A working makeup effects artist and designer, Todd began his career in entertainment with PBS while a graduate student in television production at the University of Tennessee.
Todd’s book “Special Makeup Effects for Stage and Screen: Making and Applying Prosthetics” has gained widespread acclaim in the entertainment industry as a comprehensive resource for makeup effects artists. The book, published by Routledge and Focal Press, has undergone three editions, with the latest being released in August 2018. It has been referred to as “The Bible” for makeup effects artists.
Before starting his own small effects shop in Denver, Todd worked as a production manager and writer/producer for cable pioneer Ted Turner at TBS in Atlanta, a writer/producer at 20th Century-Fox Television in Los Angeles, and a visual effects animator for Warner Bros., Walt Disney Pictures and Walt Disney Television Animation.
Among his feature film credits are “Die Hard II; Contact“, “Batman and Robin“. “Incoming Freshman”,“My Favorite Martian“, “Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves“, “The Enemy God”, “Cannon Fodder“, “Decay”, “Apartment 212” “Hoax” and “Ink“. Todd sculpted and molded wounds used in the 2013 Tom Hanks film, “Captain Phillips“. Television credits include “JAG“, and a teensy weensy uncredited contribution to an episode for one of his favorite TV programs, “Doctor Who“.
Books by Todd Debreceni
Todd is the recipient of a 2017 Henry Award for his extensive body of work in prosthetic makeup and makeup effects for theatre, a 2015 DCPA True West Award for “Shrek the Musical” and “Young Frankenstein“, a 2006 and 2009 Denver Post Ovation Award for special makeup effects for his designs for “The Wiz“, and “Man of La Mancha” respectively, a 2010 Henry Award nomination for “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast”, and a 1992 Los Angeles Drama Critics Award for his contribution to establishing Theatre Row in Hollywood.
He has created a variety of makeup effects for many stage productions, including “Priscilla”, “Queen of the Desert”, “Shrek the Musical”, “Spamalot”, “The Whipping Man” ,”Ugly Lies the Bone”, “Young Frankenstein” ,”Man of La Mancha”, “Peter Pan” ,”Oliver” ,”Dracula” ,”Bat Boy, the Musical” ,”Hoping to See God”, “Into the Woods” ,”The Wiz; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” ,”Urinetown the Musical”, “Black Elk Speaks”,”Elephant Man” ,”The Snow Queen”, “Bonnie & Clyde” “Sleuth“, “Sideshow”, “Sleeping Beauty” and “The Toxic Avenger”.
Todd is a regular contributor to Neill Gorton’s Prosthetics Magazine and does a podcast with Stuart Bray called “Battles With Bits of Rubber.”
He also conducts regular seminars, workshops, and classes in special makeup effects for film, television, and theatre both in the U.S. and overseas.
Todd travels to China to teach prosthetic makeup and makeup effects at OA Makeup Academy & Special Effects Studio in Guangzhou, China, established in 2017.
