Kazu Hiro (born Kazuhiro Tsuji, ; born May 26, 1969) is a Japanese-born American special make-up effects artist and visual artist. He won the Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling for the biographical films '' Darkest Hour'' (2017) and '' Bombshell'' (2019) after earning nominations for the comedies '' Click'' (2006) and ''

Norbit In electronics, the NORBIT family of modules is a very early form (since 1960) of Digital electronics, digital logic developed by Philips (and also provided through and Mullard) that uses modules containing discrete components to build logic fu ...

'' (2007).

Life and career

Kazu Hiro grew up in

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

, where he spent much of his time alone engaging in art projects. Kazu Hiro came across an issue of '' Fangoria'' which featured Dick Smith and his work turning Hal Holbrook into

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

for the 1976

miniseries In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...

''Lincoln''. This led to Kazu Hiro's own experiments with special make-up effects, photos of which he began sending to Dick Smith after discovering his P.O. box in the back of a magazine. The two would eventually meet in person when Smith traveled to Japan to work on

Kiyoshi Kurosawa is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, film critic, author, actor, and a former professor at Tokyo University of the Arts (2005-2023). Noted for his psychological films that often focus on ambiguous narratives and on their characters' i ...

's '' Sweet Home''. Smith invited Kazu Hiro to work on the film with him and this began his film career. While working on ''Sweet Home'', Kazu Hiro met fellow artist Eddie Yang, who was visiting from the United States. In 1996, Kazu Hiro moved to Los Angeles to work with Yang and Smith's protege, Rick Baker, on his first U.S. work, '' Men in Black''. Continuing his work with Baker, Kazu Hiro worked on many projects including '' How the Grinch Stole Christmas'', for which he won a

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

. Kazu Hiro crafted the silicone model of Brad Pitt's head used to artificially age him via CGI for '' The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'' in 2008. In 2012, Kazu Hiro created the prosthetics which turned Joseph Gordon-Levitt into a young Bruce Willis for '' Looper''. After his work on ''Looper'', Kazu Hiro retired from the film industry and focused on sculpture, crafting giant busts of people such as Frida Kahlo,

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (11 May 190423 January 1989), known as Salvador Dalí ( ; ; ), was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, ...

, and

, as well as Smith. For the 2017 film '' Darkest Hour'', Gary Oldman talked Kazu Hiro out of retirement to create the

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

prosthetics. Oldman had been considered for the role of General Thade in

Tim Burton Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and producer. Known for popularizing Goth subculture, Goth culture in the American film industry, Burton is famous for his Gothic film, gothic horror and dark fantasy films. ...

's '' Planet of the Apes'' (the role went to his'' Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead'' co-star, Tim Roth) and Kazu Hiro's work at that time had impressed Oldman enough that for him, Kazu Hiro was the only man to turn him into Churchill. For this work, Kazu Hiro won the Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling in 2018, making him the first Asian to win that award. He won the award again in 2020 for his work in the 2019 film '' Bombshell'', where he made prosthetics for Charlize Theron as news anchor Megyn Kelly.

Personal life

In March 2019, Tsuji became an American citizen and officially changed his name to Kazu Hiro. At the 2020 Academy Awards, Kazu Hiro said he became an American citizen because he "got tired" of

Japanese culture Japanese culture has changed greatly over the millennia, from the country's prehistoric Jōmon period, to its contemporary modern culture, which absorbs influences from Asia and other regions of the world. Since the Jomon period, ancestral ...

, which he found "too submissive" and a place where it is "hard to make a dream come true".

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Kazu Hiro
* 1969 births Living people Artists from Kyoto Artists from Los Angeles American artists of Japanese descent American make-up artists Best Makeup Academy Award winners Best Makeup BAFTA Award winners Japanese emigrants to the United States Japanese make-up artists Naturalized citizens of the United States American special effects people