Rick Baker

Early life Baker was born on December 8, 1950, in Binghamton, New York, to Doris (née Hamlin), a bank teller, and Ralph B. Baker, a professional artist. He and his family moved to Covina, California when he was less than one year old.

Career As a teenager, Baker began creating artificial body parts in his own kitchen. He also appeared briefly in the fan production The Night Turkey, a one-hour, black-and-white video parody of The Night Stalker (1972), directed by William Malone. Among Baker's first professional jobs was assisting prosthetic makeup effects veteran Dick Smith on the 1973 film The Exorcist. While working on The Exorcist, Baker was hired by director Larry Cohen to design and create a mutant infant for Cohen's 1974 film It's Alive.

At the 54th Academy Awards, Baker received the inaugural Academy Award for Best Makeup for his work on An American Werewolf in London (1981). Subsequently, he has been nominated for Best Makeup ten more times, winning on seven occasions, both records in his field. Baker was also brought in by An American Werewolf in London John Landis to the music video Thriller (1983), where Baker created the werecat creature Michael Jackson transforms into and multiple zombies that dance alongside Jackson.

In 2008, he was awarded a Doctorate of Humane Letters from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Baker also contributes commentaries to the web series Trailers from Hell for trailers about horror and science fiction films. Baker claims that his work on Harry and the Hendersons (1987) is one of his proudest achievements, for which he won his second Oscar. On October 3, 2009, he received the Jack Pierce Lifetime Achievement Award at the Chiller-Eyegore Awards.

On November 30, 2012, Baker received the 2485th star of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The star is located in front of the Guinness World Records Museum.

On May 28, 2015, Baker announced his retirement, saying: "First of all, the CG stuff definitely took away the animatronics part of what I do. It's also starting to take away the makeup part. The time is right, I am 64 years old, and the business is crazy right now. I like to do things right, and they wanted cheap and fast. That is not what I want to do, so I just decided it is basically time to get out. I would consider designing and consulting on something, but I don't think I will have a huge working studio anymore."

In 2018, when Baker's daughter Veronica was working at DC Comics, he was approached by DC to design a collectible display bust. He agreed on the condition of total creative freedom; working with his long-time mold maker Rob Freitas, he created a bust of The Joker.

Acting roles Baker played the title role in the 1976 remake of King Kong. He had initially only been hired to create an ape suit that would fill in for scenes where it was not practical to use a life-sized mechanical version of Kong that had been designed by Carlo Rambaldi, but problems with Rambaldi's creation resulted in Baker playing Kong on-screen for almost all of the film. In the 2005 remake, he had a cameo as the pilot and gunner (with director Peter Jackson) who shot down Kong. He has also made cameo appearances in: Michael Jackson's music video Thriller (1983) as "Zombie Opening the Crypt"; Into the Night (1985) as a drug dealer with a business card; Men in Black II (2002) as "MIB Passport Control Agent", an MIB agent helping provide aliens with disguises; Men in Black 3 (2012) as "Brain Alien"; The Wolfman (2010) as "Gypsy Man / First Killed"; The Strain as a convenience store customer (2014, Episode 8, uncredited) and Rings (2017) as a flea market vendor.

Personal life Baker is married; he was previously married to Elaine Melba Parkyn for ten years. He met his second wife, hairstylist Silvia Abascal, while they were both working on Into the Night (1985).

Selected filmography

Octaman (1971) (Octaman costume; co-created with Doug Beswick) The Thing with Two Heads (1972) (special effects - uncredited) Schlock (1973) (makeup artist / actor) Live and Let Die (1973) (makeup artist - inflated Kananga, dummy Samedi, Mr Big - uncredited) The Exorcist (1973) (special effects assistant - uncredited) It's Alive (1974) (makeup artist / special makeup effects artist - uncredited) The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974) (makeup creator: Miss Tyson) King Kong (1976) (makeup effects - uncredited / special contributions: Kong / actor) Track of the Moon Beast (1976) (makeup artist) Squirm (1976) (makeup designer) The Incredible Melting Man (1977) (special makeup effects / actor) Star Wars (1977) (makeup: second unit) The Fury (1978) (special makeup effects) The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (makeup artist - uncredited) An American Werewolf in London (1981) (special makeup effects designer and creator) The Howling (1981) (special makeup effects consultant) The Funhouse (1981) (special makeup design) The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981) (creator and designer: Sidney / makeup effects / actor) Videodrome (1983) (special makeup effects designer) Thriller (1983) (special makeup effects designer and creator / actor) Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984) (special makeup effects) Starman (1984) (Starman transformation) Into the Night (1985) (actor) My Science Project (1985) (special makeup effects artist - uncredited) Captain EO (1986) (special makeup effects) Ratboy (1986) (designer: Ratboy) Harry and the Hendersons (1987) (creature designer: Harry / puppeteer / makeup artist) Beauty and the Beast (1987–89) (designer and creator) Werewolf (1987–88) (werewolf characters designer) Coming to America (1988) (special makeup effects) Gorillas in the Mist (1988) (special makeup effects / associate producer) Missing Link (1988) (special makeup effects) Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) (special effects supervisor / co-producer) The Rocketeer (1991) (makeup creator: Lothar) Wolf (1994) (special makeup effects) Ed Wood (1994) (makeup creator: Bela Lugosi / makeup designer: Bela Lugosi) Batman Forever (1995) (special makeup designer and creator) The Nutty Professor (1996) (special makeup effects) The Frighteners (1996) (special makeup artist: The Judge) Escape from L.A. (1996) (special makeup effects) Ghosts (1997) (special makeup effects artist) Men in Black (1997) (alien makeup effects / special makeup effects artist) Critical Care (1997) (special makeup effects: Mr. Brooks) Mighty Joe Young (1998) (special makeup effects / creature designer and producer: Mighty Joe Young) Psycho (1998) (special makeup effects artist) Life (1999) (special makeup effects) Wild Wild West (1999) (special makeup effects) How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) (special makeup effects / actor) Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000) (special makeup effects) Planet of the Apes (2001) (makeup artist / special makeup effects designer and creator / actor) Men in Black II (2002) (alien makeup effects / special makeup effects artist - uncredited / actor) The Ring (2002) (special makeup effects artist) The Haunted Mansion (2003) (special makeup effects designer and creator) Hellboy (2004) (makeup consultant: Hellboy / special effects director) The Ring Two (2005) (special makeup effects artist) King Kong (2005) (actor) Cursed (2005) (special makeup effects artist / special makeup effects creator / special makeup effects designer) X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) (special makeup effects consultant) Click (2006) (special age makeup artist - uncredited / special makeup effects) Enchanted (2007) (special makeup effects artist) Norbit (2007) (special makeup effects artist) Tropic Thunder (2008) (makeup designer: Mr. Downey Jr.) The Wolfman (2010) (special makeup effects / actor) Tron: Legacy (2010) (special makeup effects artist) Men in Black 3 (2012) (alien makeup effects / actor) Maleficent (2014) (makeup designer: Maleficent) Rings (2017) (actor) V/H/S/Halloween (2025) (actor / segment: "Home Haunt")

Awards and nominations

Academy Awards Year Nominated work Category Result 1982 An American Werewolf in London Best Makeup 1985 Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes 1988 Harry and the Hendersons 1989 Coming to America 1995 Ed Wood 1997 The Nutty Professor 1998 Men in Black 2000 Life 2001 How the Grinch Stole Christmas 2008 Norbit 2011 The Wolfman

BAFTA Awards Year Nominated work Category Result 1985 Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes Best Make Up/Hair 1996 Ed Wood 1997 The Nutty Professor 1998 Men in Black Best Special Effects 2001 How the Grinch Stole Christmas Best Make Up/Hair 2002 Planet of the Apes

Saturn Awards Year Nominated work Category Result 1978 Star Wars Best Make-up 1979 The Fury 1981 The Howling 1982 An American Werewolf in London 1988 Harry and the Hendersons 1991 Gremlins 2: The New Batch Best Special Effects 1995 Ed Wood Best Make-up Wolf 1996 Batman Forever 1997 The Nutty Professor The Frighteners 1998 Men in Black Best Special Effects Best Make-up 1999 Mighty Joe Young Best Special Effects 2001 How the Grinch Stole Christmas Best Make-up Nutty Professor II: The Klumps 2002 Planet of the Apes 2003 The Ring 2004 The Haunted Mansion 2011 The Wolfman

Other awards 2485th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Time Machine Award at the 2015 Sitges Film Festival Doctorate of Humane Letters from the Academy of Art University Jack Pierce Lifetime Achievement Award at the Chiller-Eyegore Awards Inducted in the Monster Kid Hall of Fame at the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Makeup for The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974)