9 Hollywood Actresses Who Did Hardcore Training for a Role, and Their Work Deserves Admiration

How much time does it take an actress to prepare for a difficult role that requires them to be as strong as an athlete? According to the interviews of Hollywood stars, 4-6-hour workouts 5-6 times per week is a completely normal thing for someone who wants to portray a soldier or a warrior. For some people, the result is in muscle mass: for example, Tessa Thompson had to gain around 15 lbs.

Bright Side admires the persistence and these women who decided to portray warriors and did everything in their power to look like one.

Emily Blunt, Edge of Tomorrow

The main goal of Emily Blunt’s physical preparation were the strength, stamina, and... mobility in her joints. The actress had to wear a 65 lb exosuit, do tricks in it, and try not to get injured. She said in an interview, “I prepared as much as I could, and then the first day when I showed up and put the suit on, I just thought, ’Oh god I’m going to start crying.’”

Alicia Vikander, Tomb Raider

In order to get in shape before the start of the shooting process of Lara Croft, the actress needed 7 months. A coach developed a special plan for her that imitated the preparation of professional athletes and he was amazed by her attitude toward working out. The discipline that she developed in ballet school paid off and helped Vikander endure the tough training schedule: heavy lifting 6 times a week, climbing 2-3 times, and boxing 4 times a week.

Zoe Saldana, Star Trek Beyond

Zoe Saldana gave birth to twins in December 2014, and she had to prepare for Star Trek Beyond very quickly. The actress spent almost the entire year of 2015 working on her body. Because Zoe doesn’t like treadmills, her coach developed a program that involved dance and boxing.

After 9 months of hard work, the actress could wear Gamora’s costume from 2013 and she was happy. And she said, “I mean it, mommies of the world, if I did it you can too.”

Brie Larson, Captain Marvel

Brie Larson didn’t really like the gym much and she mostly worked on her brain, rather than on her body. In order to have a superhero body, she trained with an experienced coach 5 times a day, for 9 months, getting more and more powerful. Each training session lasted for 4 hours.

Gal Gadot, Wonder Woman

The elegant beautiful woman from The Fast and the Furious made serious changes to her body for the role of Diana Prince. Wonder Woman’s training started 6 months before the shooting and lasted 6 hours per day, “I did 2 hours of gym work, 2 hours of fight choreography, and 2 hours of horseback riding, which was super hard.”

Charlize Theron, Atomic Blonde

The actress looked so great in the role of an MI6 agent, that the script was altered during the practice sessions because the creators realized that they could make the fighting sequences more complicated. The crew was ready to shoot and cut out all the bad shots as much as they needed to. But when they saw how fast the actress picked up on the martial arts moves, their plans changed: Theron could do 20 moves so well, that they didn’t even need to do a second take.

Even though there were stunts, Theron did 98% of all the stunts by herself, except the parts where the character falls from the stairs or jumps from heights.

Daisy Ridley, Star Wars (2015 and 2017)

The role of Rey in Star Wars (The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi) made Daisy Ridley popular: before that, she had only done several roles in TV series and short movies. In order to have the body of a warrior, the actress trained 5 hours a day, 5 times a week. She had to do climbing, kickboxing, and heavy lifting. Before Star Wars, she had never even done any sports.

Tessa Thompson, Thor: Ragnarok

In order to become a perfect Valkyrie, Tessa Thompson had to gain about 15 lbs of muscle mass by working out 6 times per week. Her coach even controlled the chefs on the set to make sure that Tessa ate the right food: enough vegetables and parsley, enough carbs, and a moderate amount of proteins.

Margot Robbie, I, Tonya

Margot Robbie has always been in perfect physical shape but for the role of a figure skater, she had to go through one of the hardest preparations in her life. 4 hours a day, 5 times a week, over several months, the actress was trying to gain muscle mass and learned to ice skate with professional choreographers.

Whose transformation impressed you the most and why? Which one of these actresses did you think looked the best in her role?