Bio

Makeup and Special Makeup Effects have become a huge part of my life and are a passion for me. Working in this business you have to love what you do. Let's face it, we spend more time working than with our families.

It's funny, I never expected to get into this field. I was actually pursuing a career in law and criminal justice. Who would have thought that my life would take this direction. Definitely not my parents. I always had a passion for the movie business & loved all the behind the scenes specials & photos I saw. It just seemed like such an amazing world, where people could do just about anything. I remember as a young kid my parents took the family on a trip to California and we ended up going to Universal Studios for the day. Well, that was it for me. The back lot tour was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. This is where it all happens! When the tram rolled up to the Psycho house, they were actually filming part of Psycho 3. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. At that moment I knew that this is what I wanted to do. But how the hell do you get into the movie business? There's no way!

senior year of High School was when I was exposed to makeup & realized that this is what I wanted to do. It turns out that mandatory credits are indeed a good thing.I had found out that in order to graduate, I needed a credit in a theatre course of some kind. Well to say the least, I wasn't interested in hanging out with the theatre kids. They were definitely not the kind of crowd that I hung out with.Well, to make this long story short, I had to take the course whether I liked it or not. The whole thing kind of bored me, until one day my teacher didn't have a lesson plan & decided to bring in a makeup kit she had. She taught us to do bruises, cuts & scars. My friend & I made each-other up as if we had gotten into a fight. Pretty soon the class bell rang before we could clean ourselves up. We went out into the hall to head to the bathroom to clean up & everyone freaked out thinking that it was real. We had so much fun playing it off & making people think that we were in a fight. At that point I knew that makeup was something that I wanted to pursue. I immediately bought a small makeup kit to play around with. Anyone in my way was a victim. I loved it, but again "How the hell do you get into the movie business?".

Well knowing that there was no way for a kid like me to get into the business, I started going to college & facing the fact that I needed to grow up and pursue a real career. I did a few semesters in college & realized that it just wasn't for me. One day I was reading a makeup magazine & saw an ad for a makeup school .......

" Get A Career In The Film Industry". Well this was my ticket. I begged & pleaded with my parents to let me go. After a long time wearing them down, they finally said yes! I went to that school & learned a lot about makeup & graduated one of the top in my class. They said that I was ready to go out & work in the business. Soon after I landed my first commercial shoot & met another makeup artist that was doing "The Star" of the shoot & he let me know pretty quickly that I was completely taught wrong & had no idea what I was doing. I was devastated! All that time and money going to school was completely wasted. Luckily for me, that makeup artist felt bad for me & took me under his wing to point me in the right direction. After retraining myself under other makeup artists for a couple of years, I was able to learn things correctly and slowly started taking on small jobs by myself & actually doing them right. People started liking my work & personality. As with everyone else in the business, I started to work on bigger & better projects, working my way up the ladder & paying my dues.

Now, more than 20 years later, I am finally living my dream. I'm working on amazing projects with great people, and working in some incredible locations all over the world. I have my own makeup effects company & received an Emmy Award for The Sopranos and a second one for Behind The Candelabra. Yes, it is a grind & sometimes this business can be vicious, but I still love what I do. Who would have thought? I was actually able to make it happen, with a lot of help from some great people that believed in me, especially my parents who thought that this was just going to be a phase & I needed to find a real job!

BY SHOW