Lesley Vanderwalt

Lesley Vanderwalt, a well-known Kiwi hair designer and makeup artist was born in Capetown, South Africa. When she was four years old, her family moved to Tawa which is on the edge of Wellington. Lesley started her career from New Zealand later she moved to Australia. she won many awards as a hairdresser in the mid-70s in her hometown. She started to work on television when a woman from the BBC visited her salon in scout for staff to work at TV One’s new studios at Avalon. She offered her to train and organize so that she could complete her apprenticeship with the show. Her first experience was working as one of the makeup team along dozens of others on the Television epic The Governor(1977). In over three years she worked in music shows like Ready to Roll(1975-1994), in news bulletins, in shows like Close To Home (1975-1983).

In 1978, she was handling costumes as well as makeup and hair in the movie Skin Deep (1978). After this, she left television and headed into movies. She worked for Villianess Evil Eva on the movie Nutcase (1980). Then in 1981, on the movies- Beyond Reasonable Doubt, Pictures, The Road Warrior, and The Treasure Click to look into! >> Read More... of the Yankee Zephyr. In the same year, she worked in the movie Bad Blood with a makeup artist Bob McCarron. He recommended her to Director George Miller Medical doctor turned director and producer George >> Read More... . Then she was invited to be the head of makeup team on Mad Max 2. It was one of the most expensive films made in Australia then. In 1986, she went back to New Zealand for the movie Queen City Rocker.

In Australia, she collaborated with directors George Miller and Baz Luhrmann Mark Anthony Luhrmann, aka Baz Luhrmann, is an Aus >> Read More... . She was the lead makeup artist in Luhrmann's breakout hit movie Strictly Ballroom. For his other movie Moulin Rouge (2001), she was the coordinator of the hair and makeup. Lasley won her award Hollywood's Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild and got nominated again through her work in the movie The Great Gatsby Click to look into! >> Read More... (2013). For the movie, Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), she won the BAFTA Award for Best Makeup and Hair at the 69th British Academy Film Awards and Oscar Academy Award for Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling at the 88th Academy Awards in the year 2016. In the same year, she was nominated for Best Hair and Makeup in AACTA Award for the movie Gods of Egypt (2016). In total, she has won one Oscar along with nine other awards and five nominations.