Being Batman is never easy. Just ask Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Ben Affleck, Michael Keaton, Robert Pattison, or Adam West. But Christian Bale (what many would rightly call the best Batman) bumped it up a notch by doing his own stunts during the Dark Knight trilogy.
But it’s not the only time he put skin in the game: whether it was action films like Public Enemies or The Fighter, or non-action movies that still included plenty of wild actions, such as The Machinist. He also has the weird habit of losing and gaining tons of weight for a variety of roles, including packing on the pounds of muscle as Batman or slimming down to an eye-popping 120 pounds for The Machinist.
Zoe Bell
While Bell is a stuntwoman first and an actress second, she has plenty of acting credits to her name. She first made waves as a stuntwoman filling in for Uma Thurman in Kill Bill (both movies) and Lucy Lawless in Xena: Warrior Princess.
Before too long, casting directors realized she had acting chops of her own, landing her roles in the web series Angel of Death as Eve. She's also appeared in a number of films by Quentin Tarantino, and she's turned into a star in a number of circles of the filmmaking industry. Don't get on this actress's bad side – she'll kick you through a wall.
Mila Kunis
While Mila Kunis isn't much of an action star, she had one role in particular that forced her into the prime of her physical fitness. When she took on the role of a ballerina in Black Swan, she not only trained with ballerinas but lost tons of weight, a total of twenty pounds, landing at a shocking ninety-five pounds by the time she filmed.
She learned all of the movements, and the movie succeeded because of it. Mila herself was shocked about the competitiveness: “I can't even put into words how competitive the ballet industry is.” Good thing she's in a movie about it!
Viggo Mortensen
Aragorn, son of Arathorn, heir to the line of kings of Gondor. And he does his own stunts! Whether he's fighting orcs in the Lord of the Rings movies, winning an epic race in Hidalgo, or keeping his son safe from cannibals in The Road, Mortensen never lets a stuntman take his place.
And this king has suffered plenty in order to make it authentic – just while filming the Lord of the Rings series, he chipped multiple teeth and broke multiple bones as Aragorn. Remember Aragorn kicking an orc helmet and screaming in fury? Mortensen broke his toe filming it. The scream is quite real.
Sandra Bullock
A famous Hollywood producer, Todd Lieberman, once talked about Bullock, saying she could be as tough as any guy on film. This comes after her skills in keeping the bus at the right speed in Speed, as well as plenty of other stunts, be they action films or otherwise. From Miss Congeniality to Demolition Man to Bird Box, Bullock loves movies that give her something new to do.
Until about 2010, that is, when she adopted a son. Since then, she's let other people do the stunts in order to stay healthy, but there are still plenty of opportunities to see her demonstrate her toughness.