Category Archives: People That Inspire Us

Hollywood has it’s fair share of veteran makeup artists, and there are boatloads of ambitious new makeup artists coming out of the woodwork. Makeup artistry might seem like an easy and exciting job to some…one has visions of huge paychecks while playing with makeup all day and getting to work in glamorous settings – like movie sets and at events. Yes, that might be a reality for some seasoned makeup artists, but it’s very demanding and can be challenging while requiring a lot of talent and skill.

Meet Bobbie Weiner, AKA “Bloody Mary”. She’s not the Bloody Mary that haunted your childhood and would appear in your bathroom mirror if you said her name three times. She is a remarkable Hollywood makeup artist who has worked on epic movie sets and has earned the respect of the U.S. Department of Defense with her camouflage face paint. She isn’t your typical makeup artist and her rise to makeup artist stardom isn’t typical either. Read on for Bloody Mary’s inspirational story and how one woman changed the game in special effects movie makeup.

In the late 90’s, Bobbie Weiner could be considered one of your typical, Beverly Hills housewives. She had been married three times and thought she had found true love with her third husband, a doctor. She enjoyed her luxurious lifestyle and all the prestige that came with her marriage. Her dream later turned out to be a nightmare when her then-husband left her for a 19-year-old woman.

Devastated by the divorce, she lost 30 pounds, most of her friends, and the lifestyle that she had become accustomed to. She was adrift and didn’t know what steps to next take with her life. She didn’t feel like she had any marketable skills that would aid in landing her a decent-paying job.

Weiner reluctantly enrolled in makeup school… after talking to her hairstylist. She had no interest in makeup, but realized that learning a new trade would beat folding clothes at a clothing store. She was starting a new life at 46 and admitted that the entire process was a humbling experience. She reported turning the makeup models into Tammy Faye Baker look-alikes, but knew that she needed to change her technique in order to succeed and make a living.

Part of her makeup artist training required learning to create wounds and fake corpses. Weiner visited emergency rooms and funeral homes to observe the real thing in order to recreate the looks. For her final exam before graduating makeup school, Weiner was asked to create a beard, burns, a broken nose, and bullet holes on the model. Her observations at ER’s and funeral homes paid off as her model was so perturbed with the finished look that he vomited.

This was the beginning of beautiful and morbid things to come. Weiner obtained a job on a horror film, Pumpkinhead II where she was given the nickname “Bloody Mary” for her talents in creating gory and realistic bloody details.

Bloody Mary would later land a job with James Cameron on the classic film, Titanic where she was responsible for making extras look dead and frozen.

Weiner’s life went from a riches-to-rags and now back-to-riches story. Her success shows that hard work and perseverance really does pay off and can change lives.

If you find yourself pondering a new career path, or feel like Bobbie Weiner  -where you’ve lost everything familiar to you and you’re on your own; it’s not too late to turn things around. When bad things happen to us, look at the opportunity in the situation and not allow yourself to only dwell on the bad. We all have special gifts and talents that we can use to better our lives, we just need to harness our hopes and make the leap!

For more on Bobbie Weiner and her makeup, click here

Is there something you wish you could do but are too scared to do it? Don’t be scared, and comment below.
Contributed by Lisa Pearson, M.S., Resident Celebrity Stalker (or Expert?)