The Oscar for Makeup and Hairstyling

A fascinating history of this Academy Award category

With the 97th Academy Awards airing on March 2nd, I thought it would be interesting to go over the history of the Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Makeup and Hairstyling.

Considering visual transformations have been used and become essential to storytelling it is kind of surprising how long it took for Makeup and Hair artists to receive consistent recognition from the Academy.

Makeup and Hair play such an important role in storytelling and has been apart of cinema since its earliest years. Screen legends like Lon Chaney, who designed his own makeup looks, used the medium to bring characters to life from movies like The Phantom of the Opera, Frankenstein and The Wizard of Oz.

The creation of the category was due to controversy after industry experts were appalled to learn the makeup effects for the 1980 film The Elephant Man would not be honored. A letter of protest was sent to The Academy's Board of Governors requesting they honor the film. They refused and instead decided, because of the outcry, to give makeup artists their own category. In 1981, the first award for Best Makeup was presented. Prior to 1981, makeup artists could only be eligible for a special achievement award for their work. And only two artists ever received that award. They are William J. Tuttle for 7 Faces of Dr. Lao in 1964 and John Chambers for Planet of the Apes in 1968. John Chambers also designed the makeup for the Star Trek series and is the creator of the Spock ears.

Other popular movies that have won the Academy Award for Best Makeup include Beetlejuice (1988), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), Men in Black (1997), The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), Star Trek (2009), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021), and The Whale (2022).

Rick Baker was the first winner of this category for An American Werewolf in London. He currently holds the record for the most wins (7) and the most nominations (11). The first women to win this award were Sarah Monzani and Michèle Burke in 1982 for Quest for Fire. The first Black women nominees/winners for Makeup and Hairstyling were Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson for 2021s Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. Sergio Lopez-Riviera won along them making him the first Hispanic (from Spain) winner for Makeup and Hairstyling. David LaRoy Anderson and Lance Anderson are the first Father/Son nominees for 2005s Cinderella Man.

Hairstylists were not included in this category until 1993 when it was decided that hair and makeup should share the award, however the name change from Best Makeup to Best Makeup and Hairstyling would not happen until 2013. For example, hairstylist Gail Ryan shared the award for Best Makeup in 2000 with Rick Baker for How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Prior to nominations films are put on a short list in each category for members to review and eventually nominate. After only two films were shortlisted in 2002 the rules were changed requiring seven films to be listed with three becoming the nominees. Since the 92nd award show that number was expanded to ten with five films being nominated.

The nominations are selected by the Academy's Makeup and Hairstylist Branch at an event they call the Makeup Bake-off. The name of this event is incredibly layered and absolutely perfect.

As of the writing of this post women have received 83 nominations with 36 wins for Makeup and Hairstyling. Men have received 118 nominations with 77 wins for Makeup and Hairstyling. The number of women nominees will increase by 9 after Sunday's broadcast. And the number of male nominees will increase by 6.

Over the years this category has not only allowed Hair and Makeup to receive recognition but also gave recognition to films that would otherwise have been left out. Some examples are Mrs. Doubtfire in 1993, The Nutty Professor in 1996 and Suicide Squad in 2016. Each of these films' sole nomination was for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, in which each film won.

Requirements and Eligibility

The Academy's current rules for the category are as follows:

"Makeup refers to any change in the appearance of a performer’s face, head, or body created by the application of cosmetics, three-dimensional materials, prosthetic appliances, or facial hair applied directly to the performer’s face, head, or body. Hairstyling refers to any change in the appearance of a performer through hairstyling, wigs or hairpieces applied directly to the performer."

This year’s nominees are

A Different Man: Mike Marino, David Presto and Crystal Jurado

Emilia Pérez: Julia Floch Carbonel, Emmanuel Janvier and Jean-Christophe Spadaccini

Nosferatu: David White, Traci Loader and Suzanne Stokes-Munton

The Substance: Pierre-Olivier Persin, Stéphanie Guillon and Marilyne Scarselli

Wicked: Frances Hannon, Laura Blount and Sarah Nuth

However, we probably won’t see this award in the broadcast. In the last number of years, the Academy has decided to exclude some awards from the live broadcast stating that the show runs to long and viewership is down as a result. Despite the outcry from the general public and actors themselves the show has doubled down on its choice to not show awards given to people who make the films what they are. Either way everyone in Hair and Makeup should be proud of their accomplishments, nomination or not, broadcast or not.

Thanks for reading!