Trek Untold-Episode 23 | Makeup Artist Thomas E. Surprenant talks Star Trek TNG, DS9 & More

The Star Trek universe is nothing without its aliens, and these unique races are brought to life by some of the best makeup teams in Hollywood. Today we chat with an award-winning artist who worked on Star Trek for many years and was part of the Emmy award winning team on "Star Trek Deep Space Nine", Thomas E. Surprenant.

Thomas explains how he first became interested in special FX make-up and how he transformed his passion into a profession, info he received from the legendary Chris Mueller Jr and Charles Schram, behind the scenes stories from "Donnie Darko", "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", and his embarrassing tale with Luke Perry.

 

From there, we talk Trek, and Thomas explains how he got hired by Michael Westmore for the shows, what it was like working on TNG, DS9 and Generations simultaneously, what the intensive process is for making an actor become an alien, which surprising make-up he did the most on Star Trek that you would never expect, working on “Blood Oath” and Klingon Make-up (and his thoughts on DISCO Klingons), and the Emmy episodes “Distant Voices” and “The Visitor” with Alexander Siddig and Tony Todd.

Plus, nightmare stories of his worst day on set, the best advice he ever received from Michael Westmore, and what you should do if you want to break into the make-up industry.

• Follow Thomas on social media - https://www.instagram.com/thomassurprenant

• Order Tim's makeup from fxwarehouse.com

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The views expressed on air during Trek Untold do not represent the views of the RAGE Works staff, partners, or affiliates.

Trek Untold is sponsored by Triple-Fiction Productions, a US-based company that 3-D prints Trek-inspired prop replicas for fan films and cosplayers, as well as accessories and playsets for all iterations of Trek figures through the years. Visit them at Triple-Fictionproductions.net.

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