Famous Make-Up Artists

Sometimes its tough to get noticed as a make-up artist, but everyone certainly notices when you fail.  Throughout history there have been some very famous make-up artists who have excelled at their job and produced wonderful work.  When many think of a make-up artist, they may only think of runway and print make-up artists.  But let’s not forget the impressive contribution of make-up artists in cinema.  Cinema is also full of make-up artists who have made serious contributions, making actors look better (and sometimes look worse).  Regardless of the industry, make-up artists have made their impact and will continue to do so in the future.

One notable creator of movie monster magic is Jack Pierce.  Many people might not know the name Jack Pierce, but they definitely know his work.  Born in Greece in 1889 as Janus Piccoula, Jack Pierce went on to create some of the more memorable looks in Hollywood history.  His make-up work was often seen in the works of Boris Karloff and he repeatedly worked with Lon Chaney Jr.  If you name a famous horror film from the early days of Hollywood, then it’s likely to have Pierce’s stamp on it.  Pierce worked on Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Bride of Frankenstein, Son of Frankenstein, The Wolfman, and many others.  Often the work was laborious, required tremendous attention to detail and could take as much as eight hours to complete.  Yet there is no denying that his work was genius and is still impressive even today.  Pierce died in 1968, but we will always have his contribution to cinema.

Dick Smith is a make-up artist who is also an Academy Award-winning pioneer.  To this day, he is recognized as being one of the best make-up artists who has ever lived.  Smith served as the make-up artist on such films as The Godfather, Taxi Driver, The Exorcist, and Amadeus.  It was for his work on Amadeus that Smith won an Academy Award for Makeup.  Part of the reason that Smith is so respected and revered by his peers is that he was a pioneer in several methods of make up that are still used to this day.  Much of Smith’s works with latex masks, for example, are seen as being breakthrough.  One of Smith’s most successful pupils is Rick Baker.

There is no denying that Rick Baker is one seriously accomplished make-up artist.  Baker has worked on too many big-budget, high-profile movies to count.  Baker has been creating monster and alien effects since the early seventies working on The Exorcist, Star Wars Episode IV, An American Werewolf in London, Men in Black, Planet of the Apes, Hellboy, King Kong, and X-Men: The Last Stand, to name just a few of his long list of accomplishments.  To date, Baker has won six Academy Awards, his first being for An American Werewolf in London in 1981 and his most recent in 2001 for How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  Today Baker is viewed as a pioneer in his own right and continues to innovate and add to his already substantial resume.

You may think that with computer generated visual effects in movies like Avatar these days that the work of the make-up artist would be a thing of the past.  But as long as there are actors taking the stage in Hollywood, Bollywood, or anywhere else in the world, there will be a need for these uniquely skilled and talented individuals.  Make-up artists can do their best work in making actors look otherworldly and monstrous, not just more beautiful.