Barrie Gower
Barrie Gower is a five-time Emmy-winning prosthetics designer. Gower grew up in the north of England, where his father managed a cinema. As he became a teenager, he became heavily involved in art—mostly drawings and sculpture. Still, in those early days, his mission felt like more “of a pipe dream.” With the support of his mom, Gower applied for art programmes, stumbling upon one promising option at the London College of Fashion. He didn't get into the university in the first year, as he didn't have any evidence of doing any hairstyling or makeup (although he had a portfolio). His mother enrolled him in a hairdressing course, and the following year he was accepted at LCF, where he “managed to meet quite a lot of industry professionals.” Barrie began his career in the film industry in 1996 after graduating from the London College of Fashion with a HND in Specialist Make-up. His first role was at the BBC Visual Effects Department on projects including ‘Red Dwarf’ and ‘Silent Witness’. The following year, Barrie was employed on his first major feature film, Steven Spielberg's 'Saving Private Ryan'. Barrie has since worked for industry-leading companies and individuals such as Weta Workshop and multi-award winner Rick Baker. Barrie contributed to the Academy Award-winning prosthetics for 'The Wolfman' (2011) and 'The Iron Lady' (2012). After 10 years working in the Harry Potter film world and then freelancing on other large-scale projects, Gower decided to start his own company, BGFX, with his wife, Sarah, also a prosthetics designer. They’d met working on a film in Budapest. At that time, she was part of the CGI visual effects department. BGFX began as an at-home studio but quickly launched into the big leagues when it received its first major opportunity: designing prosthetics for season four of HBO’s Game of Thrones. Thrones was the beginning of a fruitful relationship with HBO, one that has seen the couple spearheading designs for many more of the network’s biggest hits, among them House of the Dragon and The Last of Us. For the former, the job primarily centred around the ageing and decay of Paddy Considine’s character, the doomed king Viserys Targaryen. Simultaneously, BGFX was handling The Last of Us, which Gower is quick to describe as “the biggest thing we’ve ever done.” For that series, the company was tasked with designing and executing a whole world consumed by a fungus, plus the resulting zombie-like creatures that are born out of those spores. They didn’t have to start from scratch, however, relying on the catalogue of work created for the original 2013 video game by developer Naughty Dog.
Stardust
(Prosthetic Makeup Artist)
The Nutcracker: The Untold Story
(Prosthetic Makeup Artist)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
(Special Effects Makeup Artist)
Dom Hemingway
(Prosthetics)
The Legend of Tarzan
(Prosthetics)
How I Live Now
(Prosthetic Makeup Artist)
Rocketman
(Prosthetic Designer)
Last Night in Soho
(Prosthetic Designer)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
(Prosthetic Makeup Artist)
The Iron Lady
(Prosthetic Makeup Artist)
Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical
(Prosthetic Designer)
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
(Prosthetic Designer)
The Wolfman
(Prosthetic Makeup Artist)
W.E.
(Prosthetic Makeup Artist)
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
(Prosthetic Designer)
Luther: The Fallen Sun
(Prosthetic Designer)
Midsommar
(Thanks)
Death on the Nile
(Prosthetic Designer)
The Green Knight
(Prosthetic Designer)
Papillon
(Prosthetics)
Okja
(Tattooist)
Annihilation
(Tattooist)
A Cure for Wellness
(Prosthetics)
Collide
(Prosthetic Makeup Artist)
Wrath of the Titans
(Prosthetics)
Noble
(Prosthetics)
Burke & Hare
(Prosthetic Supervisor)
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
(Prosthetics Sculptor)
Life of Pi
(Prosthetics Sculptor)
Kick-Ass
(Prosthetics Sculptor)
Hannibal Rising
(Prosthetic Makeup Artist)
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
(Special Effects Makeup Artist)
The Last King of Scotland
(Special Effects Makeup Artist)
Land of the Blind
(Prosthetic Makeup Artist)
AVP: Alien vs. Predator
(Special Effects Makeup Artist)
Troy
(Prosthetic Makeup Artist)
Ella Enchanted
(Prosthetic Makeup Artist)
Shaun of the Dead
(Prosthetic Makeup Artist)
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones
(Prosthetic Makeup Artist)
Blade II
(Prosthetic Makeup Artist)
Resident Evil
(Prosthetics)
Dust
(Special Effects Makeup Artist)
Alice in Wonderland
(Prosthetic Makeup Artist)
The Tony Ferrino Phenomenon
(Makeup Artist)
The Matrix Resurrections
(Prosthetics)
Spencer
(Prosthetics)
Cherry
(Prosthetics)
Unknown
(Prosthetics)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
(Sculptor)
Snatch
(Prosthetics Sculptor)
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
(Prosthetics)
Jupiter Ascending
(Special Effects Makeup Artist)
Patient Zero
(Prosthetic Designer)
My Cousin Rachel
(Prosthetic Designer)
28 Days Later
(Prosthetic Makeup Artist)
Dark Shadows
(Prosthetic Makeup Artist)
The Little Stranger
(Prosthetic Designer)
A Midsummer Night's Dream
(Prosthetic Makeup Artist)
Masters of the Universe
(Prosthetic Designer)
Plunkett & MacLeane
(Prosthetics)
Chernobyl
(Prosthetic Supervisor)
The Last of Us
(Prosthetic Designer)
House of the Dragon
(Prosthetic Designer)
Britannia
(Prosthetics)
Walking with Cavemen
(Prosthetic Makeup Artist)
Cranford
(Prosthetic Makeup Artist)
Saxondale
(Prosthetics)
The Frankenstein Chronicles
(Prosthetic Designer)
ShakespeaRe-Told
(Special Effects Makeup Artist)
Game of Thrones
(Prosthetic Designer)
Little Miss Jocelyn
(Prosthetic Makeup Artist)
Game of Thrones
(Prosthetic Supervisor)
Jason and the Argonauts
(Prosthetic Makeup Artist)
Small Axe
(Prosthetics)
Underworld
(Special Effects Makeup Artist)
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
(Prosthetic Designer)
The Great
(Prosthetics)
Catherine the Great
(Prosthetics)
The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns
(Prosthetic Makeup Artist)
Top Boy
(Prosthetics)