Steve LaPorte, creator of the "FaceMaker Series". Over 3 decades in the making.
With over 35 years as a Makeup Artist in the motion picture industry, Steve LaPorte has worked on everything from Low Budget to Mega Budget Productions. From his first break in the makeup show at the Universal Studios Tour to over fifty feature films to his credit, including “The Color Purple”, “Lost Boys”, “Beetlejuice” (for which he won an Academy Award), ”Terminator 2 & 3” and “OZ, The Great & Powerful”. Additional Awards include a Primetime Emmy for “X-Files” , a Saturn Award for “Beetlejuice”. and The Makeup Artist Guild Award for his prosthetic makeup application on Brian Cranston in the Finale of "Breaking Bad".
LaPorte credits basic out of kit techniques as a solid foundation for his work. Mentored by many respected makeup artists throughout his career such as Tom Burman, Ken Chase, Ve Neill, Robert Schiffer, Charles Schram &
the Godfather of makeup, Dick Smith. Steve believes that passing what he has learned is a part of the creative process. As an honored faculty member of Dick Smith's Basic 3-D Make-up Course, Steve critiques the work of many students as they enter the craft keeping alive Dick's dream of spreading the knowledge.
Proficiency in Beauty, Prosthetics, Aging and Character, including facial hair work, is a must in today’s competitive field. Knowledge of products and raw materials is also an added bonus when you have to make “magic” on the set.
As a Motion Picture Academy Member, Steve serves on the Makeup Awards executive committee which oversees the submissions for Academy Award in Makeup & Hair Styling from 1990 to present.
In the Summer of 2004 a new TV Pilot had been completed and was about to continue shooting in Hawaii.
Steve packed up part of his home lab, molds, stock prosthetics and supplies and flew off to Paradise. ABC’s “Lost” resumed shooting with LaPorte at the Makeup Dept. helm. Eleven shows grew into a full season . Six seasons and 112 episodes later, Steve was transitioning from Feature Films into Television and “Lost” proved to be the perfect vehicle. To strive for Film Quality on a Television schedule and budget is a never-ending task. In addition to Dept. Head and Makeup Designer, LaPorte sculpted, molded and fabricated all of the prosthetics and makeup effects for “Lost”. Having a loyal and close knit crew allowed him to achieve the high standard that all makeup artists should strive for. Steve is currently the Makeup Effects Designer for the A & E series, "Longmire" & Department Head for Amazon Prime's, Detective serial, "Bosch".
Much of Steve’s work is out of kit using character colors, various adhesives and sealers for aging, scrapes, scabs, burns, chapped lips and using basic materials. Basically, it’s creating 3 dimensional effects or enhancing a makeup with what you have at hand. These skills are an absolute must to be a well rounded makeup artist. Coming from a performing background which includes Magic , Pyrotechnics, Costume and Prop making, coming up with inventions, products and formulations that apply to his work is a part of everyday life. As a respected Motion Picture Makeup Artist his work speaks for itself. During his time on "Lost", Steve required his fellow artists to work from the same color pallet. The FaceMaker series of creme color pallets were born.
The first, called, "Freckle-N-Hide" was a collection for both correction & character makeups together, still used by professionals throughout the world. Seven additional collections followed, Clown Alley, Here-After, Actor's Alley 1 & 2, Prosthetic Medic, Primary Covers, & Dead & Walking.
Now, Steve has redesigned his pallets in a more cost effective package & made them available to everyone. The first two in the series are, "Carnival" and "Frightmares" & contain the same high quality makeup used by the professionals. In addition the pallets include a brush & Steve's step by step Makeup tips to give everyone a head start. Made in the U.S.A. & under strict FDA guidelines for purity, the FaceMaker Series of pallets offer quality at a fair price.
