Today we’d like to introduce you to Bianca Appice.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Bianca. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
Since I can remember, I wanted to be a film and TV makeup artist. My father is a musician – Carmine Appice – and I remember seeing this photo of a zombie in our house when I was growing up in a frame. He told me that it was him, and I didn’t really understand how that could be him. It didn’t look like him, obviously, it was a zombie.
How was it him?! He then told me that he had his face “molded” and they made it on top of his face, and he wore it, like a mask. It’s probably hard to explain this to an 8-year-old. I started to watch movies with him late at night like “The Little Shop of Horrors,” and “The Exorcist.” Before this happened, it was actually my dream to be a singer, like Christina Augliera.
I sang on stage a lot in talent shows and even went as far as making a demo. But then – like every 13 years old ends up rebelling – I ended up getting into punk rock and watching horror movies and sci-fi movies, and I was hooked. How were these creatures made?! How did Robby the Robot come to be in “Forbidden Planet?!” How was Robbin Williams a woman in “Mrs. Doubtfire?!”
So I started to research. When I was a teenager, the internet wasn’t nearly as fast as it is now, and I couldn’t order books on Amazon like I can now. So, my dad helped me find books on TV/Film makeup and makeup effects. He was really into horror movies as well, so he was equally fascinated to learn about it all and how everything was made. When I turned 16 – I started to look up schools, because, at that point, I didn’t really care about anything else.
I did the minimum amount in high school after that – just to get through it – and graduated in 2007. I ended up going to Joe Blasco Makeup School in Hollywood, CA, literally a month after I graduated. I didn’t want to wait. Before I started school, because my dad is a musician, he was very supportive, but also very realistic. He told me that I would probably be broke for a while when I started, but if I really wanted it, he would support me.
I finished school later that year, and then thought, I should maybe get my skin care license because I will be working with the skin a lot. So I went to school in Orange County through the esthetics program and got my license. During this time, I would drive every Monday to downtown LA, to do an internship with a friend of my Uncle’s, who was an established Makeup Effects Artist.
He taught me how to actually DO makeup effects, and learn materials that are used, how to use an airbrush, etc. I did this for about two years and assisted him on set. Then he trusted me to go on set for him. It was a small gig, but I still keep in touch and work with a lot of people from that first set. I was so excited to do that gig.
After that, I finally moved back to LA, and started working at various makeup effects studios, and worked on films in between working at the studios. A lot of the time, you are only hired on for that one gig, and then when it is over, they lay everyone off, so you have time in between to do other projects. That is when I started to take becoming a union makeup artist seriously.
It took about seven years of a lot of low budget movies and various shop work to collect my days to submit to the union. It’s 2018, and I finally joined at the beginning of this year. My dreams finally came true, and I feel so lucky every day to be able to do this as my career. It was a lot of work, and still continues to be, but I wouldn’t change anything about it.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has definitely not been a smooth road by any means. I have worked my fair share of day jobs while taking makeup gigs on the weekend. I have worked in my industry doing parts of the job I’m not particularly fond of. But it has all been worth it.
It took seven years to become a union Makeup Artist. That means seven years of projects that can’t pay you a living wage and seven years of working 90 hour weeks. I had to collect a ton of paperwork to submit as well, which was also a struggle. When I was going to school, I had no idea how much work or how much paperwork I’d actually have to do.
I’ve had weeks where I didn’t work – and worried about how I was going to pay my rent – and still can struggle with that during slow times. You have to learn to be comfortable with not having a stable career. All you can do is do your best and hope the connections you’ve made, will get you through the hard times, which so far, they have!
We’d love to hear more about what you do.
I am a union Makeup Artist. I do makeup on films and TV shows. Sometimes I work for other makeup artists, and sometimes I have been the one in charge.
I am most proud of my persistence to make things happen. I always see everything through, no matter how hard or challenging, or time-consuming. I am also proud of the fact that I can help my friends out (other makeup artists) in helping their careers grow as well. When I am in charge, I can hire them to help me, and they can hire me to help them when they are the boss. I also am proud of being able to bring people together and lift up the other artists I work with. You’re only as strong as your team.
I think what sets me apart, is that I love all aspects of makeup. I love making a woman feel beautiful or more like her character that she is about to play. But I also love making a creature come to life, as it may have been the director’s dream to see it in their film. I also love to bring people together and working in a team or leading a team of artists to make something cohesive on screen. I am also able to improvise on set when I need to, to make the director’s vision come to life.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite childhood memory is probably sitting on stage while my dad was playing drums. He used to let me sit on the drum stage when he would play a show, and I remember feeling the vibrations of the drums and loving the sounds coming from all the instruments.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.biancaappicemakeup-fx.com
- Phone: 661-305-1552
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @biancaappicemakeup
Image Credit:
Sarah Takahashi, Bethe Gordon
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