Learning how to gain weight for an acting job is a challenging task, especially if you have a fast metabolism.
I think this is one of the most overlooked areas of acting and it’s very important. I would say gaining weight for an acting job is about 90% of the look and only 10% is your acting ability. Directors do not want to cast an actor who does not look like their character and all directors expect their actors to be in shape and look like the character they are playing.
So if you are a skinny actor or an actor that needs to gain weight for your next acting job then this article will help you reach your goal.
It’s sad but true that in the film industry being skinny is not cool!
I’ve talked to a lot of actors who have been asked to gain weight for a role. It’s not an easy thing to do, especially if you are naturally skinny. Over the years I’ve heard some people say that they gained 15 lbs and it took them 3 months. While others say that they gained 25 lbs in one month. So how do you do it?
I can’t tell you how to gain weight for your acting job, but I can tell you what I did for mine. This will give you an idea of how others have done it and maybe give you some ideas of your own.
First of all, this is not a healthy way to gain weight! Packing on the pounds is usually not the best thing for your body, so don’t try this at home.
I have never understood why some actors go on extreme weight losing binges to play a role, when there are so many actors who can’t find work because they don’t fit the stereotype. Some of the best actors in Hollywood have been skinny. Johnny Depp, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Jason Lee, and Seth Green are just some of the great actors who aren’t ‘Hollywood sized.’
I am one of those actors that can’t really put on a lot of weight. I have tried to gain weight for roles before and I can maybe gain 10 pounds at the most. I am 5’11” and around 150 pounds. It is tough to gain any weight because I am always so active.
To play a certain role for a movie I was asked to gain about 30 pounds in about two months. I knew it would be tough but I accepted the challenge anyway. After all it is my job as an actor to do what it takes for me to get into character.
I wanted this part so bad and I knew that if I could not gain the weight they asked me to then they would give the part to someone else that could. There was no way that was going to happen!
I’ve been a skinny actor for the last ten years. I didn’t mind being skinny, but I knew that if I wanted to get any film roles, I’d have to put on some more weight.
I tried everything from eating pizza every day to drinking Ensure drinks, but nothing worked. My body just wouldn’t gain weight.
Finally, I realized that if I wanted to gain weight, I was going to need help. So I went and saw a nutritionist and we talked about what my goals were and how much time I had to do it in.
Over the next few months, with her help and a lot of hard work, I gained 15 pounds of muscle.
Not only did this make me feel healthier and stronger than ever before, but it also got me better acting roles.
Gaining weight for a movie is not uncommon these days. You see it in the news pretty often, an actor or actress has to gain or lose a lot of weight for a role.
Most actors have been able to keep their weight under control and don’t really need to gain or lose any substantial amount of weight. But occasionally there are roles that require you to go beyond just cutting out sugar and carbs, or working out a little bit extra each day.
There was a time when actors like Christian Bale and Charlize Theron were praised for losing so much weight for their roles, but after some time that didn’t seem so impressive anymore. Actors started going further and further to prepare for their roles, which is why Matthew McConaughey lost almost 50 pounds for his role in Dallas Buyers Club, and Chris Pratt lost 60 pounds for Guardians Of The Galaxy.
The point of me telling you this is that if you want to be an actor, at some point you will have to do something extreme for a role. And it doesn’t matter if you’re male or female; every actor gets his share of punishing roles where they are required to lose/gain weight.
For me personally, I’ve been skinny all my life. So naturally I wanted
I have gained over 60lbs of muscle mass in the past 4 and a half months, and I am going to show you exactly how I did it. But before we get into the good stuff, let me give you a little background on myself and why I decided to do this.
I am an actor. Ever since I was a kid, I have been performing on stage. I started with dancing (jazz, ballet, hip hop) when I was around 7 years old, then moved into theater in high school, where I started acting (which is now my passion). My goal is to be successful in this industry, so when a casting director sees me for a role, they think “He’s perfect!”.
In order to do that, it was important for me to become bigger and gain weight. And if you’re reading this article, it may also be something that you want to do as well. So let’s get into it!
First off – age at the time of writing: 23 years old
Height: 6’4″
Weight at beginning: 155lbs
Current weight: 216lbs
When I moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting I was 130 pounds. I was living in a shared house with 12 roommates and most of them were girls, so I ate whatever they put in front of me.
In the first year I gained 20 pounds. In the second year I gained another 20. By then I was too comfortable and had gotten lazy. Surely there would always be roles for skinny guys?
The first thing to do is to get rid of the idea that skinny is cool. It isn’t.
When you’re fat you don’t need to worry about what you look like naked. When you’re skinny, you are constantly worried about how much body fat you have, if your skin is sagging anywhere and if people can see your ribs.
It’s 2016, and there are now a billion ways to make yourself look better on camera and in real life. If being skinny is holding you back from getting that dream role or that cute girl at the gym, here are some tips for transforming your life:
