The Man Behind the Makeup

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – Halloween is a time to dress-up, put on costume makeup and show your friends how crazy you can look. But for one Frater, this is a year-round job. Frater Glenn Hetrick (Omicron-Upsilon, York College of Penn.) has made people look like they are from outer space, older, dead, or somewhere in between for years. From X-Files to Spiderman to Lady Gaga, Frater Glenn is the man behind them coming alive on screen or in-person. He is now judging a show on the SyFy Channel called Face-off which explores the world of special-effects makeup artists and the unlimited imagination that allows them to create amazing works of living art. 

Raised in a small suburb of steel town Bethlehem, PA, his proclivity for horror films compelled him to work on various community theatre projects as both actor and fledgling make-up artist. Many independent projects followed, providing more opportunity to hone his skills. He graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelors Degree in both Public Relations and Promotions in 1995, and went straight back to work on various films in the then-bustling New York independent horror scene.

Word spread and shortly thereafter he found himself working on an array of projects doing make-up for corporate industrials, sculpting masks for Halloween companies and finally collaborating with punk icons the Misfits, creating make-ups for their stage show as well as writing, producing and designing the make-ups for their video with George Romero (who co-wrote the infamous Night of the Living Dead with Frater John Russo of Rho Chapter at West Virginia Univ.).

Frater Glenn found his first foothold in Hollywood at Optic Nerve Studios as a designer, fabricator, sculptor and painter on several seasons of Buffy, Angel, X-Files, Freaky Links, Babylon 5 and Roswell, among others. Eventually, he began freelancing with several film studios. He served as sculptor, painter and fabricator on Feast and the Pumpkinhead sequels, worked with Ve Neil and Joel Harlowe on Pitch Black: Chronicles of Riddick and contributed to Steve Johnson's XFX on Blade 2, and supervised the research and development on Spider-Man 3.

Now the sole owner and CEO of Optic Nerve Studios, Glenn has personally supervised and designed every effect for hundreds of forensically accurate make-ups and corpses for Crossing Jordan, Hugh Jackman's head and body replicas for The Prestige, all of the make-up illusions and prosthetics that propel Heroes and CSI: NY, the surreal effects in Sony's Legion, custom wardrobe and instruments for Lady Gaga and a myriad of other projects. He continues to sculpt and paint on many of the effects and often applies the make-ups himself.

On the show Face-off, the contestants are tasked with elaborate feature challenges including executing full body paint make up on models and creating their own horror villain. Not only does the show incorporate effects make-up, it includes a wide range of skill sets including prosthetics, 3-D design, sculpting, eye enhancers, casting and molding. Each episode involves incredible reveals of the competitors' finished work, and the drama of one contestant being sent home by the panel of expert and celebrity judges.

It all culminates in one winner and one grand prize that will launch a career. To determine who emerges victorious, Syfy has three-time Academy Award winner Ve Neill (Pirates of the Caribbean, Edward Scissorhands), Patrick Tatopoulos (Underworld, Independence Day, Resident Evil: Extinction), and Frater Glenn as Face Off's judges.

Face Off is a production of Mission Control Media with Michael Agbabian and Dwight D. Smith serving as executive producers.

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