Acting isn’t as easy of a job as a lot of people might think. This is especially true when a role requires an intense physical training regimen that pushes an actor’s body to its limits and beyond. And while it’s easy to assume that it’s mostly the men who have pack on the muscle to play tough characters, plenty of actresses have had to work extremely hard to get into the shape that is required to inhabit the characters they are portraying. 

Obviously, the most common type of role that an actress will get ripped for these days is to play a superhero, and there are several of those in this feature. But we didn’t want to limit the scope of this topic to just Marvel, DC, and the like. Whether they brought iconic video game characters to life, entered the boxing ring, went on a journey of violent revenge, or did battle in a galaxy far, far away, these women weren’t afraid to put in the work — and it shows in every frame of the movies and TV shows in which they starred. 

Though there are plenty of female superheroes who deserve their own movie, the Marvel Cinematic Universe finally got its first one by way of 2019’s “Captain Marvel.” One of the most powerful characters in the MCU thus far, much of Captain Marvel’s might comes from her cosmic abilities — but that’s not to say she can’t scrap when she needs to. And Brie Larson put in the work to make sure that Carol Danvers looked like a scrapper.

Larson admitted that she definitely had a serious case of imposter syndrome when she first got cast. “Oh my gosh, Marvel doesn’t know that I don’t even know how to walk up a hill without being out of breath,” she told Business Insider regarding her anxiety over being chosen for the part. But she took it seriously, and said she “went far beyond what [she] ever believed was possible for [her] body.” Larson says she was eventually able to deadlift 200 pounds, hip thrust 400 pounds, and could push a Jeep by herself. Since then, she has continued to hit every workout milestone that she has set for herself, including being able to do easily do one-armed pull-ups and push-ups with each arm. 

Quentin Tarantino’s love of 1970s cinema was bound to include the golden era of martial arts movies sooner or later. And when he finally got there with “Kill Bill,” he went so all-on in the revenge epic that it had to be split into two parts — with “Kill Bill Vol. 2” technically being the only direct sequel Tarantino has made in his entire career. And with all due respect to the efforts of the entire cast of those movies, not to mention the dozens upon dozens of stunt performers, Uma Thurman’s powerhouse performance as Beatrix “The Bride” Kiddo is what made those films truly shine.

To transform into The Bride, Thurman had the opportunity to train under legendary filmmaker and fight choreographer Yuen Woo-ping — who went from working with Jackie Chan back in the 1970s to helping revitalize martial arts movies in the 2000s with his work on “The Matrix” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” For “Kill Bill,” he put Thurman on 40 hours a week of training for three months to turn her into someone who could convincingly take on an army of 88 henchmen entirely on her own. As she told IGN in 2003, “It was very empowering to make it out alive from The House of Blue Leaves with my joints semi-intact.”

It’s not often that the spin-off movie is better than the movie it was spun off from, but few would disagree that this was the case with “Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn).” Easily the best part of the disappointing 2016 “Suicide Squad” movie, Margot Robbie’s take on Harley Quinn deserved much better, and she got it with “Birds of Prey,” still one of the best-reviewed DC Extended Universe movies. Much of that has to do with Robbie and her captivating take on one of DC’s most popular characters that isn’t a man of steel, a caped crusader, or a princess of Themyscira.

In addition to doing such an amazing job at embodying Harley’s personality, Robbie also didn’t shy away from bringing the character’s physically tough side to the screen as well. She had already worked with ballet dancer and celebrity trainer Andie Hecker to get into fighting form — and also to make sure certain parts of her body held up to the scrutiny of lingering camera close-ups — for “Suicide Squad.” But she had a lot more camera time for “Birds of Prey,” so Robbie really had to double down on the workouts, diets, and overall discipline — and that’s to say nothing of the fact that she clearly put in some serious time learning to roller-skate for her title role. 

There was a time when TV productions couldn’t hold a candle to Hollywood in terms of action set pieces, fights, stunts, and the like. Over the last few decades, that line has gotten much thinner — and much of that is due to HBO’s “Game of Thrones.” Based on the popular book series by George R. R. Martin, “Game of Thrones” had all of the budget and spectacle of even the most epic big screen production — and for the actors who worked on the show, it also felt every bit as physically demanding.

Brienne of Tarth was described as an extremely imposing figure, and comprising on that wasn’t an option for the screen adaptation. A “Game of Thrones” fan site immediately took to namechecking which actors should be cast in which roles shortly after the series was announced, and Gwendoline Christie was brought up as the perfect person to play Brienne. In fact, that led to someone contacting her agent and bringing the role to her attention, and she started training immediately — before the audition was even officially lined up.

Christie already had the height for it at 6-foot-3-inches, but she had to work hard to give herself the menacing build to match. It clearly paid off, as it’s impossible to imagine anyone else bringing Brienne to life. 

Just because the “Deadpool” movies are largely comedies, that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty of action to be found. It also doesn’t mean that the casts of those movies are only training their funny bones in preparation for their roles. This is doubly true for those members of the cast that weren’t in a head-to-toe costume or entirely CG (looking at you, Colossus). As luck-powered superhero Domino in “Deadpool 2,” Zazie Beetz didn’t have either of those things to fall back on, and had to look the part with an outfit that kept her shoulders and parts of her neck, chest, and arms exposed.

Not only did Beetz have to endure two months of training before filming for the anti-hero sequel even began, but she also had to squeeze in four hours per day even when production got underway. It was a big change for Beetz to go from — by her own admission — not working out at all to having an intense daily workout routine. As she told The Hollywood Reporter, “It was a huge transition emotionally and physically … just something I hadn’t felt before. [I’d] never really brought myself that far.” While Beetz doesn’t appear in “Deadpool and Wolverine,” she could always reprise the role of Domino if Marvel Studios ever makes a future X-Force-related film. 

Two years before “Captain Marvel” hit theaters, the DC Extended Universe had already put a female superhero front and center for 2017’s “Wonder Woman.” Still the DCEU film with the highest Rotten Tomatoes score (an impressive 93%), “Wonder Woman” seemed to suggest that the DCEU had what it took to go head-to-head with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Of course, that didn’t end up panning out — but that’s not the fault of this movie, nor of star Gal Gadot, who was almost frighteningly perfect in the titular role.

Gadot said she spent a whopping six months preparing for her first solo outing as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, which included not only exercise and strength training but also stunt choreography. Of course, it has to be mentioned that before Gadot became an actress, she spent two years as a member of the Israel Defense Forces, where she was a combat fitness instructor. So it isn’t as if she was starting from zero on her strength and fitness journey for “Wonder Woman.” Still, she worked and trained hard specifically to play Diana in the character’s multiple film appearances, and it showed onscreen, since Gadot had much less costume to hide behind than most of her male superhero counterparts.