Many of today’s most well-known actors will push themselves to their absolute limits for their roles. We know about some pretty insane preparation techniques that actors use to fully access their characters, but we don’t often think about the lasting repercussions these actions might have. Even though an actor’s stellar performance is often rewarded with critical praise and sometimes even awards, the emotional damage from taking on a difficult role can last anywhere from a couple weeks to several years.
Sometimes, the character that the actor is playing is particularly difficult to access, and there’s no personal experience to draw from. This requires the actor to dig into spaces of their psyche that might otherwise go untouched. After all, how else would an actress such as Kate Winslet be able to get herself into the headspace of an Auschwitz guard in The Reader? Or how was Val Kilmer able to transport himself to the drug-fueled rock-and-roll lifestyle of Jim Morrison? These actors are seriously dedicated to their craft, and it definitely shows in the finished product. But the thing is, once you tap into those parts of yourself, it’s difficult to snap back to your normal self. Sometimes, it even takes professional therapy to fully move forward from a project.
While certain characters are naturally easy to let go of, some stick with an actor long after the cameras have stopped rolling. Below, you’ll find several actors who were traumatized after giving everything to their roles. A particularly harrowing experience can leave an actor shaken, but it’s all in a day’s work, right?
Actors Who Were Traumatized By Their Roles
12 Actors Who Did Crazy Things To Get Into Character
These actors stopped at nothing to transform into their onscreen roles.
