Lois Burwell

The Jan Price Show

Oscar-winning Makeup Artist Lois Burwell discusses her fascinating career!

Lois Burwell makes faces. From the prosthetics that transformed Tim Curry into the Lord of Darkness in Legend to the war paint and wounds that won her an Oscar® for Braveheart to the realism of Almost Famous and Lincoln, she has proven her mastery in a career spanning over 50 years. Burwell's interest in makeup started at an early age. While attending dance classes in her native London, she started making up her fellow students for recitals. She got her first break when director Bill Forsyth hired her as the entire makeup department for his breakthrough film Gregory's Girl (1980). She first worked with prosthetics on Legend, followed by more fantastical work on films like The Princess Bride (1987), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) and The Fifth Element (1997). In 1989, she made her first film with Mel Gibson, Air America (1990), followed by his Hamlet (also 1990) and her Oscar-winning work on Braveheart. Another important collaboration started in 1998 with her Oscar-nominated work on Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan (1998). She's worked with him on six more films, including War of the Worlds (2005) and Lincoln. In addition to her Oscar, she has won awards from the Online Film & Television Association for The Fifth Element and Saving Private Ryan.

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