20 Celebrities With Notable Scars on Their Faces

In the high profile world of living a celebrity lifestyle, whether it be an entertainer that specializes in musical productions or an actor that plays out assigned roles, there is a considerable amount of pressure to do more than just be good at what you do. There’s also the pressure to look as picture-perfect as possible. There is no room for blemishes in professions that seem to rely just as much on personal appearances as it does on actual talent. In places like Hollywood, this seems to serve as a warning notice against celebrities who sport any scars that imperfections are not allowed. However, there have been some that have actually managed to prove to Hollywood and the world that the ugliest scars aren’t what’s on a person’s body, but lurks inside their hearts. There are twenty celebrities who sport some kind of facial scar that are noticeable enough but are not seen as a bad thing. If anything, sometimes such scars have worked in their favor, especially among actors who can use it as a prop where no makeup is required. Among musicians, they will go as far as using those facial characters as a means to get into character whenever performing on stage.

20. Sean Bean

While filming for the 1992 movie, Patriot Games, actor Harrison Ford accidentally hit Sean Bean with a boat hook while shooting a fight scene. What could have been a tragic incident seemed to become Bean’s ticket to success as this rugged new look landed him the lead role in a series of Sharpe’s feature films that earned the actor such a huge fan following, especially among his fellow Brits. That scar above the left eyebrow has served its purpose by giving some of Bean’s characters even more depth, especially when playing tough-guy roles in action flicks such as Lord of the Rings and Troy.

19. Tommy Flanagan

Fans from the Sons of Anarchy series will recognize Tommy Flanagan as Chibs Telford, who was the president of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original (SAMCRO) in the pilot episode. The Scotsman, for real and on the series, is well noted for the scar that runs alongside his left cheek. Referred to as the Glasgow Smile, Flanagan earned this scar club after leaving a Scottish pub where he performed as a dee-jay. He was approached by a group of robbers who tried to steal from him but he rebelled. That rebellion escalated the incident into violence, resulting in Flanagan being stabbed, then slashed from ear to ear. Luckily for Flanagan, he survived the experience and later earned his first Hollywood break when Mel Gibson gave him a role in the 1995 movie, Braveheart. The nickname, Chibs, was by Flanagan’s own request as this was the nickname given to his cheek scars. When Flanagan joined the Sons of Anarchy cast, the show’s creator, Kurt Sutter, wrote in Chibs as the actor’s character name, which has been his main identifier ever since.

18. Tina Fey

The thin scar running underneath her lower lip to the left side of her face came about when she was attacked with a knife when she was only five years old. The incident occurred behind her family’s house when the attacker appeared in the alley, then disappeared. To this day, that attacker has never been identified. When interviewed, Tina Fey admitted the experience caused her to inflate her own personal ego as adults were treating her with extra kindness as if to compensate for what happened. At the timing she wrote her personal biography, this is what she revealed as her own personality check. Fans of Tina Fey will remember her best for her appearances in two different variety comedy series, starting in 1997 with Saturday Night Live, and starting in 2006 with 30 Rock.

17. J.R. Martinez

Before becoming Brot Monroe on the daytime drama, All My Children, from 2008 until 2011, J.R. Martinez was serving in the army in Iraq when he sustained severe burns to over thirty-four percent of his body in 2003. While driving a Humbee, the front left tire hit an IED, which resulted in the horrific accident that saw Martinez rushed to the Ramstein airbase in Germany. He was later transferred to the Army Institute of Surgical Research Burn Center at the Brooke Army Medical Hospital Center, located in San Antonio, Texas. After thirty-four months of hospitalization and thirty-three plastic surgeries and skin grafts, not only has J.R. Martinez become a fixture in Hollywood productions but has become a motivational speaker, sharing his experiences throughout the US.

16. Michael K. Williams

On his twenty-fifth birthday, Michael K. Williams was involved in a bar fight in New York City. The heavily intoxicated Williams embarked on an argument with another patron at the Jamaica Avenue bar that resulted in his opponent scarring him with a razor blade from the top of his head to his neck. This nearly cost Williams his life, but he miraculously survived. From there, he went from being featured in music videos, as well as modeling gigs. Prior to the fight, Williams was a dancer and choreographer, already doing music video work at the time. The scar from the attack didn’t thwart the man’s career but rather opened up even more doors for him. When directors of the music videos he danced in saw he also had an acting ability, this resulted in various television roles, most notably as Omar Little on The Wire from 2002 until 2008, and as Chalky White on Boardwalk Empire from 2010 until 2014. Michael K. Williams was noted for adding depth to each of the characters he played, but that came to an end on September 6, 2021, due to complications from a drug overdose that claimed his life.

15. Miles Teller

Before guest-starring and starring in a variety of television series, including Too Old to Die Young and The Offer, actor Miles Teller was in an extremely serious car accident when he was just twenty years old. Fortunately for him, it only left a few scars on his face instead of losing his life. At first, Teller thought these scars would ruin his career as an actor. However, the contrary has happened and it has since spiked his popularity.

14. Queen Latifah

The small, vertical scar underneath Queen Latifah’s hairline  is two inches long, one that has been with her since she was three years old. While playing with her brother, she accidentally tripped over something that caused her to hit her head against the corner of the bathroom wall. After getting three stitches to patch the wound up, she fell and busted it open again. Latifah is best recognized as a soulful vocalist, as well as a leading actress. From 1993 until 1998, she played the role, Khadijah James on Living Single and was highly acclaimed for her role, Matron Mama Morton, in the 2002 film, Chicago.

13. Charlie Puth

Since 2010, singer-songwriter and record producer, Charlie Puth, has earned himself an impressive fan following ever since his hit single, See You Again, which won a flurry of music awards in 2015 from the Teen Choice Awards. His win in 2021 with the hit single, I Hope, has proven he is more than just some one-hit-wonder and that he is capable of producing music in more than just one genre. Before all this, however, he was permanently scarred in the right eyebrow by what was a near-fatal dog bite.

12. Sandra Bullock

Oscar-winner for her role in The Blind Side, Sandra Bullock has a tiny scar located just above the outside corner of her left eye. Some fans may notice, some may not. However, it is there. When she was an adolescent, she fell into a lake while jumping between rocks. The fall caused a gashed indent that left that part of her face scarred for life.

11. Steve Buscemi

In 2001, during the filming of Domestic Disturbance, Steve Buscemi and fellow actor, Vince Vaughn, accompanied screenwriter, Scott Rosenburg to a North Carolina bar called Firebelly Lounge. While there, a woman was chatting with Vaughn when her 21-year-old boyfriend, Timothy Fogerty, decided to start a fight. Buschemi rushed to his friend’s side, which resulted in Fogerty stabbing him above the eye, in the jaw, in the throat, and in the arm. Fortunately for Buscemi, the wounds weren’t fatal, but the night ended with police having to use pepper spray to put an end to the barroom brawl.

10. Seal

The scarring on Seal Samuel’s face came from the skin disease Discoid Lupus Erythematosus, a condition he had to contend with as a child. In its wake, it causes inflammation, lesions, scarring, and permanent hair loss. Usually, such a condition has the body ultra-sensitive to the sun’s rays and the disease can flare up its devastation at any given part of the body at any time. According to Seal’s sources, the singer-songwriter is currently in remission. During the 2019 season of The Masked Singer, he played the role of Leopard for eight of its episodes. Fans of Seal may recognize him best for his 1990 mega-hit, Crazy.

9. Joaquin Phoenix

Sometimes, scars are inherited by birth. In the case of Joaquin Phoenix, the scar tissue between his lip and nose came from a microform cleft that appears as a small notched scar. On average, over six thousand babies are born in the United States with some form of cleft lip or palate. Since 1982, Joaquin Phoenix, younger brother to River Phoenix, has appeared in a number of Hollywood productions. His big breakthrough role was in the 2000 film, Gladiator, when he played Commodus, the main antagonist opposing Russell Crowe’s heroic character, Spartacus. More recently, his cryptic role as The Joker in 2019 has earned him a new breed of fans who are hoping the rumors of a 2021 sequel are true.

8. Adrian Pasdar

Fans who follow the movies, television programs, and video games featuring the Avengers, Iron Man, S.H.I.E.L.D., and Supergirl will recognize Adrian Pasdar for the voice behind the Iron Man persona during its television series that ran from 2012 until 2017. He also played the role of Glenn Talbot, the special agent from the S.H.I.E.L.D. series that ran from 2014 until 2018. In addition to all these character roles he’s been playing, Pasdar also sports facial scars on his cheeks and chin. He earned those after barely surviving a horrific car accident during his freshman year at the University of Florida. The aspiring footballer switched career paths to pursue acting as the injuries he sustained also extended to his legs.

7. Joe Jonas

The four Jonas Brothers began to make names for themselves in the entertainment industry, as singers, songwriters, and actors. As for Joe Jonas, he had the bright idea to run into a wall as part of a YouTube video shoot while his brothers filmed it. What should have been a simple fall down wound up becoming a gush of blood that required poor Joe to get hospitalized and receive over fifty stitches above his nose. According to the entire family, it’s not unusual for Joe to pull off stunts that didn’t exactly go as planned.

6. Shawn Mendes

On Sunday, March 31, 2019, singer-songwriter Shawn Mendes went down to the front row of the crowd he was performing for near the end of his concert in Italy. In a fluke accident, a fan accidentally scratched his right cheek, which has since left behind a scar. However, this is merely a new addition to add to what he already had on his face prior to this. Just below the new one, a much older scar exists that he received when he attempted to shave his face as a small kid. Since 2014, Mendes has become a musical sensation.

5. Mary J. Blige

The multi-talented Mary J. Blige, who rocked the world with her hip-hop style, is also known for her acting, and modeling by her most devout fans. As much as makeup tries to cover it up, the vertical scar under her left eye is hard to miss. This is why the majority of the time she will not pose with a straight face before the camera. Although there is no evidence to back the story, the rumor does have it the scar was the result of a scrap she obtained as a teenager while scrapping it out with another girl.

4. Ed Sheeran

The truth behind the vertical scar on Ed Sheeran’s right cheek is somewhat different than the first story that was told. At first, news got out Sheeran was cut in the face when Princess Beatrice of York accidentally cut him in the face with a sword. The claim Sheeran and his manager, James Blunt, made about a silly knighting stunt resulting in Sheeran’s injury was widespread after an episode on The Graham Norton Show in 2017. However, the truth came out a few months later that exposed it was really a drunk Ed Sheeran who accidentally cut himself. Nobody was with him at the time he received the self-inflicted wound, aside from Blunt being called in to patch him up.

3. Prince William of Wales

While playing golf at the age of thirteen years old, Prince William of Wales was hit in the head with a flying golf club. According to the prince, he nicknames it as the Harry Potter scar because sometimes it seems to glow, which makes it more visible, and sometimes it doesn’t.

2. Harrison Ford

For Harrison Ford, sporting a scar on his chin wasn’t enough to prevent him from getting starring roles in Hollywood that made the actor one of the most swooned over lead actors the industry ever introduced to the audience. In 1964, when a Ford moved to Los Angeles in hopes to pursue his dream as a Hollywood actor, he took a job at Bullock’s Department Store. One morning, on his way to work, he realized he forgot to wear his seatbelt. As Ford struggled to put it on, he accidentally veered off the road and crashed into a telephone pole hard enough to slam his chin on the steering wheel before flying through the windshield. Fortunately for Harrison Ford, not only did he survive the crash, but earned himself memorable roles in American Graffiti, Hanover Street, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and so many more.

1. Jason Momoa

In 2008, Jason Momoa earned his noticeable left eyebrow scar when he was attacked with a broken pint glass by a man at a Hollywood bar. The attacker was sentenced to five years in prison. As for Momoa, he required 140 stitches and reconstructive surgery. Before earning this distinguished look, Momoa appeared on the Baywatch series from 1999 until 2001, as well as Stargate Atlantis from 2005 until 2009. Fans from the Game of Thrones series will remember him as Khal Drogo during his ten-episode run during the 2011-2012 season, as well as that left eyebrow scar. According to Momoa, the scar managed to pull him away from the pretty boy stigma he had into something both he and his fans agree is a better look for him.

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