The villains of Hollywood movies are typically not known for being “beautiful”. From Freddy Kruger to Voldemort, the bad guys are almost never the ones we have a crush on. Some of them are sketchy, scary, bloody, or downright horrifying to look at. Though these villains definitely haunt our dreams, some of the actors behind the costumes and makeup are as dreamy as can be. You might be surprised about the men (or women) who play these fearsome TV and movie villains. In fact, we bet you won’t even recognize them out of costume.
Michael Myers (Halloween) – Tyler Mane
Although the original Halloween came out in 1978, there was a total of 13 movies in the series, Despite the number of movies made, Michael Myers’ famous mask remained the same, and is worn by many trick or treaters still today. In 2007, a new director did a remake of the original Halloween, which cast professional wrestler, Tyler Mane, as the main villain.
Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare on Elm Street) – Robert Englund
We all know Freddy Krueger as the super disturbing school janitor who was burned alive in a fire and haunts the dreams of his ex-students, causing them to kill themselves when they inevitably drifted off. But looking at his burned, disfigured face, you would never know that he was played by Robert Englund.
Pennywise (It) – Bill Skarsgård
Steven King’s ‘It’ is one of the creepiest movies of our time. The movie was first released in 1990. However, in 2017, there was a remake made (with much better special effects) and the terrifying Pennywise the Clown was played by the handsome Bill Skarsgård. So it turns out that under all of that scary clown makeup, there was a very cute face the whole time.
Samara (The Ring) – Daveigh Chase
Who could forget Samara, the girl from The Ring who crab-walked out of a television set to kill her victims? Her face was mostly covered by her long, dark, and particularly slimy hair, and she had the eerie flexibility of a dead gymnast. In reality, Samara was played by actress Daveigh Chase, who is very pretty and is actually that flexible in real life.
Voldemort (Harry Potter) – Ralph Fiennes
He Who Must Not Be Named struck fear in the hearts of everyone in the wizarding world for so many years. With each movie, he seemed to get even uglier and more snakelike. This is why it might shock you to find out that the actor who played Voldemort all throughout the movie series, Ralph Fiennes, is actually extremely good looking in real life.
Venom (Venom) – Tom Hardy
Definitely one of the coolest looking villains in the Marvel Universe, and with a pretty interesting story, as a host person’s body is taken over by a symbiotic alien. Although he starts out as Eddie Brock, a regular human journalist, the character soon becomes unrecognizable with its massive teeth and slick black suit completely which hide the fact that his character is played by none other than the very good-looking Tom Hardy.
Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13th) – Kane Hodder
Another creepy classic is the story of Jason Voorhees in the hit horror movie, Friday the 13th. This is yet another terrifying villain that wears a mask (this time, a hockey mask) during the entire movie, so you never get to see his face. If you did, you would know that Jason was actually played by actor and stuntman Kane Hodder
The Night King (Game of Thrones) – Vladimir Furdik
Anyone who is a Game of Thrones fan (or was, before the last season came out) knows how creepy looking The Night King is. He would ride around in the dark winter raising bodies from the dead to join his zombie army and kill everyone they come across. Fortunately, the actor who played him, Vladimir Furdik from Slovakia, is much better looking in real life.
Azog The Defiler (The Hobbit) – Manu Bennet
The biggest, loudest, and definitely scariest of all the Orcs in Peter Jackson’s take on the Tolkein universe, Azog showed his horrifying colors in The Hobbit trilogy. Such a big, brutish character needed an actor who could fill his shoes. Manu Bennet, though completely unrecognizable under all that makeup, ended up taking the job.
Thanos (Avengers) – Josh Brolin
All he wanted to do was snap his fingers and erase half of everyone in the entire universe. Why? To create a balance, of course. Even though in the end he didn’t win, Thanos was a serious threat to everyone and he almost got away with it too. This purple monstrosity was played by Josh Brolin, who was completely unrecognizable under all of that purple plaster and makeup.
