By Jessica Bills | A&E Editor
Aimee Ortiz, sophomore theater major, is not your stereotypical drama student with dreams of being centered stage with a walling solo.
“My dream job is to become a professional make-up artist and work on film sets doing special effects makeup. I’ve been doing theater makeup since the spring,” Ortiz said. “My specialty is wounds and zombie makeup.”
This aspiration came to Ortiz through watching the show “Face Off,” a reality television show on SyFy that hosts a competition among prosthetic makeup artists.
“I was amazed by the fact that they were bringing simple ideas and drawings to life,” Ortiz said.
Ortiz said she was excited to take a make-up class for her theater major last year and to try her hand at creating wounds and bruises like the professionals she has seen.
“My favorite part of the class was when we got to do wounds and zombies,” Ortiz said. “After I presented my final zombie make-up, I knew that it was what I wanted to do.”
Through the different classes and opportunities to gain experience, Ortiz has become more passionate about this styling of makeup.
“I love it because you can let your imagination run wild. There are endless things you can create and there are always new things to try,” Ortiz said.
Ortiz finds continual inspiration in the cinema realm and through day-to-day walking.
“Movies and other makeup artists really inspire my work,” Ortiz said. “Also, just seeing people with wounds. Today, I saw a guy with a black eye and I really wanted to stop and take his picture so I could recreate it.”
These dreams come with a plan, which Ortiz has already put into the works.
Haley Prizzi, senior theater and psychology double major, is one of Ortiz’s closest friends as well as her peer in the drama program. The two have taken classes together and Prizzi admires Ortiz’s intuition in learning techniques before her classmates were taught.
“She is the most creative person I know,” Prizzi said.
