Meet the Emmy Award-Winning Prosthetic Makeup Artist for Stranger Things who is Half-Malaysian, Half-British

The highly anticipated fourth season of Netflix’s sci-fi drama TV series Stranger Things consisting of nine episodes, was released in two volumes on 27 May and 1 July 2022 after a grueling three-year wait.

The show is set in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana in 80s and follows a physic girl and her group of friends who try to defeat dark forces with occasional travels into an alternate dimension.

Fans of the series were especially awed by the amazing makeup work that was carried out on actor Jamie Campbell Bower who played the unassuming Henry Creel a.k.a. One turned antagonist Vecna in an unexpected plot twist in season four.

Although many fans would assume that it was a CGI transformation for the actor, it was actually 90% practical and makeup effects which took around seven and a half hours each time they needed to shoot scenes involving the character. Then he spent another 10-12 hours filming before needing another hour just to remove all the makeup. That's real dedication to your craft.

“They showed me what they were sort of designing: the monster-side of Henry as Vecna. My mouth just fell down to the floor and I remember leaving the house and just being like; That was so cool. That was so awesome,” said Jamie Campbell Bower.

The series recently deservingly scooped up five awards at the 74th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards including Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup.

screaming so loud you can hear it from the upside down and back. congratulations to our cast and crew on their 5 #Emmy wins!![?thread?] pic.twitter.com/GMQOiUG88A

— Stranger Things (@Stranger_Things) September 5, 2022

And it turns out that one of the prosthetic makeup artists who was part of the team is of half-Malaysian, half-British heritage! Her Malaysian cousin made a post on Facebook congratulating Paula and mentioned that she had spent parts of her childhood hanging out in PJ, KL, and Penang, commenting “She’s come such a long way and we’re all so happy and proud of her ongoing achievements.”

Paula Eden also posted about the win on her Instagram page saying, “Completely overwhelmed and grateful to be part of the Stranger Things Prosthetics team. Congratulations to all the nominees and winners over the Creative Arts weekend. It was a super tough category this year with exceptional work across the board.”

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A post shared by Paula Eden (@paulajaneeden)

She had also previously shared her work of making the horrific-looking Vecna come to life on her Instagram page saying “Establishing the Vecna paint scheme and pre-painting many duplicate sets of silicone and foam latex appliances was no easy task.” We can only imagine!

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A post shared by Paula Eden (@paulajaneeden)

If you're interested to learn about a local makeup artist who has almost single-handedly created all the monsters for Malaysian movies, meet Malyaa who has spent 6 years as a makeup artist for Malaysia's biggest movies.