Acadamy Award nominee Jared Leto, who plays a transgender person with AIDS in the film "Dallas Buyers Club," says he was recently called a shape-shifter.

"But that refers to the outside of the character you play, makeup people can do a lot for you," he tells The Japan Times. "I remember when Meryl Streep (currently on her 18th nomination) won her last Oscar, she made a big point of thanking her makeup man. But it's really up to the actor to shift his mind into the place where he 99 percent becomes the character. He has to move from sympathy to empathy to total identification."

Physical transformation has always been a good way to win critical praise, particularly since Charlize Theron won an Oscar for her portrayal of killer Aileen Wuornos in "Monster" in 2003. As Leto points out, however, perhaps the dedication an actor has to making a physical change is indicative of the mental dedication he or she also possesses.