The former boy-bander did some serious acting as the Napster founder in the Facebook biopic The Social Network.
The Twilight star showed off his artsy side as the Spanish surrealist painter in Little Ashes.
The Oscar winner portrayed the former FBI director in a biopic directed by Clint Eastwood. The movie chronicled Hoover's rise to power and his influence over the U.S. political landscape.
The actress prepared for her role in HBO's Grey Gardens by living as Jackie O's eccentric cousin in total seclusion for three months.
"Dillinger was one of those guys like Charlie Chaplin and Evil Knievel, that I was fascinated with at a young age," Depp previously said about playing the 1930s American gangster in Public Enemies.
The two-time Oscar winner said she used her work in Earhart as an excuse to take flying lessons.
In Julie & Julia, the Oscar nominee played a secretary who embarked on a year-long culinary quest to cook all 524 recipes in legendary television chef Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking.
The Oscar winner for another biopic, Ray, channeled another musician in director Joe Wright's The Soloist.
The 66-year-old actress won an Oscar for her portrayal of the British monarch in 2006's The Queen.
The Iron Man star does the write stuff as Steve Lopez, a Los Angeles Times journalist who writes about and befriends homeless music prodigy Nathaniel Ayers In The Soloist.
Amélie goes glam as legendary fashionista Coco Chanel in Coco Before Chanel.
The Twilight star channeled legendary girl rocker Joan Jett in The Runaways.
The actor played the pioneer of the electrical industry and rival of Thomas Edison in Current War.