Chun-Li actress grew thighs by 6.5cm with 4,000 calorie fitness regime for Street Fighter role

Actors are often expected to undergo some incredible transformations for their roles but Canadian actress Callina Liang's fitness regime was so brutal that she was often left 'on the verge of throwing up'.

Over the years we've seen the likes of Christian Bale change his body in an extreme way for different films, whether it's becoming extremely skinny for The Machinist or more well-rounded in his portrayal of former US Vice President Dick Cheney in Vice.

Although some celebrities are able to use weight loss drugs to change their appearance, Liang's dedication to growing the size of her thighs came from hard work in the gym and an extreme protein diet, as she prepared to play Chun-Li in the upcoming Street Fighter film.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the movie franchise or original video games, Chun-Li's character is renowned for her kicking ability and martial arts skills, and is also incredibly popular due to her being the first female character in the classic fighting games.

So, when the 26-year-old was cast as Chun-Li, she was clearly willing to do whatever she could to ensure that she did the character justice, and for her that meant growing the size of her thighs by a massive 6.5cm.

Speaking in an August interview with Empire Magazine, the actress said: "Chun-Li is all kicks. So we did a bunch of Taekwondo training, Muay Thai, and Wushu (Kung Fu). I did two hours of that a day and strengthened my legs a lot and changed my diet drastically. When I was bulking, I ate 12 eggs a day. Every two hours I had to have a meal, and I was on the verge of throwing up. But it worked. By the end of the shoot, my thighs had grown six-and-a-half centimetres each."

However, her preparation didn't just take her to the gym, as she also made sure she understood Chun-Li's character by downloading every single Street Fighter game onto her Playstation 5, before recording all of her specialist moves to ensure that her own fight scenes would be as accurate as possible.

"I downloaded every single version of Street Fighter onto a PS5 and I recorded all of Chun-Li's moves during fights on my phone in slow-mo, so I could play them back and study them," she added.

Without seeing the film yet, it's impossible to know if her hard work will pay off and win over fans with her portrayal of the iconic fighting character, but there's no doubt that she will be happy with her results in the gym after growing her thighs so much.

Street Fighter will release in UK cinemas on 16 October.