10 Movie Industry Secrets You Didn't Know

One of the most demanding things an actor can do for a role is to substantially change their physique, especially if it requires getting into chiselled shape to play an extremely fit or muscular character.

Though actors certainly have access to the best nutritionists and personal trainers known to man, schedules are tight regardless, and so it's one of Hollywood's open secrets that performance-enhancing drugs are often used to get actors across the finish line.

For starters, it's not much of a secret that the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone have used steroids earlier in their careers to maintain their action hero look.

But an estimated 20% of actors use PEDs in some form, and while few are willing to admit to getting chemical help, sometimes the gains are simply too fast and drastic to be believably natural.

Case in point, Jake Gyllenhaal's bulk-up for boxing film Southpaw saw many suggesting he may have used HGH (human growth hormone), and every year there are countless dramatic actorly transformations which raise eyebrows.

But on the opposite end of the spectrum we have Ben Foster, who in a delicious feat of irony freely admitted that he took PEDs in order to play cycling cheat Lance Armstrong in the 2015 film The Program.