Ben Mendelsohn looks completely unrecognisable as he accepts AACTA award

On Monday, Ben Mendelsohn took home the Best Supporting Actor at the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards for his role in Babyteeth.

But it was the 51-year-old’s look which had heads turning as he delivered his acceptance speech.  

Appearing on screen via video link from Sicily, Italy, Ben sported a dramatic new look – swapping his full head of hair and normally clean cut look for a bald head and moustache. 

The father-of-two appeared to look more like English actor Ben Kingsley than his former self, and completed his look donning a stark-white bath robe instead of a suit. 

Ben took home the gong for his role as psychiatrist Henry in Babyteeth, which was his first Australian film for ‘eight or nine years’. 

‘I love Babyteeth,’ he said in the video at the AACTA Awards ceremony. 

‘Of all the films I’ve made that I’ve seen, it’s my favourite… Importantly it seems to me to be about people who have flaws – ridiculous flaws, funny flaws – who are desperately trying to contribute and be together in a really difficult circumstance.’ 

Babyteeth, adapted from the play of the same name, tells the story of sick teenager Milla (Eliza Scanlen) who falls in love with a drug dealer much to the disapproval of her parents.

In the film, Ben plays Milla’s father alongside fellow Australian actor Essie Davis. 

It is signifies Ben’s first work in Australia in over nine years, having scored a number of Hollywood roles, including an Emmy-winning role in Bloodline.

Over the years, Ben has been an in-demand talent in Hollywood and has become known as the ‘king of Hollywood villains’. 

Some of his trademark roles to feature his menacing glare include Ready Player One, Rogue One and Robin Hood.