8 Amazing Bodies of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes Stars

The odds are ever in their favor: Discover the incredible stories and unique perspectives of the stars of "The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes." We delve into the lives and experiences of these talented actors who brought the characters of Panem to life on the big screen. From their thoughts on self-love and body image to their fitness routines and career journeys, get an inside look at the diverse and inspiring cast members who made this film a blockbuster prequel.

1. Rachel Zegler

Shutterstock

Rachel Zegler plays Lucy Gray Baird in the film. She tells WhoWhatWear that she isn’t taking criticism from social media seriously. “The more you get talked about in a general sense, the more people like to nitpick about every little bit of everything you say or your personality, how you look,” she says. “I don’t want any part of it anymore. I have those conversations enough with myself. We all are insecure beings at the end of the day, even if you think that you’re not, and then somebody will say one thing about your appearance, and you immediately hyper-fixate, and it’s over.”

2. Tom Blyth

Shutterstock

Tom Blyth plays the lead role of Coriolanus Snow in the film. He tells GQ that one of the things he likes about acting is challenging himself. "I've always liked stepping out into the unknown, stepping into the abyss," he says. "I think that's kind of the reason I like acting as well, because it feels like you're always like mentally or psychologically stepping into the abyss a little bit to see what happens. And it feels risky in an interesting way."

3. Peter Dinklage

Shutterstock

Emmy-winner Peter Dinklage plays Dean Casca Highbottom in the film. In an interview with The Independent, Dinklage talks about his condition and how it affects his acting career. “I never want to put myself in front of the work, and I never will,” he says. “But if I’ve done my job and inspired change, then great. I read a lot of scripts where the height is the only characteristic of the character, but that’s not who I am. It’s part of who I am, but I don’t go around thinking about it all day long. And if it doesn’t define me, why should it define a character? That’s just bad writing.”

4. Viola Davis

Shutterstock

EGOT recipient, Viola Davis, plays Dr. Volumnia Gaul in the film. She said in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar that she believes in affirmations and self-love. “It came with time, sort of feeling the nicks and scrapes of life and getting to know myself. Understanding that at some point, it's not conceited and it's not egotistical to love oneself. I have a daughter who is very beautiful and very tall, and I am always telling her how beautiful she is. The other day she said, ‘You know, you're beautiful too, Mommy.’ So I feel like through affirming her, it's also affirming myself. So that has played a huge role in me understanding beauty, is coming to terms with my own beauty.”

5. Hunter Schafer

Shutterstock

Hunter Schafer plays Tigris Snow in the film. Schafer shared some of her skincare secrets with InStyle, and says that sunscreen is an important part of her routine. “I've recently learned the value of protecting my skin with sunscreen. Previous sunscreens I've tried felt oily and like something was on my face all day. Shiseido's Urban Environment Sunscreen has become a new favorite because it's a barely-there base. I don't even notice that I am wearing it, which is perfect. I'm a massive fan of the Essential Energy Moisturizer too; I use it every morning and night.”

6. Josh Andres Rivera

Shutterstock

Josh Andres Rivera played Sejanus Plinth in the film. He will also play Aaron Hernandez in American Sports Story. Rivera revealed to Men’s Journal that the production set him up with trainers to get him in shape for the role. “Working out is fun when it’s studio-subsidized. I wanted to get into shape anyway and now I have all this help.”

7. Jason Schwarztman

Shutterstock

Jason Schwartzman played Lucky Flickerman in the film. He talked about his career in an interview with Parade. “The best part of my journey, I suppose, is to be here right now. I’m very fortunate to have worked and have had a career of anything. I grew up in high school, I was a major fan of things. Music and movies were very important to me. If I could in any way be part of anything that a 15-year-old kid likes, that makes me feel good. I can’t describe it, but that’s something.”

8. Max Raphael

Dave Benett/Getty Images

Max Raphael played the role of Festus Creed in the film. He booked the part while in college, and talked about filming it to The Tab. “I’m still grateful for my time there – the people I met helped me keep a foot in the ‘real world’ so to speak. I think I would have lost my head otherwise. The film scene at UCL also came in handy, the people who ‘get it’ on both ends are some of the folks I met at uni that I value most.'

1. Emilia Clarke

Shutterstock

Emilia Clarke played Sarah Connor in the film, Genisys. She has amazing skin, and shared her routine with Byrdie. "My morning and nighttime routines are really very similar. In the evening, I might do a double cleanse depending on how much makeup either I or someone else has put on my skin. I also put more moisturizing cream on my face at night than I do in the daytime. In the morning, if I have a big day or I have some stuff coming up, I also do a sheet mask and use a face roller. I keep all of those things in the fridge, which always helps."

2. Linda Hamilton

Shutterstock

Linda Hamilton is the actress most associated with the role of Sarah Connor. She originated the role in the first film, and has returned in three subsequent ones. In an essay for InStyle, she talked about working and training for the film Dark Fate. “On the film we worked a lot of six-day weeks; even if we had a weekend off, there was probably a scuba lesson or military training. When I did have a day off, I’d sleep 20 hours. I’d rest my body and read my books to take my mind elsewhere. Still, the results are different, you know? It’s disappointing that you can work as hard and not look the same. But then you just think, ‘I cannot be what I was.’ It took me a while to just go, ‘Hmm, fuck that! Let’s go with what we’ve got and make it as fantastic as possible.’ I’d never felt like a badass until I made this film.”

3. Arnold Schwarzenegger

Shutterstock

Arnold Schwarzenegger plays the titular character, also known as the T-800, in all of the films. He opened up about his diet secrets in an interview. “The way you do it is burning more calories every day than you eat,” he says. “So take the number 2,000. You have 2,000 calories that you eat every day, but you burn off 2,500 calories every day. And now you have a negative of 500 calories. And every day you will start slowly going down with the body weight and down with the body fat. And the first place it will go is at the stomach.”

4. Sam Worthington

Shutterstock

Sam Worthington played Marcus Wright in Salvation. He is a prolific action star, having appeared in Avatar and Clash of The Titans. For this reason, Worthington has to work hard to stay in shape. "Why waste the opportunity by doing things half-arsed,” he told Men’s Health. “Whether that's mentally preparing or physically preparing, or just giving a crap about the work. Why waste time by going to every party in town? This isn't what I got into this for."

5. Lena Headey

Shutterstock

Lena Headey played Sarah Connor in the TV series. She is open about her struggles with mental health and anxiety. When a fan asked how she manages anxiety on Twitter, Headey shared her secrets. "Anxiety is a beast. You have to talk to beasts. Release them back into the wild. Easier said than done, I know, but still. Good to practice."

6. Common

Shutterstock

Common played Lieutenant Barnes in Salvation. He shared his fitness routine with Men’s Journal. “I work out four days a week and if possible, five. But I’ve been improving my workouts by doing things that are active. I’m not just pumping weights. I work with the bands. Today I was doing drills where it felt like I was doing basketball drills. I never used to do a lot of cardio and I still don’t do a lot of cardio because then I get real thin. But basically it’s just constant workouts and overall I just eat healthy. Of course I have days where I might go in on some French fries but overall it’s a pretty clean diet.”

7. Claire Danes

Shutterstock

Claire Danes played Kate Connor in Rise of The Machines. Danes shared some of her favorite workouts with Net-A-Porter.com. “Generally, I run, but I couldn’t do it when I was pregnant, and I was introduced to SoulCycle, Barre, and then The Class By Taryn Toomey. Initially, I was a little hesitant about the ‘clubbyness’ of it, but it is nice to be in a group and to exercise with others as part of a community. Endorphins are released when you move and when you’re social. So, when you combine the two, the result is quite potent.”

8. Bryce Dallas Howard

Shutterstock

Bryce Dallas Howard played Kate Connor in Salvation. She also stars in the Jurassic World films. Howard revealed to People that she used a wooden platform to help her get in shape for the films. “I’d put my foot on it and do calf raises and then stay on my tippy toe and do squats,” she said. “Then I’d turn perpendicular and exercise each side of my foot. Just to practice the stabilizing muscles.”

9. Brian Austin Green

Shutterstock

Brian Austin Green played Derek Reese in the series, The Sarah Connor Chronicles. The actor struggles with ulcerative colitis, and had a flare-up in 2022. Green talked about how he manages this condition on Good Morning America. “It’s really just dietary,” he said. “As long as I can keep things within my system that my body doesn’t think I’m poisoning it with then it doesn’t fight back.”

10. Gabriel Luna

Shutterstock

Gabriel Luna played Rev-9 in Dark Fate. He tells Men’s Health that he was inspired to get fit because he knew he’d be working with Arnold Schwarzenegger. “I knew I had to get my body into a good place,” Luna said. “Because at the time, I was drinking whiskey and smoking cigarettes and all this other stuff I didn’t need to be doing if I intended to play this role. I knew I’d eventually have to stand in front of this guy, and my motivation was, I want him to see me and see a formidable foe. I don’t want him to see me and think, ‘I could squash this guy with my thumbs’.”

11. Helena Bonham Carter

Shutterstock

Helena Bonham Carter played Dr. Serena Kogan in Salvation. Carter tells InStyle that she makes sure to get enough sleep, and that this is the reason for her amazing skin. “People say I look really good, and it’s because I sleep a lot, which is the biggest collagen booster ever. It’s amazing that I achieve anything considering how much I sleep. I snooze during the day and eight or nine hours at night to help collagen production.”

1. Zoe Saldana

Shutterstock

Zoe Saldana plays the female lead character, Neytiri. She shared her diet secrets with Byrdie. “Nutrition is super important in my life. It always has been. These days, I’m really heavy into having a green juice in the morning because it’s hard for me to have a balanced meal sometimes as a working mom. I’m a professional; I’m working all the time. I want to make sure that I get my greens in, so I do that every day, and it helps me a great deal. But I try to be balanced. I don’t like hearing, ‘Oh, I’m doing this diet, or I’m doing that diet.’ I like when people use words like ‘my lifestyle.’ When we use the word ‘diet,’ we’re preparing ourselves for a big sacrifice that we know, the older we get, we’re going to be too weak to fulfill. We just end up crashing and defeating ourselves. So I like telling myself that I’m not doing a diet, that this is my lifestyle, and I’m choosing to have a balanced meal. I don’t like having zero carbs or all protein. I like getting all the nutrition that my body needs so that it can heal itself naturally.”

2. Michelle Rodriguez

Shutterstock

Michelle Rodriguez appeared in the first film as Trudy Chacon. She shared her skincare secrets with Beauty Logic Blog. "My must-have beauty product is my moisturizer. I care more about my skin and its maintenance than I do covering it up. I cover my blemishes when I go out on the town with some tea tree oil to disinfect them, and then I'll put on an oil-free cover up under my eyes if I didn't sleep. After that I will apply a little lip stain on the cheeks (if I've neglected my weekly vitamin intake) for a fresh complexion. I'll put a little mascara, but that sums it up.”

3. Sam Worthington

Shutterstock

Sam Worthington played Jake Sully in the first two films. Despite all his success, Worthington wants to stay humble and live a low-key lifestyle. “My life is still the same,” he said to The Telegraph. “There is a fantastical element to my job because there is loads of glitz and glam attached to it. But I don’t like all that, I didn’t get into this to have my photo taken. If I wanted to be famous I would go on Big Brother.”

4. Sigourney Weaver

Shutterstock

Sigourney Weaver played Dr. Grace Agustine in the first movie, and Kiri Sully in the second. She tells InStyle that being prepared is one of her biggest pieces of acting advice. "You've got to do your work ahead of time," she says. "Then you just go for it. You jump off the cliff."

5. Kate Winslet

Shutterstock

Kate Winslet played Ronal in the second film. She opened up about eating a plant-based diet and loving juicing to MindFood.com. “Our fridge is always full of spinach, kale, cucumbers. I’m vegetarian and my husband is vegan, so there’s a lot of plant-based focus in our home. My husband turning vegan is relatively recent, so that’s been a really fun education because you have to learn to be a little more inventive with foods.”

6. Stephen Lang

Shutterstock

Stephen Lang played Miles Quarich in both films. He shared his approach to fitness in an interview with Men’s Health. "At this point in my life, What's important to me is flexibility, stamina, and strength. And I've added one other thing to that, which is alignment.”

7. Edie Falco

Shutterstock

Edie Falco played Frances Ardmore in the second film. She is known for following a vegetarian diet for years, and recently became vegan. Falco says to The Guardian that this impacted her time on The Sopranos, because her character made a lot of Italian food. “If you watch the scenes in the show where I’m supposed to be cooking, you’ll see the camera never showed my hands, because I have no idea how to do that. That food is not even the kinda stuff I eat. I was vegetarian on the show and I became vegan in the past 10 years.”

8. Matt Gerald

Shutterstock

Matt Gerald played Lyle Wainfleet in both films. He talked about how he chooses roles to play with The Action Elite. “When considering a role, I like to ask a few specific questions. 1) Is the piece well-written? 2) Is the character well-rounded with meaningful impact? 3) Does the project shoot in either Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, New York, New Orleans, or London? Yes to any two of these questions will generally suffice.”

9. Joel David Moore

Shutterstock

Joel David Moore played Dr. Norm Spellman in both films. Ahead of the second film, he talked about his hopes for the franchise with People. "It's not about my small part of this big machine, it's about everybody coming together and finding the joy of filmmaking in a hybrid between tech and emotional quality. The third film is going to be even more [emotional]. We're just piling on every time with the emotions because every time that you take that next step with that family, it's going to be a more emotional journey. And the beautiful thing about that is Jim [Cameron] is never going to leave a question unanswered."

In "15 Amazing Bodies of Mandalorian Stars," we delve into the fascinating off-screen lives of the cast from "The Mandalorian," a series set in the Star Wars universe. This show follows the story of Din Djarin, a lone bounty hunter navigating the outer reaches of the galaxy, far from the authority of the New Republic. As we explore the health and wellness routines of actors like Pedro Pascal, Katee Sackhoff, and Ming-Na Wen, we gain insights into how they prepare for their roles in this thrilling narrative of loyalty, combat, and interstellar adventure.

1. Pedro Pascal

Shutterstock

Pedro Pascal plays the titular Mandelorian, also known as Din Djarin. He talked about his life and career to Esquire. He says that he is very protective over the people he cares about. “The possibility of you feeling bad about the record place the other night? That haunts me. I would want to erase that for you.”

2. Katee Sackhoff

Shutterstock

Katee Sackhoff plays Bo-Katan Kryze, and joined in the show’s second season. Sackhoff has her own YouTube channel. She shares a lot of her workouts on it. In this video, Sackhoff does upper body exercises, including lat pullovers, arm circles, and squat curl presses. She wrote in the post’s caption, “This is a full upper body workout but get ready to feel a REALLY good burn in your arms and shoulders 🔥😃 This one will need some homemade equipment if you don't have any weights.”

3. Ming-Na Wen

Shutterstock

Ming-Na Wen plays the recurring role of Fennec Shand. On her wellness Instagram, Wen shares a lot of recipes and meals. In this one, she enjoyed a piece of fish. Wen captioned the post, “Lunchtime! Flounder fillet topped with panko crumbs, cilantro & pomegranate. Cooked in a little butter & olive. Only took 5 mins to make. Fast food never tasted so good! I added a side of beets with buffalo mozarella, basil & tomato drizzled in my own mustard balsamic vinaigrette.”

4. Taika Waititi

Shutterstock

Taika Waititi voices IG-11 on the show. He shared some of his favorite products in an interview with CNN. Waititi says that he intermittent fasts, and loves Taika Black Coffee. “I have my first meal, something light around 1 p.m., then I have one of their Oat Milk Lattes or, if I’m feeling really daring, a Macadamia Latte,” he shares. “I used to feel so lethargic at the end of the day, but since drinking these, it’s gone away.”

5. Omid Abtahi

Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/Getty Images

Omid Abtahi plays the recurring role of Penn Pershing on the show’s first two seasons. He talked about bringing diversity to the Star Wars franchise to ComicBookMovie.com. “It does mean a lot. I get asked a lot, ‘Who would you be or who would you play if you were a superhero?’ I don’t know how to answer those because I never saw myself playing anybody. Maybe I don’t know the universe too well, but I never saw myself in anybody, so once I learned about Hawkman’s soul and where he came from in Egypt and Prince Khufu, I felt for once, ‘There is a reason I’m here.’ Maybe he’s Carter Hall, but his soul is from the Middle East, and that’s what I can provide.”

6. Mercedes Varnado

Shutterstock

Mercedes Varnado plays the recurring role of Koska Reeves. She is also a WWE wrestler. She shared some of her health tips with Fox Sports. “When I first started (wrestling) I would try and find healthy restaurants which is really hard. A lot of tons only have fast food. Recently a lot of the boys started bringing their own food on the road and I decided to do the same thing.”

7. Amy Sedaris

Shutterstock

Amy Sedaris plays the recurring role of Peli Motto, and has appeared on all three seasons. She talked about how she manages her stress to The Cut. “I can get stressed out. Sometimes an easy way to manage it is to pick up a book that takes you out of everything. Or calling a family member or a friend. I’m not a big drinker. I still like weed. When I get high, I like it.”

8. Emily Swallow

Shutterstock

Emily Swallow plays the recurring role of The Armorer on the show. She talks about how she deals with pressure to Exit 6 Film Festival. “In the beginning I thought, 'Oh my gosh. If I don't come out of this without having created this magnificent project that's just everything I've ever wanted, then I've failed.' It's challenging me to be patient with myself and it's been more of a gradual focus on the smaller things that I've wanted for a while. From that, I've seen some ideas for projects come to light and collaborations take shape."

9. Katy M. O’Brian

Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/Getty Images

Katy M. O’Brian plays the recurring role of Elia Kane. She opened up about her workout routine and advice on Twitter. “Lots of people hit me up requesting workout tips. I’ve spent years working w/various trainers to learn what works for my body. I don’t have time to write out plans or diets for people BUT I will say 1 key to getting ‘in shape’ is consistency. These are great tips to help w/that.”

10. Simon Kassianides

Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images

Simon Kassianides plays Axe Woves on the show, debuting in season two. In addition to acting, Kassianides loves to write. He talked about this to Numero Magazine. “I have always written. Being involved from ideas’ inceptions with talented people is one of the most rewarding experiences. The high level of skill around me allows for me to take that all on. It’s a lot, but seeing how such talent elevates the projects to levels I’d never dreamed of is something I am thoroughly enjoying and motivated to continue pursuing. I find all areas of this business exciting to be honest.”

11. Tait Fletcher

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

In addition to playing Paz Vizsla, Tait Fletcher sells coffee and MCT oil. He talked about the importance of MCT oil, and some of his diet secrets, with Brainwiz.org. “MCT is a nice healthy fat that you can derive from coconuts or palm oil. But with palm oil, you have destruction of rainforest and great ape habitat, so we try to be careful of how we source, and we do it from coconuts. I use it in my coffee to keep my fats high. I keep my fats high because I feel better that way. I spoke a little bit on the ketogenic diet; personally, I’ve found that keeping my carbohydrate count to 50 or 30 grams a day or less, I feel great. But in order to do that, I have to eat a ton of fat. Then my body creates ketones, and my body is fueled off adipose tissue.”