Throughout his more than 30-year career in Hollywood, Brad Pitt has appeared in a host of blockbuster films and created memorable characters that have their place in movie history. Its best characters differ greatly in their personalities and grooming habits.
Unsurprisingly, Pitt’s movie star good looks have been used in his films to heighten his appeal. However, not all of his characters can have perfect hair. Although he’s starred in many acclaimed films over the years, what did his hair look like in each of his most iconic roles?
Updated August 4, 2022 by Shawn S. Lealos: Brad Pitt is back with his new action movie Bullet Train. Not only is Pitt back to show that he’s still the coolest character on the movie screen, but he’s also back to prove that his hair is a character in its own right in many of his movies, too. For the most part, it looks like Pitt can pull off any hairstyle imaginable, and his hair usually plays into the type of character he portrays. Amazingly, despite being one of the hottest and coolest actors in Hollywood history, he even managed a nerdy look thanks to his hair and the combined efforts of the Coen brothers. With Bullet Train added to Brad Pitt’s list of iconic hairstyles, it will be interesting to see what comes next as the actor enters his silver years.
Burn After Reading (2008) – Chad Feldhelmer
Stream now on Hulu
If someone wanted to cast Brad Pitt as a nerd jerk in a movie, that person might not cast many more movies in the future. That rule doesn’t apply to the Coen brothers, who can do whatever they want with actors of all skill levels — even Brad Pitt.
In Burn After Reading, Brad Pitt was a jerk who worked at an electronics store and found himself in over his head in a ratings scheme that could implicate the CIA in some bad stuff. The Coen Brothers decided to make Brad Pitt look as dumb as possible, with highlights and a really bad haircut, and it somehow worked, turning the idol by losing.
Bullet Train (2022)
In theaters now
Brad Pitt’s new film Bullet Train sees the 58-year-old actor again with long hair. While it’s not as luxurious as his hair in his other big 2022 film, The Lost City, it’s a hairstyle that makes him look as cool as ever in the movie.
The story sees Pitt playing a man with very specific skills, despite deciding he doesn’t want to kill anymore. He appears to be playing the role of a modern-day ronin, and his hair fits the role of a man who simply wants to live in peace, though he is still drawn into violence.
Killing Them Softly (2012) – Jackie Cogan
Stream now on Starz
Brad Pitt appeared in the crime drama Killing Them Softly in 2012 and his hair was something else. He wore his hair in a slicked back style, giving him the perfect bad boy look that no one wanted to mess with. It was very different for Pitt, and with the added goatee, he just looked dangerous.
It fits his role perfectly. Pitt is Jackie, a mob enforcer obsessed with people’s place in the world and his belief that all men are created equal only to be separated by politics.
Ocean’s Eleven (2001) – Rusty Ryan
Stream now on HBO Max
Ocean’s Eleven was Steven Soderbergh’s big budget movie franchise and in the first it was all about being cool. With George Clooney at his most charming and dapper, even Brad Pitt looked a little less gorgeous than usual.
However, as Danny Ocean’s right-hand man, Rusty Ryan, he still looked the part. There wasn’t a cooler acting group than the guys from Ocean in 2001, and Brad Pitt’s short hair showed off his confidence and ease at being the coolest guy in any room. he entered.
The Lost City (2022) – Jack Trainer
Stream now on Paramount+ and Epix
Brad Pitt has what appears to be his Troy hair in action comedy The Lost City. The film starred Sandra Bullock as a kidnapped romance writer forced to find a mythical city. As her cover model, played by Channing Tatum, tries to save her, it’s Brad Pitt’s Jack Trainer who seems more fitting.
Her hair is also used as comic relief here. When he shows up, he whips out his long locks in slow motion. When Bullock’s Loretta asks why he’s so handsome, he jokes that his father was a meteorologist.
12 Years A Slave (2013) – Samuel Bass
Stream now on HBO Max
For his role in the Oscar-winning biographical drama as abolitionist Samuel Bass, Pitt grew his hair out and sported a chin-length beard. It’s safe to say it’s not her best look, but it was worth it for the love of the art. His longer hair and gray beard give Pitt a grandfatherly look, which reflects Bass’ caring personality.
12 Years A Slave tells the true story of Solomon Northup, a free black man in pre-Civil War America who is sold into slavery. As one of the film’s producers, Pitt won the Best Picture Oscar in 2014.
Meet Joe Black (1998) – Joe Black
Rent now on Apple TV, Amazon, Google Play, YouTube, VUDU, Microsoft, Redbox and DirecTV
In the lesser-known 1998 fantasy film Meet Joe Black, Brad Pitt plays the title character, the human form Death takes when he descends to Earth. He hires a businessman on his 65th birthday to teach him the ways of humanity.
When Pitt walks onto the screen, the first thing viewers notice is his hair. It is styled in a boyish cut and includes blinding blonde highlights. The highlights are so bad that they become awkward for the viewer. It’s impossible to look away from the top of Pitt’s head.
Interview with the Vampire (1994) – Louis de Pointe du Lac
Stream now on Paramount+
Pitt’s long, luscious mane in the 1994 horror film Interview With The Vampire is the kind of hair that many women, and some men, would envy. Whether pulled back in a ponytail or flowing freely down her face, Pitt’s almost honey-brown hair looks healthy and shiny.
However, even though it’s really beautiful hair, it looks a bit ridiculous. It fits the gothic period and would also work for the cover of a romance novel, but if Pitt wore this hairstyle in the 21st century, he might get some quizzical looks from fans and style critics alike.
Fight Club (1999) – Tyler Durden
Rent now on Apple TV, Amazon, Google Play, YouTube, VUDU, Microsoft, Redbox and DirecTV
In one of his most iconic films, Pitt plays Tyler Durden, the ragged, mysterious, and effortlessly cool delinquent who acts as a spirit guide for the protagonist against capitalist America.
Hawaiian shirts, brown leather jackets and tinted sunglasses fill Pitt’s Fight Club wardrobe, while a half-up hairstyle sits on top of his head. Everything about her style feeds into her laid-back but also badass personality. It’s not a terrible haircut, but the ends feel very late 1990s/early 2000s. If anyone can pull it off, it’s Brad Pitt.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005) – John Smith
Rent now on Apple TV, Amazon and DirecTV
Mr. & Mrs. Smith tells the story of a seemingly ordinary couple who happen to be secret agents tasked with killing each other.
Pitt’s character, Mr. John Smith, is the manifestation of the perfect husband. He is nice, funny, well-dressed and very, very handsome. It makes sense that Pitt’s hairstyle in the film would match his character’s level of perfection. However, although her hair is well-groomed in a short cut, it is very boring. There is nothing that stands out.
Troy (2004) – Achilles
Stream now on Netflix
Troy is an epic adventure based on Homer’s Iliad that stars Pitt as the Greek warrior Achilles. For his role, Pitt’s hair was styled in shoulder-length gold braids.
In various battle scenes, her hair gets quite clammy, which only adds to the allure. While oily hair isn’t always celebrated, it works with his post-battle physique. When he’s not performing in a battle scene, Pitt’s locks fall down both sides of his face in effortless waves that someone could spend hours trying to achieve with a curling iron.
Inglourious Basterds (2009) – Lieutenant Aldo Raine
Stream now on TNT, TBS and DirecTV
Not all men call pulling, much less growing, mustaches. For his role as Aldo Raine in Quentin Tarantino’s film Inglourious Basterds, Pitt grew a full but clean mustache that perfectly frames his upper lip.
Inglourious Basterds is a fictional account of Nazi Germany that follows two distinct storylines. The first involves a Jewish girl who seeks revenge on the Nazi colonel who kills her family, while the second storyline sees Brad Pitt delivering some amazing quotes as the leader of a group of Jewish American soldiers, the Basterds, who hunt and scalp the Nazis.
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019) – Cliff Booth
Stream now on Fubo and DirecTV
It took 32 years in the business and three previous nominations for Brad Pitt to finally win an Oscar for acting for his role as Cliff Booth in his second film with Quentin Tarantino. Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood follows a TV star and his trusty stuntman/bodyguard in 1969.
As Booth, Pitt rocks a laid-back ’60s surfer style. Hawaiian shirts paired with t-shirts are his go-to clothes, and his hair matches his personality. It’s longer, but not too long, and pulled back in a sexy, effortless way.
Thelma and Louise (1991) – J.D.
Stream now on HBO Max
In the underrated but memorable role of Brad Pitt in his first big movie, he wears a white cowboy hat which, when paired with his natural blonde hair, oozes allure. His role as JD in Ridley Scott’s Thelma & Louise marked the start of his role as a major Hollywood idol.
The film follows best friends Thelma and Louise as they flee after Louise shoots a man who was trying to assault Thelma. Pitt plays JD, a drifter and thief who robs Louise after spending the night with Thelma.
Se7en (1995) – Detective David Mills
Stream now on Netflix
Se7en, the second feature from former music video director David Fincher, follows a rookie detective and a seasoned veteran on the verge of retirement as they work together to catch a serial killer.
Pitt’s hairstyle in the film reflects his character’s personality. Mills is young and relatively inexperienced in the field, and his hair matches his youth. It’s short, naturally blonde, and has the right amount of volume. Paired with the subtle yet attractive circular beard, this look is the Brad Pitt of the 1990s.
15 Best Brad Pitt Characters, Ranked By Their Hairstyles | Pretty Reel