From the meth “cook” in “Breaking Bad” and the mobster in “The Irishman” to the FBI agent in “Killers of the Blooming Moon” and the conservative brother in “Power of the Dog” (which earned him his first Oscar nomination), Jesse Plemons has played a wide range of supporting roles before being promoted to star status. This promotion came with the blessings of George Lanthimos, leading to the first major acceptance speech of Plemons’ career.

But perhaps even more significant than the Best Actor award he won at Cannes this year for “Kindness Stories,” Plemons feels most proud of his new image.

The 36-year-old actor had been dealing with a serious weight problem for the past few years. One could even say that his recognition and success were measured in kilograms, as Plemons appeared progressively heavier in each successive film.

And, no, it wasn’t for the needs of a role. However, it was a role — a pivotal one, in fact — that finally set him on the path of a strict diet and complete physical transformation.

“I was asked to do a scene in the movie ‘Civil War’ where I was going to play a soldier, and I thought, I don’t know many soldiers my size,” Plemons explained in a 2023 interview. “Something clicked in my head, and I decided I didn’t want to carry all those pounds anymore.”

He began intermittent fasting, cut out carbs, and adopted other common weight loss strategies. “In the end, it’s easy if you decide to do it seriously,” he noted about his impressive weight loss.

Beyond his new image and his first major award, Plemons is even more proud of the family he created with Kirsten Dunst. Their story confirms the cliché “life imitates the movies.” The two actors met on the set of the series “Fargo” in 2014, where they played a married couple.

Their relationship began a few months later and culminated in the following years with two children. In 2021, they reunited professionally in “The Power of the Dog,” again playing a married couple. They finally got married in real life in 2022. The moral: Jesse Plemons takes his roles very seriously.