Makeup is an integral part of movies and television: it has the power to transform, and play with the mind of the audience in the same way as CGI and other effects can, and as such it is rightly rewarded every year when the major awards come around. It can be used to make an actor look like a totally different person; as a collective audience, we have fostered a cinematic environment in which familiarity tends to be rewarded - we go and see sequels in droves, we flock to films based on star quality or the draw of a familiar director, and, though we may grumble, we all buy tickets for the latest remake event. So anything that can transform something familiar so well as an actor wearing a complex make-up piece should be heralded, even in the most basic terms. And in more specialist terms, make-up can make a man look like a female, or vice versa; and it can make an actor look like an alien. It can also make... um, Sean Connery look, um, Japanese...
Okay, bad example. Nonetheless, there are many excellent examples of makeup leading to an astounding transformation. While many of these you may be familiar with, this is intended simply as a celebration of some of the best makeup creations worn by famous actors.
8. Glenn Close In Albert Nobbs
You may be familiar with this 2011 film as "that movie that nobody saw and even fewer liked, but which had Glenn Close". While it's true this film had pretty bad box office returns (failing to even recoup its tiny $7 million budget), and gathered reviews that could best be described as "meh", the movie had two things that received unanimous praise. First, Glenn Close's performance, which saw her be nominated for multiple Best Actress awards. Second,
holy cow what happened to her face??! Somehow, makeup artists Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnson, and Matthew W. Mungle were able to transform the legendary Glenn Close into... Bill Nighy? Yes, definitely Bill Nighy.