Standing at 6'5 and weighing 220lbs, hailing from Zachary, Louisana, Doug Williams is known for breaking many of NFL records and not just statistically but socially. Before even stepping onto a professional football field, Williams was known for his studious nature, perfect passing mechanics, poise, and his insanely strong arm. While attending Grambling State University, Williams led the Tigers to a 36-7 record as a four-starter, winning three South Western Conference Championship, leading the NCAA in several statistical categories, and graduating with a bachelor's degree in education. Despite all of Williams' success, only one NFL scout came to see him prior to Williams deciding to declare himself into the NFL Draft.
In the 1978 NFL Draft, Williams was selected 17th overall by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Prior to Williams' arrival, the Bucs had won just two games in two seasons since the franchises beginning. Williams led the Bucs to three postseasons in five seasons, however, after a contract dispute, Williams took his talents to the USFL where he played two seasons with the Oklahoma/Arizona Outlaws. In 1986, Doug Williams returned to the NFL with the Washington Redskins where he would make history becoming the first Black quarterback to play in the Super Bowl (XXII), the first Black quarterback to win the Super Bowl, and the only Black quarterback to be named Super Bowl MVP to this day. While Williams did accomplish a lot as an African-American quarterback, he also threw for a record 340 yards in the Super Bowl, became the first player to throw for four touchdowns in a half in a Super Bowl, and the only player to throw for four touchdowns in a quarter in a Super Bowl.
Celebrities are no strangers to changing their looks for a role. And in some instances, they have to get pretty extreme. From 500-calorie-a-day diets to drinking pints of ice cream, Actors and actresses know what it takes to change their bodies in preparation for a new film.
Charlize Theron is no stranger to gaining and losing weight for movie roles, as we remember her transformation in Monster. Charlize Theron gained close to 50 pounds for her role as Marlo in Tully. Theron said that “for the first time in my life I was eating so much processed foods and I drank way too much sugar. … I remember having to set my alarm in the middle of the night in order to just maintain the weight.”
You’re used Chris Hemsworth's hulk-like figure in Thor, but In the Heart of the Sea required a totally different diet. The movie required the cast members lose a ton of weight to make their stuck-at-sea plight more believable. Chris Hemsworth said there were days when all he ate was one boiled egg, a couple of crackers, and a celery stick.
Anne Hathaway wanted to get serious for her role in Les Misérables, as she was playing Fantine, a starving prostitute with tuberculosis. So Anne Hathaway went on a diet of “rabbit food” to drop 25 pounds. Hathaway explained her diet was essentially just starving herself, but she didn’t want to give details, as she doesn’t want to encourage anyone to copy her emaciated look. She did note that she “just had to stop eating for a total of 13 days shooting,” however. And at one point, her bones became so frail that she reportedly broke her arm.
Matthew McConaughey's portrayal of Ron Woodruff in Dallas Buyers Club, a man with HIV/AIDS, was spot-on, earning him the title of best actor at the Oscars. But it also required a serious physical transformation. Matthew McConaughey said he lost 38 pounds for the role. During filming, he said he lost a lot of energy from eating so little — and he hit plenty of plateaus along the way. Finally, with a strict diet, he got down to 143 pounds. And while he did cardio to help with the weight loss, he said it was 90% what he was eating and portion size.
Hilary Swank had to put on 23 pounds of pure muscle for her role as a boxer in Million Dollar Baby. The process doesn’t sound easy, however. “I started working out five hours a day — I had to eat 210 grams of protein a day,” Swank said. She also mentioned that she had to consume 60 egg whites per day, and when that proved too difficult, she had to drink them. And to keep the muscle on, she would get up and drink protein shakes in the middle of the night.