3. Rita Hayworth
She was one of Hollywoods most iconic sex symbols, with posters of her face and body populating millions of bedroom walls and army barracks all across America and even becoming a major plot point in The Shawshank Redemption, but Rita Hayworth started out very differently to the characters she wound up playing. The star of Gilda and the subject of thousands of mid-20th century male fantasies, Rita Hayworth actually started out life as Margarita Carmen Cansino, the daughter of Spanish and Irish-English parents who would dance in bars as a child. When her family moved to Hollywood she attempted to start her film career, but she was sidelined for not having the right looks for modern American movies, so Cansino decided to change her name and her appearance. After raising her hairline, lightening her skin and changing her name to the less ethnic Hayworth, she became the epitome of WASP-y glamour and allure, and played characters that more suited her new look. Its certainly a drastic measure to take in order to make it in Hollywood but hey, it worked for Margarita. A lesson to be learned for all of us, surely...