Holland Miller doesn’t just create Makeup Effects. He creates Makeup Effects Artists.
Holland’s resume as one of North America’s leading Makeup Effects Artists speaks for itself. You’ve seen his work in Deadpool, Star Trek Beyond, The Cabin in the Woods, Antlers, The Stand, Elysium, Sucker Punch, Underworld Awakening, A Haunting in Connecticut, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Underworld: Evolution, The Chronicles of Riddick, Twilight: New Moon, The X-Files, Fringe, Supernatural, Once Upon a Time, Almost Human, Falling Skies and Stargate Atlantis. That’s just the tip of the iceberg of a career split between some of Hollywood’s most prestigious sets and effects studios.
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“Makeup students need to appreciate that beauty, fashion and effects are essentially the same. Prosthetics can be beautiful. They don’t have to be gory or scary.”
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Touching up King Asmodeus on The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Make-up applied by myself and @geoffredknap. Appliances by @amazingapeproductions. | Me painting up the “Manus” appliances, and the painted pieces applied to the actor for Star Trek Beyond. Joel Harlow Designs
Test make-up I did with Caitlyn Groves and Bronwyn Sloley. “Yellow Ranger” for Power Rangers. Appliances by Schminken Studios. | Loving The Alien. Personal project, homage to David Bowie. Design, sculp, application by myself. Beauty details, costume by @daecadman. Model: @nicoletessela.
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And when he’s not creating monsters and mayhem, Holland likes nothing more than inspiring the next generation of Makeup Effects Artists in the School where his own Makeup journey began.
“Blanche Macdonald is where it all started for me,” he smiles. “I had no experience in makeup or makeup effects when I came here. I like giving back to the students because I was one of them once. I graduated and hoped that I’d get a job in Makeup Effects one day, and sure enough, I did.”
For Holland, there’s something especially rewarding about seeing the student become the master.
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“Cayley Giene was my student and is one of the top Makeup Effects Artists in Vancouver now. Ashley Forshaw too. She’s Head of Department on shows now. Last fall I worked on two projects for Ashley – Percy Jackson and The Spider Accomplice. It’s wild that I’m working for students that I taught.”
Monsters have always been part of Holland’s psyche, whether he liked it or not.
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“I learned so much every day at Blanche. When I got to the makeup effects part of the program it was like instinct. It came so naturally to me.”
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“I’ve suffered from sleep paralysis and intense nightmares my whole life,” he explains. “In eighth grade I decided to face my fears and went to the opening night of Nightmare on Elm Street. I didn’t sleep for the next two nights, but at the same time, I couldn’t get enough of it. By facing my fears I thought that when I did have these nightmares, I wouldn’t be scared. I wanted to know everything, so I bought all the Fangoria magazines and sci-fi and horror fanzines I could get my hands on.”
After a stint in the US Navy, Holland moved to Victoria, BC. Now in his early 20s, the time was right to chase his dream career.
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Test make-up for Charmed. Assisted by @daecadman. Appliance and teeth made by LSFX.
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“My friend Brandy McQueen had studied at Blanche. She told me they taught makeup effects. I took a look at the portfolio of work coming out of the school and started the program.
“I learned so much every day. I’d never done a beauty makeup before I came to Blanche. When I got to the makeup effects part of the program it was like instinct. It came so naturally to me. I knew the business was hard to get into, but it was what I wanted to do. When I had free time, I’d do my own makeup effects projects.”
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“Blanche Macdonald is where it all started for me. I hoped that I’d get a job in Makeup Effects one day, and sure enough, I did.”
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After graduation, Holland reached out to fellow Blanche grad Toby Lindala of the iconic makeup effects studio Lindala Schminken FX and after a successful interview, found himself in the heart of Vancouver’s makeup effects industry.
“Toby was working on Millennium, The X Files, a feature and was swamped. I went in, did an interview and was hired on the spot. I was teaching myself and learning from my co-workers. Working in the lab was instantly fun, and when I got to know crews and directors it became really fun.”
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Looking for help on Stargate, Todd Masters of MastersFX asked if Holland was available for five days of work. He’s been part of that team ever since. With MastersFX Holland won a Leo (for Sanctuary), a Gemini Award (for Stargate: Atlantis), an Emmy (for Monsterville: Cabinet of Souls) and was the lead on-set Prosthetics Artist on Underworld Awakening.
These beautiful relationships are still going strong today. They’re friendships rooted in trust and creativity. Which means Holland has Toby Lindala’s ear when a particularly enticing project is on the horizon.
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Make-up I applied for Stargate SG1. Actor: my friend and fellow MUFX artist @geoffredknap appliances and designs by Masters FX. | Wraith make-up I did with Kyla Rose in 2008 representing Masters FX. This was the final episode of Stargate Atlantis, and my final wraith make-up after 5 years of doing these characters.
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“I knew Antlers was coming down the pipe. I’d read the script and saw it was a dark, moody, horror drama, which is my thing. It was a Guillermo del Toro production – I’m a huge fan of his – and Toby Lindala was Head of Department, so I asked for the position of Creative Director and Key Makeup Artist. Toby had wanted me to work on See because I’d worked with Jason Mamoa previously on Stargate Atlantis. It’s good for actors when they see a familiar face. But I really wanted to work with Guillermo.
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“Attitude is more important than skill. I’d rather work with someone that doesn’t have all the makeup skills, but wants to learn and work hard over someone with more talent but a bad attitude.”
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Fun make-up myself and @daecadman designed and applied on the wonderful @peytonlist for The Inheritance. We had so much fun on this one, plus we shot it in Victoria BC, a city that I dearly love. Forehead wound transfer appliance by @schminkenfx.
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“I had a lot of creative control. Toby and I have worked together for so long, he trusts me. There were some great effects. We had an actor play a dead body ripped into two parts. The team built the body, I applied and painted it onto the actor. Another character started human and slowly devolved into a creature. I helped design the looks, made modifications to the look as needed during the test make-ups and established the final looks of his multiple transformation stages. On set it was me and Daemon, who’s my wife as well as a great makeup artist!”
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Holland with his extraordinarily talented wife, Daemon Cadman, an award-winning makeup artist and an instructor at Blanche Macdonald Centre.
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Dark and moody is an apt description of another of Holland’s recent Key Artist projects, The Stand.
“I’m a big Stephen King fan so I told Toby I’d love to be part of it. He was the Head of Department again and asked me if I wanted to be a lead artist. I said, sure! There were two lead Makeup Artists – me and Bree-Anna Lehto. We co-ran the special effects department, and there were a lot of makeup effects! A lot makeup effects were the makeup for Captain Trips disease. There was the Trashcan man; who needed two different stages of radiation disease and burn makeup. There were a lot of wound and head-bash makeups, which are a lot of fun. It sounds horrible but we can always separate the art from the darkness of the stories.”
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Fun Shaman make-up I did for the final episode of The Stand. Nose appliance by @schminkenfx.
Another angle on Ed Helms for Coffee & Kareem. Working on this film was a great experience. We laughed A LOT @geoffredknap.
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Holland’s passion for creating carnage is mirrored by the excitement that comes with nurturing new talent in the classroom.
“For me, a Makeup Effects Artist’s attitude is more important than skill. Skills will come with repetition and study. I’d rather work with someone that doesn’t have all the makeup skills, but wants to learn and work hard over someone with more talent but a bad attitude. Makeup students need to appreciate that beauty, fashion and effects are essentially the same. It’s all painting, just in different mediums and with different ways of doing things. Prosthetics can be beautiful. They don’t have to be gory or scary.”
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“Cayley Giene was my student and is one of the top Makeup Effects Artists in Vancouver now. Ashley Forshaw too. She’s Head of Department on shows now. It’s wild that I’m working for students that I taught.”
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Painting my resin Cthulhu embryo fossil, sculpted by the fabulous @gideonhay (unpainted piece). | Phantom make-up I applied with @daecadman. With the prepaint by @sloley_bronwyne and sculpt by @michaelnickiforek it made our job incredibly easy. Appliances by @schminkenfx.
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The horror fan-turned-creator can now pick his projects and lead departments. But that doesn’t always mean all his wishes come true.
“I’m a big fan of Guillermo del Toro. When I was prepping for Antlers I bought a book called Cabinet of Curiosities, which is essentially Guillermo’s notes and sketches for his movies. I was always on the first unit, but Guillermo and I never crossed paths and I could never take time off to go say hello. On Guillermo’s last day in Vancouver I brought the book to set for him to sign it. I was cleaning up the trailer when the Second AD ran in to tell me Guillermo was leaving. I grabbed the book, and sprinted off. The moment I saw Guillermo’s SUV, his leg disappeared inside and he drove away, leaving me standing in the rain holding his book.
“At least I’ll have a funny story to tell him the next time we work together.”
