Biography

John's career began to take flight at the age of 16 upon meeting his hero and makeup maestro Dick Smith. While in High School, John worked as a dental technician in an Albany NY dental lab while honing his prosthetic makeup techniques under the generous guidance of Dick Smith. When John was graduating from High School in 1976, Dick recommended the 18 year old to the NBC -TV New York Makeup Department. During his 6 year stint at NBC as staff makeup artist John worked on Soaps, Vareity Shows, news and with the original cast of SNL putting the tops on the cone heads and Soul Patches on the Blues Brothers. Moving from TV into Film in 1980 John was key makeup designer on Quest For Fire which won the Academy Award for best makeup. In 1982, John designed and applied the many prosthetic characters on Woody Allen in Zelig. John's work on Zelig received a BAFTA best makeup nomination.

On Manhunter directed by Michael Mann, John was Special Makeup Designer and was requested by Mr.Mann to Department Head both Heat and the Insider. Through the recommendation of Richard Sylbert John was awarded the Prosthetic Department Head duties by Warren Beatty on Dick Tracy. John considers Dick Tracy the cornerstone film job of his career, winning in 1990 the Academy Award Best Makeup, British Academy Award and Science Fiction Film Award shared with Doug Drexler. It was on Dick Tracy where John first collaborated with Al Pacino and has been honored to be requested by Mr.Pacino to date.

in 1992, John received a BAFTA Best Makeup nomination for Chaplin. On Mona Lisa Smile, The Departed and My Super Ex Girlfriend John created beauty makeups for Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles, Maggie Gyllenhall, Ginifer Goodwin, Vera Farmiga and Anna Farris. In 2004, John received the Emmy Award Best Makeup for his work on Al Pacino in Angels In America and an Emmy Best Makeup Nomination in 2009 for his silicone prosthetic makeup on Al Pacino as Jack Kevorkian in HBO's You Don't Know Jack. In 2009, John received an Academy Award Best Makeup nomination for the iconic "Joker" makeup on Heath Ledger in The Dark knight. John was Dept Head Makeup and Special Makeup on The Smurfs, Dept Head Tower Heist and most recently Al Pacino's makeup on Phil Spector. He enjoys every facet of the trade, from applying lashes and eyeliner to sculpting, molding and applying prosthetics.
- IMDb mini biography by: Anonymous