The amount of time and effort, sweat, and tears that go into making movies is impressive. Just take a look at the intricacies required in applying special effects makeup on Hollywood actors. Even characters who we think don’t need any professional makeup can take hours and hours to get ready for the set. Not to mention how much effort goes into making fantasy and sci-fi characters look believable.

To show you just how much work it takes to do Hollywood-tier makeup, we’ve collected some of the best before and after, as well as step-by-step pictures. For example, who knew that making Thorin Oakenshield look like, well, Thorin Oakenshield was a very involved process? And here we thought that putting on a wig was all it took!

Keep on scrolling, upvote your fave face transformation pics, and share them with your movie-loving friends. When you’re done, have a look at Bored Panda’s previous post about incredible pics of actors before and after applying special effects makeup.

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23 Before And After Shots That Show How Much Effort Is Put Into Hollywood SFX Makeup

#1 Naomi Grossman, American Horror Story Series

#2 Robin Williams, Mrs Doubtfire

#3 Eddie Murphy, Coming To America

#4 Richard Brake, Game Of Thrones

#5 Charlize Theron, Monster

#6 Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour

#7 Richard Armitage, The Hobbit

#8 Danny DeVito, Batman Returns

#9 Karen Gillan, Avengers

#10 John Rhys-Davies, Lord Of The Rings

#11 Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight

#12 Ron Perlman, Hellboy

#13 Ian Mckellen, Lord Of The Rings

#14 Tim Curry, Legend

#15 Bill Skarsgård, It

#16 Michael Keaton, Beetlejuice

#17 Emma Thompson, Nanny Mcphee

#18 Jacob Tremblay, Wonder

#19 Roddy Mcdowall, Planet Of The Apes

#20 Jim Carrey, How The Grinch Stole Christmas

#21 Tilda Swinton, Grand Budapest Hotel

#22 Eddie Redmayne, The Theory Of Everything

#23 Angelina Jolie, Maleficent