Sometimes Actors Have To Go For The Hair Clippers

When it comes to actors that shave their head, there are plenty of big names that have been wearing this look for a considerable period of time. You can have an actor like Bruce Willis who is synonymous with the shaven head look and then you have guys like Vin Diesel or Jason Statham who know that it is a major part of their box office appeal. Going back further in time you can have men like Yul Bryner or Telly Salavas who were as synonymous for their bald heads as they are for their great acting skills.

 

The thing is though, when you instinctively think of these men, you will picture them with limited hair and having made a conscious decision to shave their hair off on a full-time basis. There have been plenty of other men who have taken the plunge for a particular role or film. Sometimes it becomes almost synonymous with them and at other times it represents such a big deviation from what they are usually like that it causes most people to rethink their opinion on these actors. So, when actors take the plunge and decide to reach for the hair clippers and shave their head, you can rest assured they have thought it through carefully!

From mild dad to Walter White with a little help from clippers

One actor who has definitely had a reappraisal of his talents and merits in recent times is Bryan Cranston. Cranston was most commonly known as being the likable yet overshadowed dad in the Malcolm In The Middle TV show. This was a big role on a big show but it was when he played Walter White that Cranston really catapulted himself into the big time. Although he started his run as Walter White with hair, as the series progressed and for obvious reasons with the storyline, his character went for the shaved look and Cranston naturally obliged. Nowadays, Walter White is viewed as one of the classic TV characters and the combination of shaved head and goatee beard definitely help to create an iconic TV character that truly sticks in your mind. You may not have first thought of Bryan Cranston as being an actor that suits a shaved head but by the time Breaking Bad ends, you will struggle to think of him in any other way.

The Spy Who Shaved Himself

Another actor who has had a string of big roles but who decided to shave his head for a major part is Mike Myers. Myers has had a tremendous career and while many folk would have been delighted with the success he achieved in Wayne’s World, Myers knew that he had more big comedic hits in him. Thankfully he kept on going and with Austin Powers, Myers actually achieved bigger success than he had achieved with Wayne! Every spy and international man of mystery needs a nemesis and so it transpired that Austin Powers was to come up against Dr Evil. To add to the twist in the tale, Myers played Dr Evil as well and like a string of excellent Bond baddies, the character had a shaven head look. Myers decided to go for it at full pelt and he too took to the hair clippers to get himself properly prepared for the role of Dr Evil. Comedy fans all over the world have been delighted that he took such a bold move.

No matter what film you remember Matt Damon for; it is very unlikely that your first thoughts will be of him with a bald head. However, this is exactly the look that Damon took for Elysium, a sci-fi thriller. When you are such a major name like Damon is, it can be good to make these physical changes to test yourself and your audience but there is no doubt that many people will be delighted when he returns to his more standard look.

The same can be said for Jeff Bridges, an actor to be fair who has created a number of different looks and pulled off many different styles in his time. For his role as Obadiah Stane in the Iron Man movies, Bridges decided to go bald and he too went for the clippers. This was a massive move away from his look in The Big Lebowski but again, sometimes the big actor has to make some big changes in their look to be right for a certain role. Challenging yourself as an actor is a big thing and sometimes you need to get out of your comfort zone. For big name actors, there is often no better way of doing this than by radically changing your look.