Growing a beard is easy for many people, but growing a really great looking one is not always so easy. When an actor grows a great bit of facial hair for a role, sometimes you just have to admire how much heavy lifting it does for the character. Like these 32 examples of great facial hair actors have grown for movies roles.
Tom Hanks – Cast Away
Tom Hanks is usually clean-shaven in movies. Unless that movie is Cast Away when he grew one of the greatest beards in Hollywood history. It’s easy to admire the commitment not just to the beard, but the wild, unkept nature of that amazing beard. It’s truly a work of art in the sloppiest of ways. Sloppy in the best way.
Hugh Jackman – Logan
The amount of work that Hugh Jackman has put in whenever he’s starred as Wolverine in numerous movies is amazing. The beard is the easiest thing he has to do, given the shape he has to get himself in at the gym. But let’s not discount how great the beard is in each out. It’s sculpted just as much as his biceps.
Kurt Russell – Tombstone
The great Kurt Russell has had some amazing facial hair over the years. The Hateful Eight comes to mind, and he’s played Santa Claus. You have to say that his finest work came as Wyatt Earp in Tombstone. There may be no better facial hair movie than Tombstone and even then, Russell’s amazing mustache is a stand-out.
Robert Redford – Jeremiah Johnson
Robert Redford is another actor that, for the most part, stays pretty clean-shaven. Of course, in Jeremiah Johnson, he’s goes way in the other direction with one of the greatest, bushiest, most meme-able beards ever. Of course, you can’t hide the man’s legendary good looks and the beard makes that so much more obvious. It’s just spectacular.
Harrison Ford – The Fugitive
Harrison Ford hasn’t grown a beard for many roles, and you have to say his best was in the The Fugitive. It doesn’t make it very far into the movie, as he shaves it when he escapes, but while he has it, it’s a true beauty. It’s a weird satisfying scene when he shaves it, too.
Mark Hamill – Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker
In the original Star Wars trilogy Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) was still a baby-faced kid. For the the final trilogy, Luke is a grizzled, worn-down Jedi and has taken on a look much more like his mentor, Obi Wan, than his younger self. It’s a shocking moment when he turns around and he’s got that beard, but it’s wonderful all the same.
Wes Bentley – The Hunger Games
Seneca Crane’s beard, grown by actor Wes Bentley, is truly a sculpted work of art. Citizens of The Capital in The Hunger Games have some wild styles and Crane’s beard is a perfect example. It almost looks like CGI is so well barbered. You need an artist to shave you to get a look that good.
Daniel-Day Lewis – Gangs Of New York
Everything about Bill The Butcher’s (Daniel Day-Lewis) hair choices is interesting. The greasy, matted-down hair is a perfect match to the handlebar mustache. While many growing a handlebar would look like a clown, it only makes Bill more fearsome. Like, it’s terrifying and yet looks so darn good.
Bill Murray – The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
The great Bill Murray usually doesn’t act with a beard, but you can’t play an undersea explorer without a good-looking beard. As Steve Zissou in The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, Murray has one of the most dignified beards on this list. It’s nothing over the top, it’s just what you want from the character.
Al Pacino – Serpico
Serpico’s beard sounds like something Will Ferrell would say in an outtake for Anchorman, but really it’s Al Pacino’s beard as the character of the same name in the movie Serpico. It’s a wonderful beard and one of the rare times Pacino has acted with one, especially a full beard. It’s a beard that would make any man jealous.
Tom Cruise – Tropic Thunder
Tropic Thunder is an outrageous movie, due in no small part to Tom Cruise relatively small part. His character as the jerk of all jerks is so amazing and his look is as outrageous as anything else in the movie. It’s hilarious and disturbing, just like his character.
Robert Pattinson – The Lighthouse
Robert Pattinson claims that he hates having to grow facial hair for a role, but he sure does it well. The Lighthouse is maybe the best example of this, as he sports an amazing mustache in that movie. Not everyone can grow something that beautiful, so he should be proud, even if it annoyed him.
Joaquin Phoenix – I’m Still Here
Joaquin Phoenix went all in on his method acting for I’m Still Here, in which he played a fictionalized version of himself. For the “role,” he grew out his beard to immense proportions that was reminiscent of Jim Morrison before his death. His bizarre appearance on David Letterman (in character) remains one of Phoenix’s finest moments, as viewers didn’t know if it was real or fake (and Phoenix might not of either). The beard played a big role.
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Revenant
In addition to his immense acting ability, Leonardo DiCaprio’s baby-faced good looks are part of what has made him such a bankable star for so long. He rarely looks less than his handsome best. In The Revenant, however, he went all out to look like a grizzled fur trapper in the 19th century. It’s not his best look, but it is still very good.
Remi Malik – Bohemian Rhapsody
Freddy Mercury had an all-time great mustache and to play him, Remi Malik just had to have one similar. It might even be better, but for argument’s sake, we’ll call it a tie. It’s an amazing ‘stache and really helped Malik bring the singer back to life.
Joe Pantoliano – The Matrix
Joe Pantoliano’s character in The Matrix is really well defined by the actor’s facial hair. It looks cool, like a lot of the style choices in the movie, but it also feels like you can’t trust him. The mistrust is, of course, well warranted when he betrays the rest of the crew.
Sean Connery – The Hunt For Red October
Sean Connery has had some great facial hair over the years, though the role he is most famous for, James Bond, was always clean-shaven. For this list though, we had to choose just the classic beard he grew for The Hunt For Red October. It’s exactly what you expect from a career naval officer from any country.
Dustin Hoffman – Hook
If you’re going to play Captain Hook, you better have a great mustache. Dustin Hoffman certainly does not disappoint in Hook. Sure, it’s far from a perfect movie, but you can’t say that about Hoffman’s awesome curly-cue mustache.
Henry Cavill – Mission: Impossible – Fallout
Yes, Henry Cavill’s mustache in Mission: Impossible – Fallout is a really great bit of facial hair. That’s not the only reason it’s on this list though. The mustache is infamous because while filming the movie, the Superman actor had to switch gears and do re-shoots for Justice League. The producers of Fallout didn’t want him to shave, so he did the reshoots with the ‘stache, then it was CGI’d out. It’s not a great CGI job either, though it must have been an almost impossible task, no pun intended.
Will Ferrell – Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy
A great mustache was a must in 1970s TV newsrooms and in Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy, Will Ferrell’s is one of the best ever. There is nothing fancy about it, no handlebars or curly cues, but it is a true beauty. It’s a mustache that evokes complete trust in what the talking head is telling his audience. Stay classy, Ron Burgundy.
John Krasinski – A Quiet Place
The director and star of A Quiet Place, John Krasinski, is often seen sporting a beard these days, but before he filmed that movie, his most well-known parts were usually clean-shaven. It’s nothing fancy, like others on this list, but it is impressive. Just a great, full beard that anyone would be proud to grow.
Jeff Bridges – The Big Lebowksi
Later in his career, Jeff Bridges has had facial hair for a lot of roles, but early on, he was often clean-shaven. Arguably the best role of his career, The Dude in The Big Lebowski, has the perfect facial hair for the character. It’s slightly unkempt with just enough grey to make The Dude look wise and world-weary, and, of course, lazy. And The Dude was most definitely a lazy man.
Chris Hemsworth – Thor
The best part about Chris Hemsworth’s beard, when he plays Thor, is that it just keeps getting better with each movie. It looks fuller and more impressive with every new movie and it’s a beard that we’ve all become so accustomed to, it’s weird to see the actor without it, though before playing Thor in the MCU, he was often without it.
Sylvester Stallone – Rocky IV
Rocky is one of the most iconic characters in film history. Most of the time, the boxer is clean-shaven, so that makes the awesome training montage in Rocky IV that much better when he grows the beard. You can imagine being stuck in the cold Siberian winter, but you can’t imagine it without a beard, right? Neither could Sylvester Stallone while playing Rocky.
George Clooney – Syriana
George Clooney is an impossibly handsome man, and when he grows beards for roles, it only enhances that. It’s literally impossible for the man to not look completely on point no matter what. Even his beards are perfect, as it is in Syriana.
Alan Rickman – Die Hard
There is something so magical about a perfectly sculpted beard that doesn’t look perfectly sculpted. Such is the case for Alan Rickman in Die Hard. He is the dapper terrorist, who looks good as he does evil. Rickman’s performance is legendary, and the beard has to be included in that legacy.
Viggo Mortensen – The Road
The Road is one of the most intense post-apocalypse movies ever made and anyone who survived the end of the world would certainly have a scruffy beard. Viggo Mortensen grew a beauty for the movie to play a father trying to survive with his son. It looks like he has shaved in weeks, or even slept much in that time. He certainly hasn’t bathed in a while. It takes dedication to grow a beard that looks this rough.
Mandy Patinkin – The Princess Bride
For Homeland, Mandy Patinkin grew a monster beard, but maybe his best facial work came with a much more subtle work of facial art. His mustache in The Princess Pride is truly wonderful. It evokes the great Douglas Fairbanks or Cary Grant with its classic look, perfect for the role.
Gerard Butler – 300
Everything about Gerard Butler in 300 is over-the-top. His physique, his acting, his fighting, and, of course, his beard. It’s as masculine as a beard can get. It’s as tough as his character and you almost expect the beard to win the war.
Robert Downey, Jr. – Iron Man
Iron Man/Tony Stark has become one of the most iconic movie characters of the 21st Century and the goatee that Robert Downey, Jr. sports is equally iconic at this point. It’s the perfect facial hair choice for the ego-driven Tony Stark. It’s good-looking and confident, just like Stark. It’s also not completely trustworthy, yet reassuring. It a tough line to walk and the beard works.
Samuel L. Jackson – Pulp Fiction
Everything about Samuel L. Jackson’s hair choices in Pulp Fiction is amazing. The hair on his head is great, the hair on his cheeks is great, and the handlebar mustache is great. It’s hard to imagine Jules Winfield looking any differently. It especially all works together with the black suit he’s in for much of the movie.
Kenneth Branagh – Agatha Christie Movies
This one is a bit of an honorable mention because Kenneth Branagh didn’t actually grow this work of art that his character Hercule Poirot has. He tried, but couldn’t. It’s such an iconic part of the character in the Agatha Christie novels, that it had to be perfect. And it is. So it might be a prop, but it’s too amazing not to include.