Episode 43: We speak with Makeup Designer Valli O’Reilly, Valli has an incredibly impressive filmography, she won an oscar for her work on Lemony Snickets A Series of Unfortunate Events and then a BAFTA for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland…Valli shares the story of her beginnings as a makeup artists and how she found herself with a makeup brush in her hand, she shares some of her favourite projects that she has worked on throughout her career and all the wonderful people she has worked with and met along the way…

VALLI O’REILLY

Canadian –born Valli O’Reilly had not intended to work in the film industry. With an Art History / Fine Arts double major and studies in sculpture , she planned on applying her degree to a career in the Art World .

Valli began doing makeup with friends in New York and Canada for commercials and fashion.to earn extra money.

In 1981 a friend go her a job on a film in Miami where she found love and moved to Los Angeles. Now living so far from New York and the art scene, it seemed like a good idea to pursue a career as a makeup artist and she was now living in the film capital . She started working on low budget independent films with such directors as Martin Scorses , Johnathan Demme, John Schlesinger and Nicolas Roeg.

Valli feels honoured to have been requested by many of the industries most esteemed directors , actors and costume designers which led her to work on films all over the world. Having received the Academy Award for her work on Lemony Snicket A Series of Unfortunate Events , she sees her career as a series fortunate events . Valli received the Bafta and Critics choice for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland and the Genie Award ( Canada’s Oscar ) for Barney’s Version.

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