Speaker Bios

Keynote Speakers

Karen Hopwood

Karen Hopwood is an Australian make-up artist and hairstylist with more than 20 years’ experience in fashion, film, television and theater. The Black Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga, the Pussycat Dolls, Cyndi Lauper, The Vines and Kings of Leon are just some of her many rock ’n’ roll clients (you may also have seen her work in Rolling Stone, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and Oyster).
 

Tom Savini

Tom Savini’s film credits, as a make-up artist and actor, include Dawn of the Dead, Friday the 13th, Grindhouse, Creepshow  and From Dusk 'Til Dawn. He also founded the Tom Savini Special Make-Up Effects Program at the Douglas Education Center in Pennsylvania.

Featured Speakers

Gino Acevedo

Gino Acevedo, who began his special make-up effects career at a Halloween company, has worked with Amalgamated Dynamics, KNB EFX, Rick Baker’s Cinovation Studios and Patrick Tatopolous Studios. He designed creature color schemes and supervised make-up effects for the Lord of the Rings trilogy; he also served as a liaison between Weta Workshop and Weta Digital for the trilogy and King Kong. Acevedo worked at Weta Digital as visual creature art director for Avatar. Additional film credits include Point Break, Alien 3, Death Becomes Her, Demolition Man, Wolf, Men in Black, The Nutty Professor, Species, Independence Day and Godzilla.

Kevin James Bennett

Multiple Emmy Award-winning make-up artist Kevin James Bennett has spent more than 20 years honing the skills that have brought him accolades from his peers as well as from viewers of his work in TV, film and print. Bennett, an admitted product junkie, is considered an industry expert and reference source. He is happiest when working with, designing, buying, talking or writing about his passion: make-up!

Rae Morris

Rae Morris has served as make-up director of Australia’s Fashion Week; she is also a four-time winner of Australia’s Makeup Artist of the Year award and the author of Makeup: The Ultimate Guide. She has also served as the Australian Make-up Director of L’Oréal Paris and has worked with international models, actors, designers and celebrities. Her work has appeared in print, on television and in film.

Educators

Yolanda Bartram

Yolanda Bartram specializes in special make-up effects in body and face art. She runs her company BodyFX in New Zealand and travels the world teaching and competing. This year she won first place in the Special Effects category of Austria’s World Bodypainting Festival, as well as first and second places at prestigious American body-art competitions. Her company sells BodyFX Prosthetics worldwide through www.bodyfx.co.nz.

Emma Hack 

Donna Mee

Donna Mee is a successful make-up artist and beauty expert with 27 years of experience working in print, runway and television. A former director of make-up with Make Up For Ever in the United States, Mee now specializes in corrective beauty make-up for print and owns several beauty-related businesses in California. She also writes beauty columns and magazine articles and has been teaching aspiring make-up artists from all over the world for the past 15 years.

Maria Mormile

Maria Mormile is a body artist and remedial massage therapist based in Daylesford, Australia. She has won many awards, including first place in body painting at the 2010 Australian Body Art Carnivale. Mormile teaches massage and anatomy body painting nationally and internationally. She enjoys creating 3-D illusions on the body and teaches a workshop titled “The Body of Illusion.” She has organized body art competitions in Australia and will produce the Australian Body Art Awards, held in February 2011.

Brian Sipe

Brian Sipe has been working professionally since 1989, through his company, Gamut Studios, and as a freelancer. His film and television credits include The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Star Trek, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant, Syriana, Ali, The Passion of the Christ, Friends, Will and Grace and others. His make-up design for the reality show Black.White. garnered him an Emmy Award in 2006.

Sydney Academy of Hair, Beauty & Make-up

The Sydney Academy of Hair, Beauty & Make-up has assembled an award-winning creative team skilled in film, television, theater, fashion, catwalk and special make-up effects. The team’s collective experience includes many years of working at the highest levels of hair and make-up in Australia and internationally. For more information on Sydney Academy of Hair, Beauty & Make-up (Northern Sydney Institute), please click here or here.

Nicole Thompson

M.A.C. Senior Artist Nicole Thompson specializes in body art and high-fashion make-up design. Her editorial work has appeared in several fashion magazines, including Oyster and Harper's Bazaar. She has worked with consumers; backstage and on-set with designers including Leona Edmiston, Collette Dinnigan, Gail Reid, Magdalena Velevska and Juli Grbac, or working with celebrities Hugh Jackman and Dame Edna. Thompson cites industry heavyweights Liz Kelsh, Gordon Espinet, Nadine Luke and Joanne Gair as her heroes and inspiration.

Bobbie Weiner

Bobbie Weiner is a make-up effects industry veteran and author. Her work appears in films including Titanic, Behind Enemy Lines, Shooter and Dear John and in the Broadway shows Wicked and Mamma Mia! She introduced her line of Halloween make-up, Bloody Mary, more than 10 years ago, and she teaches her “Makeup to Die For” workshops throughout the United States. In 2005, Weiner’s The Tales of Bloody Mary comic book hit the shelves; her new book, I Can Do This, will be available the fall of 2011. Weiner supplies the United States Department of Defense with camouflage face paint for soldiers and has developed a new line of cosmetics, Bloody Mary’s The Final Touch, which is sold to funeral homes worldwide.

Photo coming soon.

Colin Wilson

Colin Wilson has been a professional make-up artist for more than 10 years. His work has been published in newspapers and magazines including Smoke & Mirrors and Make-Up Artist. He has also appeared on television including Mornings with Kerri-Anne. Wilson has been teaching make-up for four years at both TAFE and private colleges.

Sun., Sept. 19 at 10:30 a.m.

Koren Zander

Known to most beauty enthusiasts as EnKore Makeup, Koren Zander has 20 years’ experience as a professional artist, working on theatrical productions, runway shows, commercials, bridal and print. Recently, he did the Miss USA 2010 pageant and Expo 2010 Shanghai. His YouTube channel features how-to videos on application techniques, tips and tricks, product reviews and make-up organizing ideas.