10 Actors Who Totally Transformed Themselves For TV Shows

10. Donald Glover - Atlanta

In the second season of Donald Glover's hit dramedy show Atlanta, Glover underwent a transformation that only be called "drastic," in so much as the vast majority of viewers and even Glover's own co-stars in the episode, Derrick Haywood and Lakeith Stanfield, had no idea it was in fact him.

In the episode "Teddy Perkins," Glover wore extensive makeup, facial prosthetics, and a wig to become the title character - an eccentric, creepy man with debilitating photosensitivity whose mask-like face and general mannerisms are reminiscent of later-life Michael Jackson.

The most radical aspect of the makeup job is, of course, that Glover effectively donned "whiteface" to portray Perkins, ensuring Teddy isn't merely a uniquely unnerving presence but also satirically flips Hollywood's racist tradition of blackface.

In order to maintain the ruse that he was just some random actor, Glover stayed in makeup and character throughout shooting, even refusing to be credited for the part.

The episode's director, Hiro Murai, called staring at Glover in makeup "uncanny and unsettling." Too true.