Brandon Sklenar is best known for his roles in It Ends With Us and 1923 – but fans have been left stunned after resurfaced pictures showed what the actor looked like before he made it big.
The 36-year-old actor, who had fans agog with his ripped physique in his starring role opposite Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried in The Housemaid, has undergone a stunning transformation from his early acting days.
A recent resurfaced clip promoting the 2018 film Mapplethorpe has shocked even the most devoted of followers, who can’t believe how different he looks.
In the clip, which was posted to Facebook, the baby-faced actor was talking about his role as Robert Mapplethorpe’s younger brother Edward in the film.
Many pointed out the actor, who stands at 6ft2in, went from being a lanky, youthful-looking man back then to having a toned, gym-honed physique nowadays.
‘What a transformation, look at him now,’ one fan marveled.
‘Wait, is that actually the same person or did he absorb another man?’ another shocked user wrote.
‘He truly beefed up,’ wrote someone else.
Brandon Sklenar had fans agog with his ripped physique in his starring role opposite Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried in The Housemaid
A recent resurfaced clip promoting the 2018 film Mapplethorpe has shocked even the most devoted of followers, who can’t believe how different he looks
Another refused to believe the glow up, writing: ‘There’s absolutely no way that’s the same person. How far apart are the pictures?’
Sklenar’s workout and diet regimen have long been a hot topic of conversation.
In 2025, his trainer, Wesley Wilson, shared a photo on Instagram showing the actor showing off his impressive six-pack in a mirror selfie.
‘Training one of my best friends for his biggest role yet has been a f***ing blast,’ Wilson captioned the post, not naming the role.
‘We pushed through the hard days and maximized the good,’ he continued. ‘This is the result of showing up day after day for months and months.’
Wilson shed some light on Sklenar’s grueling routine, which included over two hours daily working out and ‘eating enough elk and salmon to feed a freaking village.’
Sklenar has previously spoken about staying active and fit, admitting he loves to do his own stunts when he can.
In an interview with Sydney Sweeney for Interview Magazine, he said he did most of his own stunts in the American neo-Western drama television series 1923.
In the clip, which was posted to Facebook, the baby-faced actor was talking about his role as Robert Mapplethorpe’s younger brother Edward in the film
Many pointed out the actor, who stands at 6ft2in, went from being a lanky, youthful-looking man back then to having a toned, gym-honed physique nowaday
The actor shared an adorable snap of him as a child earlier in the year
‘I love using my body. I’m really good at it,’ he said. ‘I grew up fighting and doing construction. If I don’t use my body in some way, I feel pretty underutilized.’
Sklenar previously told Men’s Active Magazine that he trains for function before physique and trained specifically so his body could meet the physical demands of the character.
Last year, Sklenar found himself caught up in the It Ends With Us legal scandal, following Blake Lively’s 2024 lawsuit and the unsealing of more than 180 documents, including texts between him and Lively.
In December 2025, Sklenar, who played Lively’s love interest Atlas Corrigan in the controversial film, revealed he was taunted by cruel trolls after he shared a statement asking everyone to ‘be kind’ as the drama unfolded online.
‘I wasn’t damning anybody, but I was just like, ‘Can we focus on the ethos of this whole f**king movie and not be so hateful to anybody?’ I thought it was a nice thing to say, but apparently a lot of people did not feel that way,’ he told The Hollywood Reporter.
”You’re a piece of s**t,’ ‘I hope you die,’ ‘I hope your career ends,’ things like that,’ he said.
Lively filed her lawsuit in December 2024, accusing co-star Justin Baldoni of sexual harassment, retaliatory conduct and intentional infliction of emotional distress, including claims of body shaming and attempts to damage her reputation.
Her suit also named several of Baldoni’s collaborators, including his company Wayfarer Studios, the studio’s CEO and financial backers, and PR personnel.
Baldoni previously sought $250 million in damages from The New York Times over a report he said was defamatory, later adding it to a $400 million suit filed in January 2025.
His lawsuit named Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds and her publicist Leslie Sloane, though the case was dismissed in June.
All parties denied the allegations against them.
A judge ultimately dismissed Baldoni’s lawsuit in June 2025 and later Lively’s lawsuit in April 2026, including her sexual harassment claims against Baldoni.
The two actors settled in May 2026, announcing it in a joint statement from their respective legal teams.
