LesleyVanderwalt
- Makeup
Kiwi hair and makeup artist Lesley Vanderwalt won an Oscar and a Bafta for her work on Mad Max: Fury Road. She also collaborated with director George Miller on Babe 2, Nicole Kidman mini-series Bangkok Hilton and the second Mad Max movie. The onetime Wellington hairdresser had makeup duties on early Kiwi classics The Governor, Skin Deep and Bad Blood, before a slew of Australian credits (Shine, Moulin Rouge!).
Screenography
Biography
Long before commanding a 34-strong crew, sprucing up the makeup on dozens of road warriors in the African desert, Lesley Vanderwalt worked as an apprentice hairdresser, preparing customers for the challenges of Wellington's wind.
Vanderwalt was born in Capetown, South Africa. Her family moved to Tawa on the edge of Wellington when she was four. By the mid 70s she was winning awards as an apprentice hairdresser in the capital. In 1975 she unexpectedly found herself working in television, after a woman from the BBC arrived at the salon, scouting for staff to work at TV One’s new studios at Avalon. "In those days, I don't think many people had heard of the film industry," Vanderwalt told Stuff writer James Croot. “She thought I'd be really good at makeup and offered to train me and organise it so I could complete my apprenticeship with them.”
Awards
2016 Academy Awards (United States)
Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling (shared with Damian Martin and Elka Wardega): for Mad Max: Fury Road
2016 BAFTA Awards
Best Makeup and Hair (shared with Damian Martin): for Mad Max: Fury Road
“How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”
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