{"id":251129,"date":"2026-07-09T20:31:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T20:31:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/09\/a-cut-above-the-rest-an-ode-to-hair-acting\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T20:31:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T20:31:15","slug":"a-cut-above-the-rest-an-ode-to-hair-acting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/09\/a-cut-above-the-rest-an-ode-to-hair-acting\/","title":{"rendered":"A Cut Above the Rest: An Ode to Hair Acting"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Hair acting may be one of Hollywood\u2019s most overlooked performance skills, but the best actors know that a single twirl or toss can reveal as much as an entire page of dialogue. In January, during a Q&A at a special New York screening of his 1987 film Wall Street,<\/em> Michael Douglas revealed<\/a> that a good friend of his often gave him a hard time about his habit of leaning on hair to find a character. \u201cJack Nicholson always used to give me shit about hair acting. [He\u2019d say], \u2018What\u2019s with his hair acting?\u2019\u201d Douglas said. \u201cHair has always been an important part of my acting. It\u2019s just funny how that kind of thing helps.\u201d<\/p>\n

The slicked-back, polished hair of Gordon Gekko in Wall Street,<\/em> the military-style flat-top haircut for Falling Down,<\/em> and the shaggy, unkempt look he sported in Wonder Boys<\/em> are all memorable on their own, but what makes Douglas\u2019s performance in these movies iconic is the way he never uses the hairstyle as a crutch. It adds and doesn\u2019t distract. Hair acting isn\u2019t just about a memorable hairstyle (like that of Princess Leia or Mia Wallace) or a dramatic character transformation (like Emma Stone\u2019s recent shave for Bugonia<\/em> or Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet\u2019s upcoming buzz cut in Dune: Part Three<\/em>); it\u2019s about the actor using<\/em> the hair as a key part of their physical performance.<\/p>\n

Audrey Hepburn was one of the earliest pioneers. Sure, she\u2019s known for her iconic updo in Breakfast at Tiffany\u2019s,<\/em> but it\u2019s actually the 1964 film Paris When It Sizzles<\/em> that showcases her ultimate hair-acting abilities. With a cigarette in one hand, she pulls her hair down from a tight bun, letting her long brown locks cascade over her shoulder. She flips her hair to and fro, capturing the drama of her rapid-fire monologue.<\/p>\n

Julia Roberts became an A-lister for many reasons, but her early use of hair acting in films like Pretty Woman<\/em> and My Best Friend\u2019s Wedding<\/em> was a part of it. Back when her big, bouncy, curly auburn locks were at their bounciest and curliest, she\u2019d wrap them around her finger when flirting on the phone or use them as a literal curtain she could bury her face in if she was feeling embarrassed or shy.<\/p>\n

Cameron Diaz also became a trailblazer in this field\u2014thanks to not only her hair gel gag breakout in There\u2019s Something About Mary,<\/em> but also an entire plot point in the 2000 action-comedy film Charlie\u2019s Angels.<\/em> Diaz\u2019s angel is undercover in a dance club when Lucy Liu\u2019s character instructs her to \u201cflip your goddamn hair\u201d to get the attention of the bartender. And Diaz\u2019s glorious, flirty, slow-motion flip came off as sheer genius. She\u2019s used the practice in her more dramatic projects too, like the 2013 thriller The Counselor,<\/em> in which she both flicks her own blonde bob back when she\u2019s got something to say and caresses Pen\u00e9lope Cruz\u2019s hair when they\u2019re having a revealing poolside chat. It\u2019s playful and a power play at the same time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Hair acting may be one of Hollywood\u2019s most overlooked performance skills, but the best actors know that a single twirl or toss can reveal as much as an entire page of dialogue. In January, during a Q&A at a special New York screening of his 1987 film Wall Street, Michael Douglas revealed that a good […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":251130,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2046,1551,1846,13633,283],"class_list":{"0":"post-251129","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrity","8":"tag-angela-bassett","9":"tag-cameron-diaz","10":"tag-julia-roberts","11":"tag-love-story","12":"tag-sex-and-the-city"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}