Episode 32: We speak with Makeup and Hair designer Jan Sewell. Jan is responsible for helping Rami Malek transform into Freddie Mercury for the film Bohemian Rhapsody, Eddie Redmayne into Stephen Hawking for The Theory of Everything and again, helping Eddie transform from Einar to Lily in The Danish Girl. We chat about her start at the BBC, what helps her designing process when starting a project and what lessons she has learned coming up in our industry.

JAN SEWELL

Jan Sewell has won one BAFTA and been nominated three times for the BAFTA Film Award for Best Make Up & Hair. Her most recent nomination came in 2019 for her work on Bohemian Rhapsody, starring Rami Malek in his Academy Award-winning portrayal of Freddie Mercury, and she was also nominated in the same category in 2015 for her work on The Theory of Everything (Dir. James Marsh) and 2016 for her work on The Danish Girl (Dir. Tom Hooper), respectively. For all three films she also received dual Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild Award nominations. 

Some of the other films that Jan has designed include: Tomb Raider (Dir. Roar Uthaug), starring Alicia Vikander as the eponymous Lara Croft; Breathe (Dir. Andy Serkis), starring Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy, for which she was nominated for a British Independent Film Award; Bridget Jones’s Baby (Dir. Sharon Maguire), starring Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth and Patrick Dempsey; Everest (Dir. Baltasar Kormákur), starring Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin and Jake Gyllenhaal; The Riot Club (Dir. Lone Scherfig), starring Sam Claflin, Max Irons and Holliday Grainger; and The Double (Dir. Richard Ayoade), starring Jesse Eisenberg and Mia Wasikowska.

Jan’s work will next be seen on the big screen in the eagerly awaited Wonder Woman 1984 (Dir. Patty Jenkins). The Midnight Sky (Dir. George Clooney)

To see other projects Jan has worked on visit:  IMDB or Instagram