Naomi Grossman
Actress Naomi Grossman is best known for her role as Pepper in seasons 2 and 4 of FX’s American Horror Story, being the first character to appear in more than one season of the show. Pepper is a microcephalic who gets placed into a mental asylum after being accused of a crime in American Horror Story: Asylum.
Charlize Theron
You already know Charlize Theron as the stunning actress in films like The Italian Job, Snow White, and the Huntsman, and Mad Max: Fury Road, and in the early 2000s she was considered Hollywood’s new “It girl.” At the height of her career, Theron was enlisted to star in Monster, a 2003 crime drama about Aileen Wuornos, who was a real-life lady-of-the-night-turned-serial slayer from Florida.
Anne Hathaway
In The Princess Diaries, Anne Hathaway played the lead role of Mia Thermopolis, a frumpy teen who turns princess after she discovers her father’s royal roots. In the movie, Hathaway’s character undergoes a serious makeover which sees her trading in her big unruly hair and glasses for a more chic, polished look. As it turns out, Hathaway’s “new look” in the movie is actually how she looks in real life.
Taryn Manning
When actress Taryn Manning was offered the role of Tiffany “Pennsatucky” Doggett in the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black, she took the opportunity right away, saying in an interview “I loved it and didn’t need to look any further. I was sold.”
Emma Thompson
British actress Emma Thompson is well known for her roles in the Harry Potter franchise, Love Actually, and Sense and Sensibility, but do you remember her as Nanny McPhee? In 2005, Emma Thompson starred in Nanny McPhee as the movie’s title character. Nanny McPhee is a magical nanny who appears to be a “frighteningly hideous” woman. Although the children in her care initially try everything to get rid of her, they are won over, and McPhee becomes more beautiful as the children mature.
America Ferrera
America Ferrera made a career breakthrough when she landed the lead role in the ABC series Ugly Betty. Ferrera played Betty Suarez, an ambitious young woman who wore adult braces, glasses, and unusually bright outfits. The show centers around Betty trying to fit in after she lands a job at a high-fashion magazine.
Bette Midler
One of Bette Midler’s most iconic roles is that of Winifred Sanderson, head witch of the Sanderson Sisters in the 1993 Disney film Hocus Pocus. Winifred and her sisters were executed during the Salem witch trials, but a spell was cast that resurrects them when a virgin lights a special candle. Many years later (in 1993), that exact thing happens and the witches are brought back to life, only to continue on their quest to suck the souls of children to maintain their youth.
Thesy Surface
You may not know her by name, but you might have seen her in an episode or two of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Thesy Surface plays Margaret McPoyle, the deaf-mute sister of “the gang’s” old elementary school classmates, who always seem to be at odds. Margaret has a unibrow and in the show, is shown to have an incestuous relationship with her two brothers.
Judy Greer
Judy Greer is an American actress and author, famous for a number of roles, but perhaps most bizarrely for Kitty Sanchez, on Arrested Development. She also played Ingrid Nelson/Fatty Magoo on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Trixie on Californication. Still, her quirky role on Arrested Development is the one with which she’s most frequently associated.
Vanessa Hudgens
Vanessa Hudgens rose to popularity after her lead role in Disney’s High School Musical, but fast forward to 2013 to see her in the independent drama, Gimme Shelter. In the film, Hudgens plays a struggling teen who’s been in and out of foster care and is an object of abuse from her addiction-addled mother. After finding her birth father, who takes her in, she is promptly kicked out when he finds out she is pregnant and wants to keep the baby.
Rooney Mara
In 2010, Rooney Mara was in Nightmare on Elm Street and The Social Network, but she rose to stardom for her lead role in the 2011 film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Mara plays Lisbeth Salander, a troubled but talented investigator and hacker.
Drew Barrymore
The 1999 movie, Never Been Kissed, is a classic Drew Barrymore film. The movie is about Josie Gellar, a geeky girl in her high school days but gets to redeem herself as an adult when she is told to go undercover as a high school student. Barrymore’s character wears embarrassing outfits that often make her the object of ridicule, but once she realizes this she tries to shed her previous high school persona for a new one.
Cameron Diaz
Actress Cameron Diaz has captured eyes with her roles in The Mask and There’s Something About Mary throughout the 1990s, but when she was in 1999’s Being John Malkovich, she was not the sexy 1990s starlet that everyone came to know her as.
Kate McKinnon
Kate McKinnon is famous as a fabulously funny woman, who has taken on a whole slew of unforgettable characters on Saturday Night Live. It’s a good thing she landed the comedy spot too because otherwise, she says she’d have remained “destitute, unemployed, living in L.A.” It wasn’t a pretty picture.
Elisabeth Moss
Many people know Elisabeth Moss as Peggy Olson on AMC’s hit series, Mad Men. Moss’s character Peggy starts out in Mad Men as the secretary to the show’s main character, Don Draper. In her first episode, many of the characters scrutinize Peggy for her homely look, in comparison to the other women in the office. Many comments are made about how she should alter her appearance to fit in more at the office.
Meryl Streep
Legendary actress Meryl Streep was cast in the 2014 film Into the Woods, in which she played The Witch. You can see that the producers certainly made her into a scary witch and if you aren’t familiar with any of Streep’s prior work, you would think that she would be scary to meet in real life.
Salma Hayek
When Salma Hayek was enlisted to play Frida Kahlo in the 2002 biopic Frida, the resemblance was almost uncanny. The artist Frida Kahlo is known for her unconventional looks, especially her iconic unibrow. Hayek was made to look just like Kahlo when makeup artists put a unibrow on her.
Linda Cardellini
Linda Cardellini is an actress and voice actress who has been in many movies and shows, but perhaps she is best known for her role on the NBC series Freaks and Geeks. You might have also seen her in the 2002 movie version of Scooby-Doo. Cardellini was cast as Velma Dinkley.
Mayim Bialik
Mayim Bialik is on CBS’s The Big Bang Theory as Amy Farrah Fowler, the frumpy neuroscientist who is the love interest for one of the show’s main characters, Sheldon. Amy is highly intelligent and the stereotypical nerdy type. Although she tries to fit in with her peers, many find her to be a bit strange.
Mae Whitman
Mae Whitman was once a child actress who starred in films like Independence Day, but many remember her for her performance as Ann Veal on Fox’s Arrested Development. Ann plays the girlfriend of Michael Cera’s character, George Michael. Ann is known to be rather homely and a stern Christian. It is a running gag on the show for Ann to be forgotten, because of how plain she looks.
Maisie Williams
Margaret Constance “Maisie” Williams is an English actress, famous for her role as Arya Stark on the HBO series, Game of Thrones, for which she won the Emmy Award for “Best Supporting Actress in Drama” as well as the Portal Award and Saturn Award.
Tina Fey
Comedic actress Tina Fey is probably most famous for her role as Liz Lemon on NBC’s 30 Rock. Liz Lemon is the middle-aged head writer of a variety show. Lemon is described as a sarcastic and “sexually frightened know-it-all” who loves to eat, especially when stressed. Sort of a nerd, Lemon lacks a lot of social skills and is a big fan of Star Wars.
Lea Michele
Lea Michele rose to prominence in her role as Rachel Berry on Fox’s Glee. In the first season of Glee, Rachel is portrayed as an ambitious singer in her high school’s glee club, although she is not very popular. Despite her vocal talents, Rachel has an overly preppy sense of style and her personality is overbearing for many on the show.
Patricia Heaton
Patricia Helen Heaton is an award-winning American actress, with famous roles as Debra Barone on Everyone Loves Raymond (1996-2005) and Frances “Frankie” Heck on The Middle (2009-present). On the list of Funniest Women on TV, she’s ranked #24. She stirred up some ruckus when she called Planned Parenthood director Deborah Nucatola “Hannibal” on Twitter, based on a viral video that talked about abortion.
Melissa Rauch
Melissa Ivy Rauch is an American actress and comedian, famous for her geektastic role as Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz on the CBS sitcom, The Big Bang Theory. If you’re annoyed by how annoying her voice sounds, that’s intentional, modeled on her mother’s “sweet, high-pitched purr.”
Sophie McShera
Sophie McShera is an English actress who plays the role of the plain kitchen maid, Daisy Robinson (Mason) on the award-winning period-drama, Downton Abbey. She got her first big break because of Saved by the Bell. She’d been watching the show, and then was asked at The Goodbye Girl audition whether she could do an American accent. Because of her days watching Saved by the Bell she answered, “Yes.”
Jenna Fischer
Yep, you’ve gotta know (and love) Jenna Fischer as her plain office worker character of Pam Beesly in the ever-popular situational comedy, The Office. She once admitted to NPR that her first paying film job was a “sex education video for patients” — psychiatric patients that is. So, she’s come a long way…
Tori Spelling
Yep, she had braids and glasses on Saved By The Bell, but that was Tori Spelling who played the role of Violet Bickerstaff. Remember, she was Screech’s love interest. Other than her other infamous role on 90210, Spelling is known for True Tori, which aired all kinds of dirty laundry at home.
Alyson Hannigan
Alyson Hannigan is a well-known face, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as Buffy’s side-kick and friend, Willow Rosenberg. She wasn’t meant to be a hottie on set… She’s also a spokesperson for breast cancer. Concurrent with her role as Willow, she also appeared in American Pie (1999), Boys and Girls (2000), American Pie 2 (2001), and American Wedding (2003). (You’ll also remember her from her role on How I Met Your Mother.)
Kaitlin Olson
Kaitlin is an American actress, known for her role as Deandra “Dee Reynolds on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. And, yes, she’s a funny woman. She’s been described (quite appropriately) as a “drunken, rude, borderline sociopathic character.” She’s committed to that performance, and pulls it off really well!
Aimee-Ffion Edwards
Aimee-Ffion Edwards is a Welsh actress, who’s famous for the (ugly) Sketch in Skins. The TV series ran for seven seasons, with 61 episodes, and broached many of the most controversial topics out there: mental illness, sexuality, substance abuse, bullying, and death.
Gwendoline Christie
Gwendoline Christie famously took on the role of Brienne of Tarth on Game of Thrones, with a history of heart-breaking failure. She overcomes so much and tells herself: “Words are wind. Let them wash over you.” And, of course, she was also Captain Phasma on Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Remember her?
Pauley Perrette
If you’re a big NCIS fan, you know (and love) Abby Sciuto! The role is played by Pauley Perrette, who’s also well-known as a writer, singer, and civil-rights activist. Before making it big as an actress, she held all sorts of gigs, as she explains: “Not only was I bartending in the club-kids scene, with a bra and combat boots and a white Mohawk, but I also wore a sandwich board on roller skates passing out flyers for Taco Bell in the Diamond District.”
Ellie Kemper
Yes, she’s odd, chaotic even “unbreakable,” but that’s Ellie Kemper, who’s known for her role as Kimmy Schmidt, a quirky fish-out-of-water outsider in the recent comedy series for which she’s received critical acclaim.
Phyllis Logan
Phyllis Logan is a Scottish actress, known for her role as Elsie Hughes on Downton Abbey. She came from a small town outside Glasgow, and she appears to have been the first to pursue the acting profession. It just wasn’t done. And, she’d also been told to get rid of her Scottish accent, but for Downton Abbey, the role of Elsie Hughes works out well with the Scottish accent.
Demi Moore
You probably remember Demi Moore for her star-studded part, with Patrick Swayze, on Ghost, but her brutal, hardened role is that of Lieutenant Jordan O’Neil, on GI Jane. She was the test case, designed to prove whether a female soldier could “make it” with their fellow male recruits.
Kate Winslet
Kate Winslet is a famous English actress and singer, whose roles and accolades are rather lengthy, including Academy Award, an Emmy Award, four Golden Globe Awards, a Grammy Award, a BIFA Award, an AACTA Award, and three BAFTA Awards. She’s beautiful, and you’d have thought she’d not be found in any role that was unattractive. But, then, she took on the role of Sarah Pierce, in Little Children.
Delphine Chanéac
From her name, Delphine Chanéac, you might just guess that she’s a French actress, model, and DJ. In 2010, she appeared in the Canadian science-fiction horror drama, Splice, as Dren, which is actually “nerd” spelled backward. She also appeared in the crime thriller, Verso. Beyond being simply another cautionary tale of a Frankenstein’s monster, this film offers a strange mix of comedy and horror, which jointly pushes the boundaries of genetic research, in science fiction and fantasy. “This is the disaster everyone warns about: a new species set loose in the world.” Yes, it’s “nightmarish parenting,” as Sarah Polley says. “I think it goes to strange human places as well as dealing with the creature.” Perhaps, after all, strange really is beautiful.
Nia Vardalos
My Big Fat Greek Wedding came out out of nowhere in 2002 to become one of the most successful independent films of all time. Nia Vardalos wrote and starred in the film. In it, she played Fotoula Portokalos, the “ugly duckling” of her large Greek family.
Sarah Hyland
In 2014, Modern Family star Sarah Hyland starred as Natalie Dashkov in Vampire Academy. The movie based on the novel of the same name turned Hyland from the beautiful television daughter to an awkward teenager.
Mariah Carey
It might seem impossible to take Mariah Carey and hide her classic beauty, but that’s exactly what happened in the movie Precious. Directed by Lee Daniels, Carey plays a social worker in the film and is completely stripped of make-up and expensive clothing.
Christina Ricci
In 2006, Christina Ricci starred as the title character in Penelope. In the movie, she plays a woman born with a pig nose after her family was cursed by a witch. Once she finds love, the curse can be broken.
Sandra Bullock
Sandra Bullock has played a lot of characters over her career that asked her to hide her beauty. The Heat came out in 2013 and had her play an uptight and arrogant investigator. To accentuate those character traits, she was given a rough look that would “keep men away.”
Jennifer Aniston
When director Daniel Barnz cast Jennifer Aniston in Cake he said, “Of the zillions of Jennifer Aniston fans, I might be the biggest one of all. I’ve especially loved her more dramatic performances, and I can’t wait to watch her tackle a role that has such a brilliantly funny voice and so much raw pain.”
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman took on one of the most ambitious roles of her career in 2002 when she signed on to play Virginia Woolf in The Hours. The movie tells the story of three women from different decades and how they are all connected through the novel Mrs. Dalloway.
Cara Delevingne
Proving not all villainesses need to be beautiful, Cara Delevingne got down and dirty for her role as Enchantress in the anti-hero comic book movie Suicide Squad. She plays a doctor possessed by a witch who wants revenge for her years of imprisonment by mankind.
Kristen Wiig
Kristen Wiig first made audiences take notice of her as one of the breakout stars of Saturday Night Live. Since leaving the program, she has focused more on movies, including making a mockery of beauty in Zoolander 2 in 2016.
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her extreme transformation in Girl, Interrupted in 2000. She plays Lisa Rowe in the film, an unstable patient who doesn’t like feeling trapped in the hospital where she lives.
Julia Roberts
Julia Roberts went makeup-free for her role in Secret in Their Eyes. A remake of a foreign film, Roberts plays Jessica Cobb, a Los Angeles investigator tasked with solving a murder.
Shannon Purser
Shannon Purser made a big splash when she was cast as Barb in the first season of Stranger Things. Beautiful in real life, she was dressed down to look like an ’80s outcast and nerd.
