opinion in the comments below.