Meet Los Angeles Makeup & Effects Artist: Samantha Mari

Today we’d like to introduce you to Samantha Mari.

Samantha, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
As a child, I was always obsessed with the horror genre. The thought of actually creating something to make a human being look like a Vampire, a Werewolf or any other creature just amazed me. After high school I dabbled around in a few things such as fashion, baking, and other things until I learned about M.U.D.- Make Up Designory- a school that taught you how to actually create the monsters I had seen on TV as a child & throughout my life. Immediately I signed up for class. I did the full course, graduating with my Masters Degree in Makeup & Effects.

Today, I work on sets doing what I love to do and I’ve met so many great people along the way. I haven’t hit the big-time movie sets just yet! But I’m working on it! It’s mainly been a lot of student films, which is where most makeup artists start from anyways. So far, I’ve been able to meet amazing & brilliant talent such as Michael Spatola, Dean Winters, and Buzz Aldrin. In my future, I hope to work with Makeup Artists such as Ve Neill and producers such as Tim Burton. Definitely my top – haha.

Has it been a smooth road?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth ride. Being a noob (newbie/new person) in the makeup industry, it’s just hard to get your stuff out there or even a foot in the door unless you know someone. And even that doesn’t work out sometimes. What’s harder is finding someone who is willing to actually pay you your daily rate & not ask for your work to be free.

What role has luck had in your life and career?
Honestly, I’d say the way luck played a huge role in my life, is by bringing the people I know now into my life. Through them, I find peace when life gets a little tough. I get the utmost support in my craft and skills and encouragement when I felt like giving up. I also get a lot of work from them too lol Not only paying gigs but also just for fun. They will come over & let me do makeup & experiment on them for shits and giggles.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
I think that being a very positive person and just having a huge smile on my face is definitely a characteristic of mine that I just cannot fake. Because I love my job as a Makeup Artist, I’m always on set just geekin’ out on everything, with a huge goober smile, laughing, joking, just having a good time in general.

What do you love about our city and what do you dislike?
What do I like best about our city?? I like all the great restaurants in our city!! I can always go for some good eats!! haha, What I like least about our city, the traffic. The traffic here is BRUTAL. And many just don’t know how to drive hahaha!

Contact Info:

• Website: samanthamari.com
• Instagram: zom_bbabefx