Joel Harlow (born February 2, 1968) is an American make-up artist. He works steadily in many high-profile films. Harlow won an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

for his work in the successful film '' Star Trek'' (2009), subsequently receiving another two nominations for ''

The Lone Ranger The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked former Texas Ranger who fought outlaws in the American Old West with his Native American friend Tonto. The character has been called an enduring icon of American culture. He first appeared in 1933 in ...

'' (2013) and ''

Star Trek Beyond ''Star Trek Beyond'' is a 2016 American science fiction action film directed by Justin Lin, written by Simon Pegg and Doug Jung, and based on the television series ''Star Trek'' created by Gene Roddenberry. It is the 13th film in the ''Star T ...

'' (2016).

Life and career

Born and raised in Grand Forks, North Dakota, Harlow was inspired to work in film-making after seeing the 1933 film ''

King Kong King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...

'' as a child. He later explained that he spent "hours in the basement creating things and I knew I wanted to make characters. I just didn't know what it was at the time, that makeup was the way to do that." After graduating from high school he moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

to attend the

School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by ...

, where he majored in animation. Harlow worked together with actor Johnny Depp on several films, such as '' Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'' and '' Alice in Wonderland''. While they were both working on '' The Rum Diary'' in Puerto Rico, they found a photograph of a Native American which they developed into the makeup design used on

Tonto Tonto is a fictional character; he is the Native American (either Comanche or Potawatomi) companion of the Lone Ranger, a popular American Western character created by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker. Tonto has appeared in radio and tele ...

as played by Depp in the 2013 film ''

''. They had also used it to encourage Walt Disney Studios into producing the film, as at the time that they discovered the image, the film was close to being dropped. In the final design of Tonto, some eight prosthetics were created by Harlow for Depp and eighteen overlapping prosthetics when the actor played the older version of the character.

Awards

In 2008, Harlow was nominated with Debbie Zoller, Brian Penikas, and

Jake Garber Jake Garber (born April 16, 1965) is an American make-up artist who has done over 140 movies and television shows. For films he is most known for movies such as '' Star Trek: First Contact'', ''Scream 3'', ''Ghosts of Mars'', ''Kill Bill'', ''Hul ...

for an Emmy Award for Prosthetic Makeup For A Series, Miniseries, Movie Or A Special for their work on the ''

Mad Men ''Mad Men'' is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on the cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, lasting for seven seasons and 92 episodes. Its f ...

'' season one episode "Nixon vs. Kennedy". He was a member of the team that won the

in 2009 for '' Star Trek'', which he shared with

Barney Burman Barney Burman is an American makeup artist and character actor. He was part of the team that won an Academy Award in 2009 for Best Make-up, on the film '' Star Trek''. Career After being introduced to Hollywood make-up through his parents, Burman ...

and

Mindy Hall Mindy Hall is a makeup artist who has worked on films such as ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' (2014) and '' Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps'' (2010). She also worked on '' Star Trek'' (2009), where she was involved in the redesign work on the Rom ...

. This was the first Oscar to have been awarded to any film in the franchise. He was once again nominated for an Academy Award for his work on ''The Lone Ranger'' alongside

hairstylist A hairdresser is a person whose occupation is to cut or style hair in order to change or maintain a person's image. This is achieved using a combination of hair coloring, haircutting, and hair texturing techniques. A Hairdresser may also be ref ...

Gloria Pasqua-Casny. He was the only person in the category who had previously been nominated. The award went to Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews for ''

Dallas Buyers Club ''Dallas Buyers Club'' is a 2013 American biographical drama film written by Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack, and directed by Jean-Marc Vallée. The film tells the story of Ron Woodroof ( Matthew McConaughey), an AIDS patient diagnosed in ...

''.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Harlow, Joel 1968 births Living people American make-up artists Best Makeup Academy Award winners People from Grand Forks, North Dakota School of Visual Arts alumni