1 of 21 Alberto Terenghi/startraksphoto.com, Alexander Tuma/startraksphoto.com
James Franco
Franco not only shaved his head for Zeroville, but sported a head tattoo of Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift from A Place in the Sun for the film, in which he plays a troubled architecture student who hopes to make it in Hollywood.
2 of 21 Hugh Jackman via Instagram
Hugh Jackman
Shiver me timbers! In June 2014, Hugh Jackman shaved his head to take on the role of the infamous Blackbeard in Pan. The star opted to keep a highly stylized beard, including one heck of a mustache. But we all know it's not the beard that makes the pirate — it's the size of his booty.
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Charlize Theron
Charlize Theron has recently been spotted wearing lots of hats. The reason? She shaved off her hair for a role in Max: Fury Road, which starts shooting next month in Africa. In honor of Charlize's close shave, we rounded up some other stars who famously buzzed off their locks.
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Britney Spears
Ah, the shave heard 'round the world. In the midst of a psychological breakdown in February 2007, the pop star checked out of rehab, hit up a hair salon and buzzed off all of her hair herself. If that wasn't enough of a cry for help, newly bald Brit proceeded to get a tattoo and attack a paparazzi car with an umbrella. It would be another 11 months before she was put on a psychiatric hold and placed under a conversatorship, which still stands today.
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Matthew Morrison
The Glee star said buh-bye to his signature curls in June 2012, showing off a buzzed 'do on Twitter. No word yet on what will happen to all that extra hair gel.
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Anne Hathaway
Hathaway didn't go completely bald, but she went for a cropped 'do to play prostitute and single mother Fantine in the upcoming Les Miserables remake. Filming has wrapped, but Hathaway says she might stick with the look. "I'm just so pleased with how I look, so I now quite like having short hair," she told Vogue.
7 of 21 Gilbert Carrasquillo/Getty Images
Willow Smith
Whip what hair? Will and Jada's youngest debuted a nearly bald look on Twitter in February 2012. It didn't stay that way for long: Just a month later, Smith underwent another hair change and dyed it green.
8 of 21 Michael Stewart/WireImage.com
Cynthia Nixon
Known for her signature red hair, the Sex and the City star stunned viewers on Live with Kelly in January 2012 when she debuted her bald head. Nixon explained she shaved her head to play Vivian Bearing, a terminal cancer patient, in Broadway's Wit. "I was always kind of curious to see what it would be like," she said. "I like it; I don't think I'm gonna keep it forever."
9 of 21 James Devaney/WireImage.com
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
JGL first made hair headlines in 1998 when he cut his floppy hair on 3rd Rock From the Sun. But it would be another 13 years before he went completely bald on screen, shaving his head in the cancer comedy 50/50 in what, according to Seth Rogen, was an improvised, one-take (obviously) scene on the first day of shooting.
10 of 21 Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic.com
Bryan Cranston
Cranston has been shaving his head since his cancer-stricken Walter White started chemotherapy on Breaking Bad and it's totally not a biggie for him. "A lot of people ask, What's it like? Is it traumatic when you have to shave your head? ... And I guess it's more traumatic if I thought I was really bald, to be honest — maybe I would have that feeling. But I'm not, so shaving my head means nothing to me," he told Alibi magazine. "If it's right for the character, that's all I care about. And so I have no drama in any way when it's time to shave my head."
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Robert Pattinson
Twi-hards were left scratching their heads when R-Pattz showed up at the People's Choice Awards in January 2012 with a buzzcut. Why'd he cut his famous untamed tresses? Blame his new thriller Cosmopolis.
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Joey Lawrence
Lawrence's wavy brown locks were as famous as his "Whoa!" in his teenage heartthrob days, but he's been rocking a shorn look the past few years and — sorry, ladies — has no plans to grow it out again. "There's nothing more annoying than dudes who had a lot of success at 17 and then continuously wear their hair the same way," he told Us Weekly. "My pop and my grandfather were in the Navy, and I always grew up just wanting a short haircut. I did it, and I tell you, I haven't stopped working since I shaved it off!"
13 of 21 Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage.com
John Travolta
Travolta asked to see CGIed photos of him bald before agreeing to shave his head for his 2010 flick From Paris with Love. He chopped it all off again for Oliver Stone's new film Savages.
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Matt Damon
Damon went bald in summer 2011 to film the sci-fi flick Elysium, which he found has as many disadvantages as advantages. "I get out of the shower and just run the towel over my head and I'm done. But the only problem for me was during the summer time. I had to remember to put on sunscreen. I'm not used to that," he told People. "A friend of mine who is bald told me you only make that mistake once. He was right about that."
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Jake Gyllenhaal
Gyllenhaal has gone for the shiny dome look not once, but twice for films. The first time was for 2005's Jarhead and he most recently did it for the upcoming cop drama End of Watch. And if you ask Matt Damon, he should always be bald. "Wow, I try not to envy, but I have to say Jake's got a damn good-looking head," Damon told People. "Normally you say, 'That's a beautiful head of hair, but that's a beautiful head he's got. Gyllenhaal definitely gets the blue ribbon for the best bald head over me."
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Alex Pettyfer
While some actors have no qualms about losing their hair for a role, Pettyfer admits it was difficult for him to part with his follicles for 2011's Beastly. "I had to shave all of my goldilocks which was one of the hardest things for me mentally," he told HitFix. "I think when you have an image and you have been with that image for quite some while, to change how you look can knock a person's confidence."
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Natalie Portman
Unlike some stars who've had to shave their heads themselves on film, Portman had V for Vendetta's key hair designer Jeremy Woodhead do the shearing in the 2006 dystopian thriller, in which her Evey loses her hair in a torture scene. The shot was done in one take with three cameras.
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Demi Moore
Moore went bald to play Lt. Jordan O'Neill in 1997's G.I. Jane, shaving off her trademark long raven locks in a scene in the film.
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Cate Blanchett
Blanchett shaved her head in the 2002 film Heaven and loved the "liberating" look so much that she recently said she wants to go bald again. "Shaving off my hair is so liberating. I had to do it once for a film role, but I've done it periodically too," she told The Daily Telegraph. "At school it was probably to rebel, but I cut my hair short a few years ago and I'm thinking about doing it again."
20 of 21 Frank Capri/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Sigourney Weaver
One of the first actresses to shave their heads for a film, Weaver gamely buzzed off her tresses for 1992's Alien 3. The film was a critical and commercial dud compared to its predecessors, but Weaver's follicular move is remembered as a sign of female empowerment.
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Angelina Jolie
Jolie shaved her head in the 1998 HBO TV movie Gia to play the ill-fated supermodel Gia Carangi, who is believed to be the first woman to die of AIDS in 1986. She earned an Emmy nomination and won a Golden Globe and a SAG Award for her performance.