Gerald "Jerry" Macaluso (born July 12, 1967) is an American toy designer, sculptor, film producer, and entrepreneur.

Early career

Jerry Macaluso was born in

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

and is the eldest of four siblings. At the age of 17, Macaluso entered the field of

special effects Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual w ...

makeup assisting Norman Cabrera on the set of the

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apo ...

Scarecrows A scarecrow is a decoy or mannequin, often in the shape of a human. Humanoid scarecrows are usually dressed in old clothes and placed in open fields to discourage birds from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops.Lesl ...

''. A year later he became the special makeup designer on the film '' The Unholy''. Shortly thereafter, Macaluso was hired to re-create Toxie for ''

The Toxic Avenger Part II ''The Toxic Avenger Part II'' is a 1989 American superhero black comedy film released by Troma Entertainment. It is the second installment of ''The Toxic Avenger'' franchise. It was directed by Lloyd Kaufman and features The Toxic Avenger in an ...

'', Troma's sequel to the

cult classic A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

'' The Toxic Avenger''. By 1990, Macaluso moved to

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wo ...

and formed SOTA FX with partner

Roy Knyrim Roy Knyrim (born 1966/1967) is an American film director and special effects makeup artist. He directed ''Demons at the Door'' (2004), '' Cemetery Gates'' (2006), ''Night Skies'' (2007), and '' Death Racers'' (2008). His credits as a special effe ...

. The next several years were spent creating effects for such films as ''

Darkman ''Darkman'' is a 1990 American superhero film directed and co-written by Sam Raimi. Based on a short story Raimi wrote that paid homage to Universal's horror films of the 1930s, the film stars Liam Neeson as scientist Peyton Westlake, who is ...

'', ''

The Indian in the Cupboard ''The Indian in the Cupboard'' is a low fantasy children's novel by the British writer Lynne Reid Banks. It was published in 1980 with illustrations by Robin Jacques (UK) and Brock Cole (US). It was later adapted as a 1995 children's film o ...

'', '' Spawn'', the ''

Weird Science Weird Science is the name of: * ''Weird Science'' (film), a 1985 film directed by John Hughes ** ''Weird Science'' (TV series), a television series based on the film ** "Weird Science" (song), the theme song to the film and the TV series by Oing ...

'' television series and '' Gods and Monsters''. In the late 1990s, Macaluso formed a toy development company called SOTA Sculpture and Design which designed and created

action figure An action figure is a poseable character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game or television program; fictional or historical. These figures are usually marketed ...

prototypes A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and software programming. A prototype is generally used t ...

for

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of K ...

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...

Toy Biz Toy Biz (also stylized as ToyBiz), was a toy company which later became a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment and was renamed to Marvel Toys. It was best known for producing action figures and toys and holding the Marvel Comics license from 1990 ...

, ReSaurus and

Palisades Toys Palisades Entertainment, LLC, better known as Palisades Toys, was an American manufacturing and distributing toy & collectibles company geared toward the adult collector market. Established in 1994, the company generally worked within the same ...

, among others.

SOTA Toys and Plastic Fantasy

In 2000, Macaluso started a new company called Plastic Fantasy. Plastic Fantasy designed and manufactured action figures of porn stars including

Jenna Jameson Jenna Marie Massoli (born April 9, 1974), known professionally as Jenna Jameson (), is an American model, former pornographic film actress, businesswoman, and television personality. She has been named the world's most famous adult entertainme ...

,Gina Piccalo and Louise Roug,
"Celebrity Hairbrush, Anyone? -- A Different Sort of Action Figure"
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'', January 30, 2002. Brianna Banks, Christy Canyon and Asia Carrera. The company's products have been featured on ''

The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. The show has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2009 and 2010� ...

'', ''

Nightline ''Nightline'' (or ''ABC News Nightline'') is ABC News' Late night television in the United States, late-night television news program broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC in the United States with a franchised formula to other network ...

'' and ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...

''. In 2006, Macaluso sold Plastic Fantasy. Following the success of Plastic Fantasy, Macaluso formed SOTA Toys in 2001 to manufacture action figures and collectibles based on such properties as

Capcom is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. It has created a number of multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being '' Resident Evil'', '' Monster Hunter'', '' Street Fighter'', '' Mega Man'', '' ...

's fighting game series

Street Fighter , commonly abbreviated as ''SF'' or スト (''Suto''), is a Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fighting video and arcade games developed and published by Capcom. The first game in the series was released in 1987, followed by six ...

, the Universal film '' The Chronicles of Riddick'',

Blizzard Entertainment Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and video game publisher, publisher based in Irvine, California. A subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, the company was founded on February 8, 1991, under the name Silicon & Synapse, ...

's ''

World of Warcraft ''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. Set in the ''Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of Warcraft'' takes place within the world of Azeroth ...

'' and music legend

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American Country music, country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later s ...

. SOTA Toy's horror themed line, Now Playing, featuring characters from such iconic films as '' The Thing'', ''

'', '' Tremors'', '' Saw'' and ''

Dog Soldiers The Dog Soldiers or Dog Men (Cheyenne: ''Hotamétaneo'o'') are historically one of six Cheyenne military societies. Beginning in the late 1830s, this society evolved into a separate, militaristic band that played a dominant role in Cheyenne res ...

''.

Filmmaking

In 2005, Macaluso began producing horror films under the Karza Productions and Centuri Films labels. The first film, ''

Night Skies ''Night Skies'' is an unproduced science fiction horror film that was in development in the late 1970s. Steven Spielberg conceived the idea after ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind''. Instead, material developed at the time was used in ''Polt ...

'', is based on the true story of six travellers in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the o ...

who are terrorized by an unknown creature during the night of the Phoenix Lights incident on March 13, 1997.

Pop Culture Shock Collectibles

In 2008, a new company, Pop Culture Shock Collectibles, Inc., was formed. This company made high-end polystone statues and collectibles based on popular pop culture properties such as '' Mortal Kombat'', ''

'', '' ThunderCats'', ''

Power Rangers ''Power Rangers'' is an entertainment and merchandising franchise built around a live-action superhero television series, based on the Japanese tokusatsu franchise '' Super Sentai''. Produced first by Saban Entertainment, second by BVS ...

'', ''

Judge Dredd Judge Joseph Dredd is a fictional character created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra. He first appeared in the second issue of '' 2000 AD'' (1977), which is a British weekly anthology comic. He is the magazine's longest-running c ...

'', and ''

He-Man and The Masters of The Universe ''He-Man and the Masters of the Universe'' is an American animated television series produced by Filmation based on Mattel's toy line '' Masters of the Universe''. The show, often referred to as simply ''He-Man'', was one of the most popular ...

''. In the summer of 2017, Macaluso sold Pop Culture Shock Collectibles, and the company relocated to North Carolina.

Television

In January, 2012, Macaluso, was a contestant on the second season of the SyFy special effects competition reality show ''

Face Off Face Off may refer to: Film and television * ''Face-Off'' (1971 film), a Canadian hockey romance film * '' Face/Off'', a 1997 American action film ** Invertigo (roller coaster), a ride in Ohio, formerly known as Face/Off, after the film * '' ...

'', where he placed 7th.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Macaluso, Jerry Living people 1968 births Artists from Hartford, Connecticut Participants in American reality television series Film producers from Connecticut