Karen M. Peterson Makeup department head Zoe Hay and hair department head Michael Reitz accepted a unique creative opportunity when they joined NBC’s “This Is Us” six years ago.
They were tasked with aging family matriarch Rebecca Pearson, played by Mandy Moore, from age 16 to 80. “It was an unusual challenge,” Hay says, recalling the early days of the show, which just concluded its final season.The family drama, which has earned 38 Primetime Emmy nominations including four for hair and makeup, is a multigenerational story that spans more than six decades and centers on the Pearson family at various points in their lives.
The Pearsons’ story unfolds in a nonlinear way, and when Hay and Reitz signed on, no one realized what the work would entail — nor how many hours it would take.
Between skull caps and wig placement, it often took about 60 minutes just to get Moore’s hair right. Applying the various makeup looks took about three hours at a time, especially when prosthetics were involved.
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