6. Vincent DOnofrio Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Vincent DOnofrio gained 70 pounds and shaved his curly locks for his role as Private Leonard Pyle Lawrence in Full Metal Jacket. Before this, Robert De Niro held the unofficial record for intentional acting-driven weight gain with 60 pounds. This added weight even caused DOnofrio to injure his knee bad enough during filming to require knee reconstruction surgery, according to the
NY Times. The film won no Oscars, though it did receive a nomination for best adapted screenplay. R. Lee Ermey even got nominated for a Golden Globe for essentially playing himself. What makes things even more crazy is that DOnofrio pulled a Christian Bale and lost nearly all the weight for his next role in Adventures in Babysitting within nine months.