Steve LaPorte

Steve E. LaPorte is an Academy Award winning makeup artist who worked as special effects makeup artist for the Burman Studio on. He received no credit for this work. LaPorte is known for his work as makeup department head for J.J. Abrams' mystery series Lost (2004-2009) on which he worked with Veronica Lorenz.

LaPorte was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and attended the Oklahoma State Tech where he graduated in 1974. In his last year at the State Tech he auditioned for the Ringling Bros. & Barnum & Bailey's Clown College and was accepted. He studied theatrical makeup, costume, prop making, and prosthetics and toured between 1975 and 1978 as clown, high stilt walker, and for two years as boss clown through the country. He later moved to California and started his career as a professional makeup artist for film and television.

For his work on 's fantasy comedy Beetle Juice in 1988, LaPorte was awarded with an Academy Award for Best Makeup, shared with Ve Neill and Robert Short. The team also won a Saturn Award for Best Make-up in 1990 and was nominated for a BAFTA Film Award for Best Make Up Artist in 1989. Visual Effects artist Dale Brady and hair stylist Yolanda Toussieng also worked on this film.

LaPorte was three times nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Makeup for a Miniseries or a Special/ Outstanding Makeup for a Series in 1993 for the drama mini series Queen, 1996 for the science fiction television movie Alien Nation: Body and Soul, shared with Rick Stratton, Richard Snell, David Abbott, Craig Reardon, Janna Phillips, Kenny Myers, and Jill Rockow, and in 2000 for the Angel episode The Ring, shared with Dayne Johnson, David DeLeon, Rick Stratton, Jill Rockow, Toby Lamm, Earl Ellis, and Robert Maverick. In 1999 he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Makeup for a Series for The X-Files episodes "Two Fathers" and "One Son", shared with Mark Shostrom, Rick Stratton, Jake Garber, Craig Reardon, Kevin Haney, and Perri Sorel. Further recognitions include a Cable ACE Award nomination for Makeup in 1991 for the fantasy musical Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme and two Saturn Award nominations for Best Make-up in 1988 for the horror film The Lost Boys, shared with Ve Neill and Greg Cannom, and in 2005 for the fantasy action film Van Helsing, shared with Greg Cannom.

Since 1980 he worked as special effects makeup artist on projects such as the horror film Terror on Tour (1980), 's horror film The Howling (1981, with Greg Cannom), the comedy Under the Rainbow (1981, along with Fred B. Phillips, Joy Zapata, and Rick Stratton), the science fiction film Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983, with Susan Boyd, Dale Brady, Rob Burman, Thomas R. Burman, and Ellis Burman, Jr.), the science fiction film The Ice Pirates (1984, with Lola McNalley), the science fiction film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984, with Bari Dreiband-Burman and Tom Woodruff, Jr.), 's drama The Color Purple (1985, with Richard Alonzo), the thriller Extremities (1986), the action comedy The Golden Child (1986), the science fiction thriller The Running Man (1987, with Jeff Dawn, Nina Kent, James Lee McCoy, and Richard Snell), the comedy Caddyshack II (1988), the horror comedy Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (1988, with Lisa Meyers), the science fiction film Alien Nation (1989, with R. Christopher Biggs and Rick Stratton), the fantasy drama Edward Scissorhands (1990, with Ve Neill, Kim Santantonio, Rick Stratton, Yolanda Toussieng, and Brad Wilder), the drama Thelma & Louise (1991), the science fiction sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), the comedy Mr. Saturday Night (1992), the science fiction comedy Coneheads (1993), the fantasy comedy Addams Family Values (1993), the action thriller The Specialist (1994), the television series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1995, starring Teri Hatcher and K Callan and with Denise Crosby and Tony Jay), the drama Powder (1995), and the horror thriller The Relic (1997).

LaPorte was the personal makeup artist for late actor on the comedies Out to Sea (1997) and The Odd Couple II (1998). Further credits include the horror film Deep Blue Sea (1999, with Allan A. Apone, Jeff Dawn, Jim Kail, and Clinton Wayne), The West Wing pilot episode (1999, with David Abbott), the science fiction comedy Galaxy Quest (1999), 's fantasy comedy How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), the television series ER, the fantasy adventure The Scorpion King (2002), the science fiction sequel Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), and the action film The Rundown (2003).

More recently he served as second unit key makeup artist on the science fiction thriller Surrogates (2009, with Jeff Dawn, Mark Landon, and Cristina Patterson Ceret).