Owen Wilson’s Nose (And 9 Other Hollywood Imperfections Explained)

So you're just hanging out, watching a movie with a bunch of friends - nothing unusual to these proceedings at all. And then, woah, you're suddenly distracted. And not because the movie is bad and your attention is waning and you find it hard to sit still for two hours, but because you've noticed something about an actor on-screen. Is that thing you've noticed actually theirs, or is it something they've adopted for the sake of the movie? Because Owen Wilson's nose really does look like that, but Brad Pitt's neck scar in Inglourious Basterds is just part of an unexplained backstory. "Why is Owen Wilson's nose like that?" is the kind of lame question you'll hear at least three or four times over the course of the next year. And you don't really know the answer, because you've got a life and better things to do with your time, and it's probably not that interesting anyway. But you do kind of want to know, don't you? Yeah. Just for... reference purposes. Because these little quirks are what make a lot of actors, well... themselves. It gives them character. If only a bunch of these little imperfections were somehow collected into a single article, then you could learn 'em all in the blink of an eye and never look back, right? Well, fear no more. Here's our little guide to all those Hollywood actor eyebrow-raisers, assuring you as the foremost authority of useless trivial matters within... well, the radius of your house. Note: We haven't included anything you wouldn't generally spot in a movie, like extra toes or slightly short fingers. And God knows every actor seems to have those. 1) Owen Wilson In Hollywood, Owen Wilson's nose is perhaps the most famous of its kind. An unashamedly messy affair, Wilson's nose appears as a big, twisted lump, bent in seemingly every direction, almost like a knot that might happily stick out from the trunk of an old tree. Surely this can be nothing else but the result of several breakages? You'd be right in saying so, given that Owen Wilson has reportedly broken his nose on two separate occasions. The first was during a high school scuffle, and the second was playing football with friends. Renowned for almost always declining to discuss his nose, Wilson once spoke out about his trademark snout, saying: "You know, probably my nose wouldn't have been that great even if it hadn't been broken." 2) Harrison Ford Harrison Ford's inch-long scar is apparent in every one of his movies, but in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the writers make a direct reference to the fact that Indiana Jones himself inhabits the scar of the very actor playing him. In that movie, Indy's scar comes from the accidental lashing of a bullwhip (in which River Phoenix, playing a young Indiana Jones, attempts to frighten away a lion and hits himself). Working Girl also attempted to give reasoning for the scar, pinning it as the result of Ford's character having fainted as a teenager and hitting his chin on a toilet seat. Ford was granted his actual scar as the result of a car accident in 1964, achieved as he was fumbling to put his seatbelt on. After crashing into a telephone pole, he stood by the side of the road for hours, bleeding, until somebody drove by and took him to the hospital. There, he was treated by somebody who appeared to be 11-years-old. Talking about his renowned facial feature on David Letterman, Ford denied giving the scar much glory: “A fast car crash, a real mundane way of earning it." 3) Forest Whitaker Forest Whitaker's intriguing left eye has emerged as a subject of curiosity amongst film-goers. Though some might consider it something in need of cosmic surgery, many would agree that Whitaker's eye gives him a unique look, a taint that grants his characters with a natural feeling of experience and worldliness. In actuality, his trademark feature is caused by a condition known as ptosis, which causes the eyelid to either droop or fall. Whitaker himself has stated that he has thought about fixing his eye with surgery, although not for cosmetic reasons, but because he finds that it affects his vision. 4) Joaquin Phoenix You can't miss that little scar that runs between Joaquin Phoenix's nose and top lip, long thought to have resulted from the surgical correction of a cleft palate. It's unashamedly apparent in most of his movies, and Phoenix has never bothered to try and hide it or cover it up - why would he? But Joaquin Phoenix was actually born with this scar fully in tact, it having formed whilst he was in the womb, and is technically known as a microform cleft. There's actually a quote that has done the rounds on the internet several times, in which Phoenix attributes his scar to "an act of God." He believes that one day when his mother felt a sudden and unexplained sharp pain in her stomach, the scar was formed right there and then. We're not too sure about that, Joaquin. 5) Tiny Fey Tiny Fey's scar isn't as noticeable as say, Joaquin Phoenix's, but it's hard to not see it once you've spotted it for the first time. And there's actually a dark and somewhat sinister tale associated with Fey's acquisition of her scar, one that she was always hesitant talking about until she eventually unveiled some information in her autobiography a few years back (and from the nature of the story, it's not difficult to see why). According to Fey, "during the Spring semester of kindergarten, I was slashed in the face by a stranger in the alley behind my house." Fey, rightly unmotivated to disclose much more information than that, even goes on a hilarious rant in her book explaining how everybody who has ever asked her about the scar in the first week of knowing her have turned out to be "dumb dumbs." Fair enough, dumb dumbs. 6) Jonah Hill While they are not very visible on screen, Jonah Hill does have several scars. The most noticeable one is on his right arm, and it came from a car accident back when he was a teenager. As the actor has explained in interviews in the past, he went through a tough time in middle school while his mom was battling cancer. Fearing that she wasn't going to make it, he started to act out and get into trouble. His behaviour eventually led to a reckless car accident involving a friend, which resulted in Hill's arm being dragged along the road as the car flipped over several times. Apparently, the injury was so bad that the doctors actually considered amputating his arm. It was then that Hill finally smartened up and vowed never to let his parents down again. "I said to myself, 'I'll never let them down ever again.' I said, 'I'm going to be f***** successful. I'm going to resurrect what I put these people through by being a little a**hole,' Jonah revealed in an interview. "So I look at this scar every day. That reminds me to work hard." 7) Michael K. Williams Most people know about Boardwalk Empire star Michael K. Williams' large facial scars, as they're apparent in most of his roles. What a lot of people don't know, however, is how he got them. On his 25th birthday, the actor got into a bar fight and was sliced with a razor. Not a great way to celebrate, right? Well, actually, this little incident changed Williams' life forever. Up until that point, he had been a backup dancer. After he received the scar though, he started being offered thug and gangster roles in movies. Eventually, after he had a few credits under his belt, he snagged what would become his breakout part: Omar Little on HBO's The Wire. 8) Sylvester Stallone Rambo and Rocky star Sylvester Stallone is one of the most impersonated celebrities in Hollywood thanks to his unique rubbery facial expressions and slurred speech. This is actually something he's suffered from since birth. Due to a complication, doctors were forced to use two pairs of forceps during the birthing process. Thanks to some shoddy handling of the procedure, this resulted in a nerve being severed which left Stallone partially paralyzed on the left side of his face, specifically parts of his lips, tongue and chin. Furthermore, the actor has also amassed a ton of injuries over his career which have no doubt contributed to the problem. For one, he was punched so hard by Dolph Lundgren in Rocky IV that his heart began to swell and become compressed against his ribs. Later on, when filming The Expendables, he actually broke his neck when tussling with ex-wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin. 9) Denzel Washington If you watch Denzel Washington closely in his movies, you can occasionally make out what's known as his “freaky pinky.” Seriously, we're not making this stuff up. Just check out the video above. As a young man, Washington was a star basketball player, playing as a point guard during his days at Fordham University. Some sources claim his finger injury dated back to one of these games due to a mishap when he caught the ball. As he never had it set back properly, it continues to stick out from the rest of his fingers at a steep 45 degree angle. On British talk show The Graham Norton Show, however, Washington mentioned that he injured his finger playing football (contrary to previous reports). He also explained that his finger's dexterity was due to a rubber implant – which he calls a “gummy bear” – replacing his lower knuckle. 10) Sean Bean You’ll no doubt know of the old joke about Sean Bean dying in nearly every one of his roles – which is all the more amusing since he's had his fair share of scrapes in real life, too, and lived to tell the tale. For instance, he was once involved in a bar fight after someone made lewd comments about his then-girlfriend, Playboy model April Summers. Bean ended up with his arm stabbed with a broken glass. Did he call for an ambulance? No, of course not. He told the bar staff he was OK and simply ordered another drink. The scar that's most obvious in his movies, though, is the small one above his left eye. He got this while filming an action scene with Harrison Ford in Patriot Games. While fighting on a speedboat, Ford accidentally caught Bean over the eye with a boat hook. Ouch! Tell us, which of these Hollywood curiosities did or didn't you know about? Got anymore of interest for us? Let us know in the comments section below.