Mike Smithson

Michael Scott "Mike" Smithson is an Emmy Award-winning, Academy Award-nominated makeup artist who worked in the makeup department of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, although he did not receive on-screen credit for his work on these shows. He also appeared as a Klingon helmsman in, but received no screen credit for this, either. In he worked on J.J. Abrams'  as a make-up artist and provided the Romulan make-up for Lucia Rijker. On the TNG episode "Genesis", Smithson worked on Dwight Schultz's spider makeup.

In 1994, Smithson received two Emmy Award nominations in the category Outstanding Individual Achievement in Makeup for a Series for his work on Star Trek for The Next Generation episode, shared with Michael Westmore, June Westmore, Gilbert A. Mosko, Debbie Zoller, Tina Hoffman, David Quashnick, Hank Edds, Kevin Haney, and Michael Key and for the Deep Space Nine episode , shared with Michael Westmore, Camille Calvet, Karen Westerfield, Dean Gates, Dean Jones, Tina Hoffman, David Quashnick, Hank Edds, Michael Key, and Gilbert A. Mosko.

Ten years later, Smithson won his third Emmy nomination for makeup work on an episode of Gilmore Girls. Smithson also shared an Academy Award nomination in the category of Best Makeup for the 1999 comedy Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, on which he was one of the makeup designers. Other awards and nominations include a CableACE Award nomination in 1996 for the science fiction film The Utilizer, two Hollywood Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild Award nominations for Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (2000) and Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat (2004, shared with Jamie Kelman), and a Hollywood Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild Award in 2004 for his work on Gilmore Girls, shared with Debbie Zoller.

Smithson's other makeup credits include the films Tank Girl (1995, starring Lori Petty and Malcolm McDowell), Alien: Resurrection (1997, starring Ron Perlman, Brad Dourif, and Leland Orser; Smithson was also a sculptor on this film), Battlefield Earth (2000, on which he was John Travolta's makeup artist), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), Planet of the Apes (2001, featuring Erick Avari, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, and David Warner), Men in Black II (2002), The Cat in the Hat (2003), Big Fish (2003), Spider-Man 2 (2004), and Norbit (2007), and the television series ER, The Andy Dick Show, and Six Feet Under. He also did effects work for films such as Predator (1987), Ghostbusters II (1989), Ghost (1990), The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), and Spy Kids (2001).

In 2010 Smithson and John Rosengrant received a Saturn Award nomination for Best Make-Up for their work on the science fiction sequel Terminator: Salvation and the same year the two also received a Critics Choice Award nomination for Best Make-Up on the science fiction blockbuster Avatar.

More recently, Smithson worked as makeup artist and special makeup effects artist on the comic adaptation Thor (2011, starring Chris Hemsworth and with Janice Alexander, Terry Baliel, Phillip Boutte, Jr., Roxy D'Alonzo, Edouard F. Henriques, Teressa Hill, Brad Look, James MacKinnon, Jill Rockow, Jay Wejebe, and Michael F. Blake), the fantasy sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011), the television series True Blood (2011, with Todd Masters and Ken Niederbaumer), the action remake 21 Jump Street (2012, with Francisco X. Pérez), the science fiction sequel Men in Black 3 (2012), the drama Lincoln (2012, with Belinda Bryant, Dean Jones, Brad Look, and Lygia Orta), and the action film The Lone Ranger (2013, with Gloria Pasqua Casny and Joel Harlow).

Star Trek work

 * - Makeup Artist (uncredited, Season 5)
 * - Makeup Artist (uncredited, Season 7)
 * - Makeup Artist (uncredited)
 * - Makeup Artist (Season 2)
 * - Makeup Artist (Season 2)
 * - Makeup Artist (Season 2)