Award-winning female makeup artists star in O.C. theater couple’s new book

Orange County couple Patricia Terry and Gary Christensen noticed something missing in the entertainment industry: A lack of recognition in book form for female makeup effects artists.

They spent the past two years doing something about it.

In early November, they released “Leading Ladies of Makeup Effects: Showcasing the Award-Winning Women of Makeup Effects for Film and Television,” a book profiling 26 women working in makeup effects — including Academy and Emmy Award winners and emerging artists.

Christensen, a professional makeup artist, and Terry, a theater director, have devoted their careers to the arts.

The married couple have worked with many local performing arts projects over the past three decades, including running the Alternative Repertory Theatre in Santa Ana from 1987-2000, with Terry as the artistic director and Christensen as the producer.

The inspiration to write the 322-page book came when Christensen noticed women dominated the demographics of makeup schools all over the world, yet there were no books that acknowledged that factor.

“There has never been a book about women makeup artists,” Terry said. “So we set out to write one that honors the award-winning women working in makeup effects, encourages women currently working in the field, and inspires young artists with female models and their stories.”

With many artists to choose from, Terry said she and her husband of 27 years decided to start by narrowing the list down to Academy Award winners.

There are 17 women who fit the category, 12 of whom appear in the book, due to the artists’ availability.

The authors then decided to add hard-hitting females in television, narrowing the list to nine Emmy Award winners.

“Between 1971 and 2016, over 750 women have been nominated for an Emmy award in one of 12 categories,” Terry said. “We included women who won specifically in the prosthetics category, as well as women who worked on shows that included prosthetics before there was a special prosthetics category.”

Choosing the five emerging artists was the most difficult challenge because of the growing number of women entering the field, Terry said.

The women had to be local to Southern California, have some experience working on non-union or independent films, television or media and have recently attained or were on the brink of obtaining union membership.

Once the list was created, the couple got to work, setting up interviews with each of the artists, adhering to the women’s schedules and traveling to their homes all over the world for in-person conversations.

The book offers biographies from in-depth interviews with each of the artists, along with photos of the women and their work.

The couple rented an apartment in London for a week to interview the five U.K.-based women, and traveled to Barcelona to interview Academy Award-winning artist Montse Ribé of “Pan’s Labyrinth.”

Other interviews took place in the artists’ Southern California-based homes or over the phone.

When it came time to write the book, Terry and Christensen said they wanted to make sure they maintained the individual voice of each artist.

They worked off a written transcript and audio and videotapes hoping to capture each woman’s experience.

Terry said she hopes the book will inspire makeup artists and readers.

“Hard work, luck, determination, integrity and great talent drive each and every one of these ladies,” Terry said. “If you have a dream and you work hard enough, nothing is beyond your grasp.”

For more information, visit leadingladiesofmakeupeffects.com.

Jackie Moe is a contributor to Times Community News.