The invention provide a class of actinically-crosslinkable silicone-containing prepolymers obtained by functionalizing an intermediary copolymer to have two or more thiol or ethylenically-unsaturated groups covalently attached thereto, wherein the intermediary copolymer is an atom-transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) product of a reactive mixture comprising a polysiloxane ATRP macroinitiator and at least one hydrophilic vinylic monomer. The present invention is also related to silicone hydrogel contact lenses made from a prepolymer of the invention and methods for making the contact lenses in a cost-effective way and with high consistency and high fidelity to the original lens design.