The actress, 38, made her first public appearance with her new pixie at the FAO Schwarz pop up store in New York City’s Bergdorf Goodman on Tuesday.
“It’s for a role. I’m getting ready to play a woman in a movie called The Doorman,” Holmes told PEOPLE about her hair transformation. “She’s an ex-Marine and she’s a warrior. I’m excited. I’m training. I’m sore.”
Holmes recently teamed up with stylist to the stars DJ Quintero to channel her on-screen alter ego.
“We were trying to find a balance between something feminine but kickass cause she’s working really hard — her body looks incredible,” Quintero told PEOPLE.
“She really wanted it to move on camera so it was actually like three haircuts. We did it over the weekend and it kind got shorter and shorter and shorter,” said Quintero, who also works with actresses Sophia Bush, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Sofia Vergara and Hailee Steinfeld.
Holmes was first spotted sporting a shorter haircut last week when she was catching a flight at New York’s John F. Kennedy airport. Holmes went from a wavy lob to a pixie that was parted down the center with long bangs.
This isn’t the first time the style star has cut her hair into a pixie. She had a similar pixie ‘do almost 10 years ago in 2008.
Holmes and Quintero have often worked together to create different looks in the past, including many faux bobs and bangs. But it appears, this pixie is here to stay!
This article originally appeared on PEOPLE.