Mickey Rourke reveals new look for ever-changing face

Actor Mickey Rourke has been snapped in Los Angeles showing off a new slimmed-down physique.

The 61-year-old star, who bulked-up for his Oscar-nominated role in 2009’s ‘The Wrestler’, cuts a much trimmer figure than we’ve been used to, but it’s not just his body that appears transformed.

The actor was virtually unrecognisable until he took off his trademark shades (over hood, not under, of course), specially when paired with a tight pair of cycling shorts.

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It’s the latest in a long line of looks for the star who first found fame in the 1980s for his star-making turns in ‘Body Heat’, ‘9 1/2 Weeks’, and ‘Angel Heart’ before he quit acting to become a boxer in 1991.

When the actor returned from the wilderness in the early noughties, taking bit-part roles in a number of films including ‘The Rainmaker’, ‘Buffalo ’66’, and the ‘Get Carter’ remake, many were surprised by his facial transformation.

Rourke now blames his altered features on going to “the wrong guy” for plastic surgery following a series of facial injuries picked up boxing, which the actor admitted left his face “a mess”.

Rourke’s major comeback began in 2005 playing hit man Marv ‘Sin City’ in which he was virtually unrecognisable beneath prosthetic make-up and was cemented in 2009 with his BAFTA and Golden Globe-winning turn in Darren Aronofsky’s ‘The Wrestler’, for which his weathered, beaten up features seemed unusually apt.

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After parts in ‘Iron Man 2’, ‘The Expendables’, and ‘Immortals’ under his belt, the momentum behind his renaissance seems to have dipped, so perhaps this is why the actor has hit the gym (and seemingly the operating table) in order to give his career another kick-start?

Whatever the case, when you compare the actor’s look from his debut to now, it’s quite the transformation.