Biography

Known for his incredibly realistic creature effects

Long white hair pulled back in ponytail

Often works with director John Landis (Schlock (1973), An American Werewolf in London (1981), Coming to America (1988), Michael Jackson: Thriller (1983))

Often creates the makeup effects for werewolves and apes

His collaborations with Eddie Murphy

In 1981, he was the very first recipient of the Academy Award for Best Make-Up for An American Werewolf in London (1981) when the category was first introduced.

Holds the record for the most Oscar wins and nominations bestowed upon makeup artists. He has been nominated a total of twelve times with seven wins (An American Werewolf in London (1981), Harry and the Hendersons (1987), Ed Wood (1994), The Nutty Professor (1996), Men in Black (1997), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) and The Wolfman (2010)).

He attended Northview High School in Covina, California. There he made his own gorilla costume and would sometime be found swinging from the football field goalposts. He also would go to drive-in movies showing Planet of the Apes (1968), secretly change into his ape outfit and sneak up to occupants of cars watching the movie, scaring them out of their wits.

Closed his studio and retired from the motion picture industry on May 28, 2015. Received an estimated $1 million from an auction of his collection of props and items he created over the course of his career.

Presented his mentor, Dick Smith with an honorary Academy Award in 2011.

Makeup is an additive process, you add to someone's face. It's easy to make someone look fatter or older. It's much harder to make someone look thinner because we can't really subtract from what's already there.

When I did An American Werewolf in London (1981), David Naughton had basically no body hair. Benicio Del Toro is already very hairy so it was much easier to make him up for The Wolfman (2010).

I learned (makeup effects) on my own face, that's why I look like this.

The first make-up artist I was ever really aware of and became a fan of was Jack P. Pierce. He did all the great classic Universal monsters especially Frankenstein's monster. That make-up hasn't been outdone. It has become this iconic image. Everybody when they think of the Monster thinks of Jack's make-up.

The thing that I find so fulfilling about my job is I like the fact that you start with something that's just an idea in your head. You read the script and right away you visualize something and you see that thing that at one point was just an idea in your head looking real and alive. It's exciting and is a little bit like being Dr. Frankenstein. I want to scream "It's alive!"