Movie stars often look impossibly beautiful on the silver screen and on the red carpet,
so it can be quite the shock to catch a glimpse of them when they're not camera-ready. From
dames and Oscar winners to superheroes, here's what these actors really look like without
makeup.
Gwyneth Paltrow has glammed herself up for countless red carpets, but she's said to spend
most of her time these days rocking a makeup-free look. As she revealed in a blog post on the
website for her lifestyle brand Goop,
"I use it only for shoots or big events. I feel most comfortable just in my own skin."
Goop has been criticized for peddling what many believe to be overpriced products with
questionable benefits, but it's apparently working wonders for Paltrow. According to
the actress, her glowing, age-defying skin isn't genetic, even though she's the spitting
image of her mother, Blythe Danner. Rather, it all comes down to Goop. As she explained
to Byrdie in 2019,
"I was able to make my dream products. It's heaven; it totally changed my skin. And I'm
not just saying that because I made it."
"And then I have amazing scoop- uh, skincare that we make at goop that I love and use."
It's not cream alone that keeps Paltrow looking so fresh and youthful. According to her makeup
artist Georgie Eisdell, the key to her beauty routine is a rather unusual item: a spiked
face roller made partly of minerals that's used to lift, depuff, and firm the skin.
Zendaya has been known to go without makeup while out in public, and she's not afraid
to share natural pictures of herself to her millions of followers. She also isn't afraid
to stick up for herself, as one troll found out the hard way in 2016. When she posted
one makeup-free selfie to Twitter, one person claimed to be "hurt" by her so-called deception
by tweeting,
"I just saw Zendaya without makeup, and it scared me how different she looks."
Zendaya replied to that with a simple,
"Terrifying honestly..."
Her fans took over from there, calling out the original tweeter for mean-spiritedness.
The general consensus was that Zendaya looked just as stunning with or without makeup, and
that's because she looks after her skin. As she revealed to Glamour in 2020,
"I always use moisturizer – otherwise I feel like my face would just crack in half.
Also, I wear SPF every day and never sleep with makeup on. That's a big rule."
Zendaya also gets herself ready for red carpet events, largely because she's had some bad
experiences with makeup artists in the past.
Megan Fox's first-ever Instagram post, back in 2014, was a makeup-free selfie that received
over a quarter of a million likes. That photo was posted about a month before the release
of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, in which Fox played reporter April O'Neil. Since reprising
the role for the 2016 sequel Out of the Shadows, she hasn't shown up in any more big studio
blockbusters, but she still pops up on screen every once in a while, and it seems like she
hasn't aged one bit.
The Tennessee native is open with her fans about which products she uses to maintain
her youthful appearance, and it turns out that she has a secret weapon that you can't
buy in stores. Apparently, her immaculate complexion is partly the result of good genes.
As she told Harper's Bazaar Arabia in 2014,
"I'm really conscious about taking care of my skin, not being in the sun too much, using
the right products. I have a genetic advantage in that my family doesn't seem to age poorly.
My sister is in her 40s, and she looks exactly like she did 15 years ago."
Orange is the New Black star Laverne Cox's relationship with makeup has changed drastically
since she first transitioned. The transgender actor used to hide behind her cosmetics during
her difficult early days. As she confessed to Refinery29 in 2019,
"I needed to put on my face to get ready to be harassed on the street, to deal with the
world. I always needed makeup to feel safe."
Cox eventually became less reliant on her beauty products as she got more comfortable
in her own skin, and nowadays, she's more than happy to go out in public without a splash
of makeup on her face. As she revealed to Refinery29,
"I've gone on dates with no makeup on. I've gone to auditions. I never would have done
that a few years ago."
Taking selfies is another thing that Cox is now comfortable doing while totally makeup-free.
She keeps her face looking fresh by letting it breathe from time to time and employing
a simple but effective skincare routine. As she explained to Allure,
"I just moisturize, and I have a really puffy undereye area so I just do different depuffers
and eye creams. That's it. Sometimes doing too many things can make your skin just kind
of go crazy."
"I can pull myself together if I have to."
On March 31, 2020, Helen Mirren posted a selfie taken first thing in the morning to drum up
support for the Intensive Care Society, a charity run by and for ICU front line staff.
She did her part to help out during the COVID-19 pandemic, as she became a vocal supporter
of struggling theater workers trying to stay afloat under Great Britain's lockdown regulations.
In general, the older Mirren gets, the more and more pleasure she takes in speaking her
mind, especially when it comes to Hollywood beauty standards. As she told People Magazine
in 2020,
"I don't think we should try to look beautiful. We should try to look like ourselves and present
that in the best way possible."
The Oscar-winning Mirren likes to keep things nice and simple with her skincare routine,
spending just five minutes on it every night. She takes a pretty minimal approach to her
makeup as well, and in her opinion, she looks all the better for it. As she put it to Women
and Home Magazine in 2019,
"I look back at some photos of myself and think, 'Oh my god, I look awful.' 99 percent
of [the] time, it's because I've been wearing too much makeup."
Sarah Hyland rocked a number of different looks during her time as Haley on ABC's Modern
Family from 2009 to 2020. During those 11 years, she reportedly became a bit of a makeup
hoarder. As her makeup artist Allan Avendaño told PopSugar in 2018,
"Every lipstick I've ever used on her, she keeps — no matter what brand it is. I give
her a lot of makeup."
Hyland's lipstick always looks perfect when she shares snippets of her glamorous life
online, but she also likes to keep it real with her followers. In July 2018, she joined
the growing number of celebrities taking part in No Makeup Monday when she shared a 100%
natural selfie on Instagram, along with the caption,
"Monday mantra: Be patient. Be kind. Be free. Don't stress. Don't overthink. Don't worry.
Just be."
That's some sound advice from an actor who's been working since she was 7 years old. She's
in her 30s now, and skincare is high on her agenda. As she told Seventeen in 2020,
"Getting older and stuff, you want to make sure that your skin stays young and fresh
[...] Having to wear makeup all the time for work can be really hard on my skin."
"I'm so excited to finally be in my 30s. I've been wanting this since I was like 26."
Ashley Tisdale has had the privilege of working with some amazing makeup artists throughout
her career, but she's always preferred to apply her own. As she told Byrdie in 2020,
"I'm a very creative person. Makeup is one of my favorite things."
"I'm a huge makeup fan. I work with a lot of amazing makeup artists."
Over the years, the High School Musical star has evolved from a bubbly Disney kid into
an unconventional fashion icon with her own line of beauty products called Illuminate.
As she explained to Health Magazine in 2017,
"I'm very skincare-oriented. I decide on makeup based on what I have going on for the day.
It's always different."
In 2020, Tisdale was sadly forced to pull the plug on her beloved Illuminate, as it
was difficult to balance the brand and her acting career. Like many others that year,
she spent much of her time quarantining, but she made sure to look after herself while
living under lockdown. As she captioned a makeup-free selfie that August,
"I've always taken care of my skin, but especially now that we're home so much, I try not to
spend all my days in the sun."
German actress Diane Kruger's path to Hollywood began when she was spotted by a modeling agent
in Paris. She went on to work for some of the biggest fashion houses in the world before
she made the transition to acting, but she's never let go of the beauty routines that kept
her looking radiant on the runway. As she revealed to Vogue Arabia in 2013,
"Beauty begins with beautiful skin. I am very strict about protecting my skin, which (for
my job) is covered in so much makeup."
"One tip I've learned is definitely less is more."
No amount of skincare can halt the aging process, but that's not Kruger's goal. On the contrary,
she's welcomed middle age gladly. As she put it in a 2013 interview for Chanel,
"Signs of aging are more than acceptable, they are necessary. Signs of aging are signs
of beauty."
That's a noble message, but it's easy for Kruger to say that when she barely changes
year after year. She posted a makeup-free selfie on Instagram in February 2015, and
she admitted in the caption that she still looks "like a teenager" sometimes. But in
reality, her teenage years are far behind her. Believe it or not, she celebrated her
44th birthday in July 2020.
In 2019, model-actress Kate Upton launched the body positive "Share Strong" campaign
on social media, which inspired many other people to join in. That August, she posted
a makeup-free selfie on Instagram, and Jessica Biel was then inspired to do the same thing,
along with the caption,
"Spreading some self love today with zero filter and zero makeup for my girl Kate Upton.
She's on a mission to encourage everyone to feel strong and love themselves as they are,
and I'm so honored to help spread that message. Take a second to show the real you."
The real Jessica Biel is the one that her husband Justin Timberlake sees at home everyday,
not the immaculate movie star we've seen in films like The Illusionist, I Now Pronounce
You Chuck and Larry, and Total Recall. The Minnesota-born actress suffers from dry skin,
so she wears only a touch of makeup when she's not on set. As she revealed to the Daily Mail
in 2010,
"I've been cleansing, toning and moisturizing since I was about 12 years old, but I often
change the products I use so that my skin doesn't become reliant on anything [...] I
try to go for natural products that don't contain too many chemicals."
As a former Miss Israel and the face of a superhero franchise, Gal Gadot knows a thing
or two about the power of makeup. Her Wonder Woman makeup artist Sarah Brock went for a
minimalist approach when designing Diana Prince's timeless look. As Brock explained to People
Magazine,
"I used small amounts of several different products, which I applied with my fingers
and then blended well so that they didn't 'sit' on the skin."
Gadot has adopted a "less is more" approach in her personal life as well. As she told
Harper's Bazaar in 2015,
"I like to keep my makeup very light, so what I do is I mix my moisturizer with just a touch
of my foundation, and I just apply it with my fingers."
Gadot has the stripped-back look down to an art, but what does she look like when she's
genuinely makeup-free? Shortly after she gave birth to her second daughter in 2017, she
shared a photo of herself taken by her partner after a sleepless night at home, along with
the caption,
"Went to the garden to get some fresh air with my coffee to help me wake up and now
watching The Cat In The Hat with my daughter. It always amazes me how the most simple things
are the ones to make us the happiest."
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