Why do actors look so much better in movies than they do in real life?

narrative does a lot of shading as well...

so, it provokes an emotional response as well as physical. . .

at those moments, a good film will work have multiple layers that convey this person is attractive even if they are "average" or worse...

They don't always. I met both Anne Hathaway and Eddie Redmayne and they're both more specatcular in person.

R2, where just walking on the street or dressed for an event?

I've heard from a hotel worker how beautiful Halle Berry looks in real life.

I know this will get a lot of shit but back when she was young, people marveled at how beautiful Madonna was in the flesh. Glowing skin and lush petite body with bedroom eyes.

A concert in one case and a screening party in another, and neither was glammed up, R3.

I've seen several celebrities who look exactly as you'd expect them to in real life. Some look better and some look worse than they do on screen. It depends. There are some plain people that the camera absolutely adores. Some people look better in motion than in still photographs.

R6 I'm someone who people say is photogenic (though *not* beautiful, that is important) in stills--like I'm told the brightest parts of my personality comes across on a camera shot, and my face & body are proportional, catch the eye and manage to look at least cute or appealing even with little or no makeup. But the truth is I'm literally an unremarkable plain 4/5 with a lopsided face who looks like Fiona Shrek on moving film or in real life. It's weird, and makes for very awkward and disappointing first dates and video conference calls where everyone has assumed from a pfp that I'm rather pleasant-looking and even-featured.

As a photographer, I can say angles and lighting make such a difference.

Like for example, have you ever seen a face full of makeup in real life? Women look scary but on camera with good lighting, they look stunning. There are makeup YouTubers who have videos showing their makeup in real lighting and you’ll see how textured and normal their faces are.

I've met a few celebrities by way of work: Sharon Stone is absolutely stunning looking in real life, as were Belinda Carlisle and Natalie Portman. I also recently met Tim Daly, who I did not recognize until someone told me. He was handsome, but I never would have guessed who it was - looked so different.