Certain roles require intense physical training, and that right there pushes actors to their limits. While it’s often assumed that men should be the ones to get ripped for tough roles, many actresses have also worked incredibly hard to get in shape for their characters.
These days, getting buff is common for superhero roles, but it’s not just about Marvel and DC. Actresses playing action heroes in game adaptations, athletes, and revenge-driven characters all require a little bit of muscle magic.
1. Gal Gadot — Wonder Woman
After Wonder Woman achieved a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, many anticipated a promising future for the comic book movie. Indeed, things didn’t go well after that. But at least Gal Gadot was a real pleasure to look at as she kicked butts and destroyed her foes. Gadot spent six months preparing for her role, including exercise, strength training, and stunt choreography. Before acting, she was a combat fitness instructor in the Israel Defense Forces, so she wasn’t starting from scratch. Her hard work paid off, especially since her costume revealed more than her male counterparts.
2. Alicia Vikander — Tomb Raider
Before 2001, teenagers only saw Lara Croft in ads and on gaming posters plastered all over their rooms, but Angelina Jolie brought her to life in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. She reprised the role in the 2003 sequel, and after that, the franchise took a short 15-year break until Alicia Vikander starred in the 2018 reboot, Tomb Raider. This was her first lead in a major action film, and she added 12 pounds of muscle, trained in mixed martial arts, and ate five meals a day. Her background as a ballet dancer helped her handle the role’s physical demands.
3. Alison Brie — GLOW
Alison Brie, known for her Community and Mad Men roles, showed she could be a badass when she starred in Netflix’s GLOW. The show, based on the real-life Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling from 1986, featured Brie as Ruth “Zoya the Destroyer” Wild. Brie told ET Online she never saw herself as athletic until working on GLOW. By the way, she and her co-stars did all their own stunts with no doubles.
4. Zazie Beetz — Deadpool 2
Zazie Beetz, who played Domino in Deadpool 2, had to look the part with her outfit exposing her shoulders, neck, chest, and arms. She trained for two months before filming and continued with four-hour daily workouts during production. This was a big change for Beetz, who admitted she didn’t work out at all before. She told The Hollywood Reporter it was a huge emotional and physical transition. While she might not be in Deadpool and Wolverine, she might return as Domino in future X-Force movies.
5. Brie Larson — Captain Marvel
While many female superheroes deserve their solo movies, the MCU’s first was not the Black Widow but 2019’s Captain Marvel. Brie Larson worked hard to look like Carol Danvers. She initially felt like an imposter, worrying Marvel didn’t know she struggled with simple tasks. Determined, Larson pushed her limits, eventually deadlifting 200 pounds, hip thrusting 400 pounds, and even pushing a Jeep. The actress continues to smash her workout goals, now able to do one-armed pull-ups and push-ups.
6. Daisy Ridley — Star Wars
Star Wars fans aren’t too happy with the sequel trilogy or pretty much anything outside the original trilogy. Despite this, the hard work of many talented people, including Daisy Ridley, deserves recognition. Early in her acting career, Ridley joined The Force Awakens as Rey, with a surprising lineage tied to Emperor Palpatine. In The Rise of Skywalker, Rey became the first female main protagonist in a live-action Star Wars movie, and the workout she had to go through was tough: five hours a day, five days a week for three months. Now, they call it the Skywalker routine.
7. Hilary Swank — Million Dollar Baby
Swank’s intense training for the role in The Million Dollar Baby led to a serious foot blister that turned into a potentially deadly staph infection. To prepare for the role, she trained six days a week for three months, spending over two hours on boxing and another one to two hours on weights daily. Though she was only supposed to gain 10 pounds of muscle, she almost doubled that with her workouts and strict diet. Her trainer, Grant Roberts, said he was amazed she could even stand after all the boxing.
8. Margot Robbie — Birds of Prey
It’s rare for a spin-off to outshine the original, and Birds of Prey was not an exception. Despite being a pretty bad movie overall, it did feature Margot Robbie, and her portrayal of Harley Quinn was amazing, as always. Robbie nailed Harley’s personality and didn’t shy away from the physical demands. She trained intensely with ballet dancer and trainer Andie Hecker for Suicide Squad and took it up a notch for Birds of Prey, including learning to roller-skate for the role.
