An American Werewolf in London (1981) Harry and the Hendersons (1987) Coming to America (1988) Ed Wood (1994) The Nutty Professor (1996) Men in Black (1997) Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

Born in Binghamton, NY. Few have gotten as much mileage out of a monkey suit as has special makeup effects maestro Rick Baker, who crafted and wore a gorilla suit for director John Landis on several projects including SCHLOCK (1971) and KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE (1977). He also went ape for THE THING WITH TWO HEADS (1972) and THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING WOMAN (1981) and designed the primate costumes for GREYSTOKE: THE LEGEND OF TARZAN, LORD OF THE APES (1984). He devised some eponymous furry friends for Sigourney Weaver in GORILLAS IN THE MIST (1988) and also served as associate producer. Baker even interpreted the ultimate simian star, KING KONG (1976), for many scenes in Dino De Laurentiis' notorious remake. Baker carved his niche in movie history by memorably transforming men into monsters, notably Michael Jackson in Landis' lavish "Thriller" (1983) video and Jack Nicholson in WOLF (1994). Working in a realist mode, Baker shared an Emmy with fellow makeup giant Stan Winston for convincingly aging a youthful Cicely Tyson into a courageous centenarian in the classic TV-movie THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MISS JANE PITTMAN (CBS, 1974). He also earned the first Oscar® for Best Achievement in Makeup for his extraordinary work on Landis' AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (1981). Baker worked his way up from chief lab assistant for legendary makeup artist Dick Smith (LITTLE BIG MAN, 1970; THE GODFATHER, 1972; THE EXORCIST, 1973) to be a puppet designer for Clokey Studios ("Gumby"). This background in puppetry proved critical for his subsequent career when he developed the "Anatomation" process, which according to "Cinefantastique," "involves 'waldos,' or 'slave' servo-mechanisms. The human operator wears an exoskeleton linked to a puppet designed to recreate specific body movements. When the operator moves HIS arm, the puppet moves ITS arm correspondingly." Such an elaborate puppet was utilized for the final grisly appearance of Griffin Dunne's rotting, but helpful, ambulatory corpse in AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF. Baker also worked his magic on David Cronenberg's VIDEODROME (1983), the transformation sequences in John Carpenter's STARMAN (1984), and HARRY AND THE HENDERSONS (1987). The latter, a gentle family comedy about Bigfoot, earned Baker his second Oscar. Baker has also worked increasingly in TV as a producer, makeup and visual effects artist, and creature creator. Perhaps most famously, he created and designed the makeup that transformed actor Ron Perlman into the sensitive leonine heartthrob Vincent, the tragic co-star of the cult fantasy TV series "Beauty and the Beast" (Fox, 1987-90). Back on the big screen, Baker opted for a relatively subdued makeup job on Jack Nicholson in WOLF that harkened back to the Universal horror films of the 40s. As an expert, he realized that this particular star would prove to be a special effect in his own right. More recent make-up credits include PLANET OF THE APES (2001), MEN IN BLACK II (2002), THE RING (2002), THE HULK (2003), THE CAT IN THE HAT (2003), HELLBOY (2004), CURSED and THE RING TWO (both 2005), X-MEN: THE LAST STAND and CLICK (both 2006), and ENCHANTED (2007).  Best Achievement in Makeup 1981: AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON  Nominated for Achievement in Makeup 1984: GREYSTOKE: THE LEGEND OF TARZAN, LORD OF THE APES (w. Paul Engelen)  Best Achievement in Makeup 1987: HARRY AND THE HENDERSONS  Nominated for Achievement in Makeup 1988: COMING TO AMERICA  Best Achievement in Makeup 1994: ED WOOD (w. Ve Neill & Yolanda Toussieng)  Best Achievement in Makeup 1996: THE NUTTY PROFESSOR (w. David Leroy Anderson)  Best Achievement in Makeup 1997: MEN IN BLACK (w.David Leroy Anderson)  Nominated for Achievement in Visual Effects 1998: MIGHTY JOE YOUNG (w. Hoyt H. Yeatman, Jr., Alan Hall & Jim Mitchell)  Nominated for Achievement in Makeup 1999: LIFE  Best Achievement in Makeup 2000: DR. SEUSS' HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS (w. Gail Ryan)  Nominated for Achievement in Makeup 2007: NORBIT (w. Kazuhiro Tsuji 10 nominations, 6 Awards