MUD Grad Profile: Kristina Frisch

“At MUD, I learned how to make make-up my career, not just a job.”

Kristina Frisch graduated from Make-Up Designory’s (MUD) Beauty Make-Up Artistry course in 2000, Character Make-Up Artistry in 2001 and Special Make-Up Effects in 2002. In the years since graduation, she has worked in all of the fields of make-up that she studied at MUD. Her professional assignments have included music videos for artists like Mariah Carey (“We Belong Together” and “It’s Like That”, both 2005), and The Killers (“Mr. Brightside”, 2004); commercials for McDonald’s (2008), Toyota (2007), GMC Trucks (2006) and Nissan (2006); feature films like Phat Girlz (2004), Fashion Victim (2006), The Haunting of Molly Hartley (2007) and The Lodger (2007); and television shows like The Hollywood Squares (2003-2004), MTV’s Connected (2007) and Ultimate Cake-Off (2009).

Kristina thrives on variety, and loves taking on assignments in different make-up genres. In 2007 she spent a month in Japan teaching make-up application, and during the winter of 2008 she traveled across America on a bus doing make-up for the Dancing with the Stars tour. She says: “Basically the thing that I love about my job is that I never know what I’m going to get. Some days are high fashion and some days I’m covered in blood.”

When it comes to make-up application, Kristina says that making her subject comfortable is a major part of her approach. “People are our canvas…but when someone is really happy with the way he or she looks, it will show in the final project.” She describes her most rewarding assignment: “I was getting Catherine Scorsese ready for the 2007 Academy Awards where her dad, Martin, finally won his long-awaited Best Director Oscar for The Departed. Cathy had just finished radiation and chemotherapy, which had left her bald, with no brows or lashes. After getting her face done and putting on her beautiful wig, we both looked at her in the mirror and started to cry. She was so happy and said she looked just like herself…and she hadn’t seen that in months. After that I day, I realized how powerful it can be to make someone feel good about themselves.”

Of her years at MUD, Kristina says: “I firmly believe that I learned more about what I would need to know in the business in the time I was in school and in my first few assignments than I have at any other point in my career. Without the help and preparation MUD gave me starting out, I would not be where I am today.” Her advice to other aspiring make-up artists? “Don’t give up. If you do your best and you really want it, it will happen for you.”