Clinton Wayne's Biography

Clinton Wayne is a professional make-up artist. Over the last 27 years in this business, he has been honored with two Emmy Awards for his work on “The X-Files and “Six Feet Under” and four Emmy nominations for “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”. His work can also be seen in the Academy Award Make-Up nominated film “Click” in which he was hired to apply prosthetics to lead actress, Kate Beckinsale, for Rick Baker’s Cinovation Studios. Clinton is a sought after make-up artist who is known for his excellent skills, his strong work ethic and his professionalism in his craft.

Clinton was born and raised in Flagstaff, Arizona where he went to school and lived with his mother, step dad, and little brother. He also spent much of his childhood on the "House Rock Buffalo Ranch" in northern Arizona with his dad, step mom and two younger brothers. Growing up on a ranch was a great place to explore and build his imagination. Helping his family manage the ranch taught him at an early age about responsibility and hard work. Reflecting back, he now realizes these lessons, learned at such a young age, were an essential part of his upbringing. Clinton has achieved his current success by working hard and having the ability to solve problems creatively.

From an early age art fascinated Clinton. He found he had a natural ability to draw, paint, and sculpt. As a child he often drew and painted the wildlife he saw living on the ranch and the characters he saw in movies. It was his 7th grade art teacher, Mr. Nelson, that introduced him to the world of Special Make-Up Effects when he showed the class a behind the scenes feature from the original Star Wars movie. After seeing someone's job could be making creatures and monsters for films, he knew that was what he wanted his career path to be. From that point on his artwork shifted from drawing wildlife to concentrating on movie monsters and aliens. He used his art classes to hone his skills in sculpting, drawing and painting, all of which he would call upon later in life as a Special Make-Up Effects artist.

Upon graduating from high school, the next step in his career path was to save the money needed to attend the highly regarded “Joe Blasco Make-Up Training Center.” He spent two years after high school working several jobs at the same time to save up enough money to attend the school. He cleaned hotel rooms by day and worked the graveyard shift unloading trucks at the local Wal-Mart by night. Due to his hard work, dependability, and good personality, at the young age of 19 he was offered the job of Department Manager of Sporting Goods at Wal-Mart.

After saving enough money for school, Clinton moved to Orlando, Florida in January 1995 to attend the “Joe Blasco Make-Up Center”. He enjoyed and considers his education he received as invaluable in helping launch his career.

Upon graduating from make-up school, he moved back to Flagstaff, Arizona. He quickly found work on local commercials as well as small films in Phoenix and Sedona Arizona. Later that year, he was hired to work on an ABC mini-series called “Dead Man’s Walk”, a prequel to the epic western mini-series “Lonesome Dove”. On this series Clinton was able to work with make-up artists David Atherton and Cheryl Nick who taught him about working on location and the demands the film industry requires.

In the spring of 1996, Clinton moved to Burbank, California. Shortly after moving he was hired to work on the TNT movie “The Rough Riders” in Texas with Cheryl Nick. Once this film wrapped in Texas, Clinton continued to work on numerous lower budget films around the Los Angeles area.

In 1997, Clinton was again hired by David Atherton to work on the TNT western “Buffalo Soldiers” and he received the hours needed to become a member of I.A.T.S.E Local 706. After completing this film, he married his childhood sweetheart, Amy Neville. She moved to California and was hired for a 1st grade teaching position in Burbank, CA where she still teaches today.

In the summer of 1997, Clinton met Matthew Mungle and John Jackson when he applied for a job at their Special Make-Up Effects lab, W.M. Creations, Inc. in North Hollywood, California. The interview was a success and the next day Matthew offered him a job to come and work at the lab. Without hesitation Clinton said yes!

Over an eight-year period, Clinton worked with Matthew and John at their lab. He sculpted, painted, made multiple types of molds, ran gelatin and foam latex and was able to learn additional skills needed for special make-up effects both in the lab and on set. Since he was a Local 706 member, he had the unique opportunity to begin a project in the lab and then see it to completion as he applied the prosthetic on set. During this time Matthew taught Clinton new techniques to further his own make-up skills. A few of the shows he worked on as both a lab technician and an on-set make-up artist, were “The X-Files”, “I Still Know What You Did Last Summer”, and “Soul Survivors”.

After eight years of working in the W.M. Creations, Inc. lab, Clinton felt his career needed to focus more on the application of make-up and prosthetics on set. After leaving the lab he was able to work on projects like “Freaky Friday” and “Raising Helen” to keep up his beauty make-up skills, and films like “Click” and “Knocked Up” to focus on his prosthetic skills. It was also during this time he was able to work with great make-up artists like Christina Smith and Rick Baker. These collaborations with other talented make-up artist allowed him to grow as an artist. In 2003 Clinton took over “CSI: Miami” from Matthew W. Mungle and single handedly created all the special make-up effects for Season 2 and Season 3 of the show. After finishing up Season 3 of “CSI: Miami” he rejoined Matthew Mungle and began working on the original CBS show “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”. Some other experiences which showcased his talents were “X-Men: The Last Stand” (2006), aging Julia Roberts in the film “Fireflies In The Garden” (2007), and “Midnight Meat Train” (2009). In the last few years he has been fortunate to continue working on television shows such as “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”, “Salem” and “New Girl” and on films such as “Sabotage” and “Lee Daniels' The Butler”.

As Clinton continued to work on multiple projects with Matthew Mungle, through W.M. Creations, Inc., it became clear to both of them that he should come back to the lab, not as an employee but as a business partner. For the last 4 years, he now oversees the projects and make-up effects that come through the lab, in conjunction with Matthew, while at the same time continuing to work on set as a special make-up effects artist. 

All information is copyrighted by W.M. Creations unless otherwise noted.