More Than Makeup: Farah Bunch on Art, Identity, and Life in Hollywood

Step behind the lights and into the heart of Hollywood with Farah Bunch, one of the industry’s most sought-after celebrity makeup artists. In this intimate and introspective interview, Farah opens up about her creative journey, the art of transformation, and what it really means to bring characters — and people — to life on and off camera. From red carpet secrets to the emotional side of beauty, this episode dives deep into Farah’s early inspirations, career-defining moments, and the lessons she’s learned working behind the scenes in film, television, and fashion. Whether you’re a beauty enthusiast, aspiring artist, or simply someone fascinated by the human stories that shape Hollywood, this episode offers a rare, authentic look into the world of artistry, identity, and resilience.

✨ Keywords: Farah Bunch, Hollywood makeup artist, celebrity makeup, beauty podcast, creative journey, behind the scenes, Hollywood stories, artist interview, women in film, personal growth, beauty industry, makeup transformation.

Hollywood makeup artist Farah Bunch whose work has earned her multiple nominations in Daytime and Primetime TV  Awards and Hollywood Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild Awards. Her work over several seasons on the hugely successful TV Comedy Will & Grace proved a pivotal moment in her career. Other notable credits include Dancing with the Stars, The Oscars, Sunset Beach, Entourage, Fuller House, and Makeup Department Head on Frazier on Paramount +.  Farah was born in 1975 in Toluca Lake, California where she and her brother Justin were raised in the long shadow of the Hollywood sign.  Her parents; the producer and six-time Emmy nominated film and television composer Velton Ray Bunch, and three-time Emmy nominated makeup artist Patricia (Patty) Bunch who were once the Disco Band known as Strut, introduced Farah to a life on set from an early age. She was five years old when she made her set debut. She also has a couple of acting credits to her name. But it was always going to be makeup that would be the foundation of her career from the moment at 18 when she graduated from the Joe Blasco Makeup School. Her mother’s status in the industry and guidance on set steered her into multi-camera shoots, which is the world she loves most of all, despite having early ambitions to be a pop-singer with encouragement from her father. She remains inspired by her music and is currently writing a musical with her father. Farah recently obtained a license from the International College of Beauty in Esthetician and Cosmetology. She lives in Toluca Lake, California with her two cats.
 
Farah’s links: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1095568/
https://www.instagram.com/farahbunch/
@farahbunch 

Some of Farah’s female artists:
Jo Baker
Kathryn Bigelow 

Host: Chris Stafford
Produced by Hollowell Studios
Follow @theaartpodcast on Instagram
The AART Podcast on YouTube
Email: [e-mail]

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/women-unscripted--4769409/support.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm Farah Bunch and I'm a makeup artist.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Hello, and thank you for joining me this week as
we get to know another talented artist from around the
world of visual arts. This is Season three, Episode fourteen,
and I'm Chris Stafford. My guest this week is the
Hollywood makeup artist Fara Bunch, whose work has earned her

(00:28):
multiple nominations in Daytime and Primetime TV Awards and Hollywood
Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild Awards. Her work over
several seasons on the hugely successful TV comedy Will and
Grace proved a pivotal moment in her career. Other notable
credits include Dancing with the Stars, The Oscars, Sunset Beach Entourage,

(00:53):
Fuller House, and makeup department head on Frasier on Paramount Plus.
Was born in nineteen seventy five in Teluca Lake, California,
where she and her brother Justin were raised in the
long shadow of the Hollywood Sign. Her parents, the producer
and six time Emmy nominated film and television composer of

(01:14):
Velton Ray Bunch and three time Emmy nominated makeup artist
Patricia Patty Bunch, who were once the disco band known
as Strutt introduced Fara to a life on set from
an early age. She was just five years old when
she made her set debut, and she also has a
couple of acting credits to her name, But it was

(01:36):
always going to be makeup that would be the foundation
of her career from the moment at eighteen when she
graduated from the Joe Blasco Makeup School. Her mother's status
in the industry and guidance on set steered her into
multi camera shoots, which is the world she loves most
of all. Despite having early ambitions to be a pop singer,

(01:58):
with encouragement from her father, she remains inspired by her
music and is currently writing a musical with her father.
Fara recently obtained a license from the International College of
Beauty and Esthetician and Cosmetology. She lives in Teluca Lake,
California with her two cats. Barah, Welcome to the podcast.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
Thank you for joining me, Thank you for having me.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
I love that you've been listening to the podcast. You
listen to some of your fellow makeup artists in other
parts of the world.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
Yes, it was such a great experience to hear just
the differences you know and how they do things. You
know over the I guess, I guess would you say,
over the pond? Is that how you say it?

Speaker 2 (02:40):
Across the pond?

Speaker 1 (02:42):
Across the pond, that's how you say it. Yes, it's
so different than how we do things in America, And
you know, and I really enjoyed learning just I knew
a bit that it was so different, but I really
enjoyed hearing the process and I learned a lot. So

(03:02):
I love learning just different different things in different ways
that they have to go about doing things, and getting
an agent there versus here, and just work experiences, like
how they are allowed to have assistance on set and
because we aren't allowed to have that, things like that

(03:24):
because we have such strict union rules. Our unions are
so strict here, things like that. So I was really enlightened.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
Would you say, then, from your experience that it's easier
to get into makeup in this country or in Europe?
And I'm wondering if it's more difficult on the West
coast than the East coast. What is your experiences for?

Speaker 1 (03:48):
No, it is very difficult to break into make up here.
I don't know if it's harder or easier there. I
can't say that, but we have like, our unions are
so strict here that it takes such a long amount

(04:12):
of time to break into our union. We have such
strict rules, like you have to work for three years
doing sixty sixty sixty They call it sixty sixty sixty
means three years of sixty non union days, and it
must be on a non union film or TV set,

(04:36):
and they will turn down any day that they so
you can't red carpet days, press days, things like that
don't count. So a lot of people will come in
and think that they have the days and then they
just say no. So it takes such a long time
for people to get in to film and television to
our union Local seven O six on the West Coast

(04:58):
and step at ninety on the East coast, but it
could be wrong in New York Union, so they're totally
different from West Coast to East Coast, and you're not
allowed to work on You can't work in New York
and you can't work in LA. There are two separate
unions and you have to give up your membership if
you're to work on either side, so you can't be

(05:21):
in both. It's very confusing and it's very challenging. So
being a TV or film makeup artist is not easy here. Well,
what if you're on vacation, you can be requested, but
you can't. You have to have like a special a
special request, so it has to be like flagged or

(05:43):
a request by production. So yeah, it's it's it's difficult.
And then you have to use a certain amount of
local hires, like I could be requested to go work,
say in Atlanta as to apartment as like a department
head or a personal but then there's a certain amount
of local high that you have to use. So it's

(06:03):
you know, our unions are very protected and you know,
our rates are you know, are really good. But I
think that's what's driven a lot of the film industry
out of the country, and because our unions are so high,
because our rates are so good, and so I think

(06:24):
that the film studios and streamers have discovered now that
they can shoot out of the country and not have
to pay our rates, you know, which really by the
rest of the you know, United States standards just gives
us you know, means to live just you know, a
middle class lifestyle. But they're like, oh, we can go

(06:45):
shoot in Bulgaria or you know, even like you know,
the UK or anything like that, and just have to
pay much lower rate, you know, wages for people that
are extremely qualified, the same amount of qualified as we are.
And so it's they can cheat the system by not
having to pay our union rates and our healthcare and

(07:06):
because you know, in the UK they have universal healthcare,
so they don't have to pay the healthcare and things
like that. So it's it's really it's it's different. It's
very challenging. The unions are very challenging and very tight,
so this is probably borring.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
No, I'm just wondering though, if they haven't shut themselves
in the foot somewhat.

Speaker 1 (07:32):
I think like from the beginning they shot themselves in
the foot. By what happened is back in you know,
the I don't know when it originally started, but we
gave up residuals, you know, all our the crew members
gave up residuals in order to receive health and welfare

(07:58):
and to get health insurance. So that became part of
our deal. So now you know, because a little bit
of our paycheck you know, goes every week, and so
instead of residuals, the companies would pay into our you know,
our pension and into our health insurance and so you know,

(08:22):
you know, they have to it's expensive. So companies now
are like streamers, even though they make massive gobs amount
of money, they are saying, oh, you know, after the strikes,
they discovered a loophole, which is, hey, we could go
out of the country and go to Australia or the
UK or Eastern Europe and they don't have to pay

(08:44):
any of that. And then they can also pay you know,
much like a lot less money to crew members who
are really qualified, and they can pay them you know,
much much lower rates. Like in Canada, department head rate
for a makeup artist is literally fifty percent of what

(09:05):
the department head makeup artist rate is in the US
and they can pay them that and get away with it,
and you know, it's really sad. It's sad for us.
It's also sad for say a Canadian makeup artist because
the cost of living in Canada, especially Vancouver, is very high.

(09:25):
So it's really unfair to everyone involved. It's unfair, you know,
to them to make less money than we do. It's
unfair for us to get penalized, you know, and lose
out on the work and the people that are winning
are the streamers and the studios. So it's really sad,
sad situation the film industry right now.

Speaker 2 (09:46):
And you've been in the business now a long time,
shall we say, all of your career.

Speaker 1 (09:52):
Yes, I am what you call a nepo baby nepotism. Yes,
I didn't have a choice if being in this business.
My mother is a makeup artist. She is one of
the pioneer, like original kind of females in TV. She

(10:12):
was a big sitcom makeup artist. She was. Her first
real show that got her union was a show called
Love Connection. I don't know if you remember that show
with Chuck Woolery and then and then her first sitcom
was Who's the Boss? And then she did like Married

(10:33):
with Children, and Will and Grace was you know first
like big big one, and I mean those, I mean
those were all big. I don't know what I'm saying,
but yeah. So when I was eighteen or nineteen, I
was I wanted to be a pop star. I was
a singer, and my parents were very supportive of the arts.

(10:53):
But they both said, well, that's great, but you have
to have a real job. And so I didn't understand
that because I was going to be an international pop sensation.
But I was like, Okay, well fine, I'll go to
makeup school. So they sent me. I got a scholarship
because my mom agreed to go teach some classes to

(11:15):
a school called Joe Blasco Makeup School, which was where
my mom went. And so I went to school, and
then I started in soap operas and because that's where
you kind of in our unions, you can work in
daytime and not have to be union, and there you
can get the sixty sixty sixty, which I explained earlier,

(11:36):
I could get three years of doing sixty sixty sixty
and the sixty days and three years. But I ended
up working in soaps for daytime soaps. I think in
England they have primetime soaps, so we have our daytime soaps.
So I worked there for about six or seven years,
and I loved it. I was doing body makeup, which

(11:58):
is a whole step category at that time, and had
a separate category for painting bodies, for making them tan,
covering tattoos, and I was young and it was so
fun because everyone was gorgeous. All the guys were gorgeous.

Speaker 2 (12:14):
But you're making it sound like it was a straightforward transition,
regraduated from makeup schooling and straight into the business. Was
it that seamless?

Speaker 1 (12:22):
It really was because I was a NEPO baby. And
I hate to say that, but my aunt Kathy worked
on Young and the Restless, so she was the body
makeup artist on Young and the Restless, and so she
needed some help on that show, and so I went
and helped on there. And then I started kind of

(12:44):
hopping around from show to show helping. But you know
the thing about being a NEPO baby, which is interesting,
and people will go, you know, oh, it was so
easy for you. And it was because I had the
content tax you know, I already had the context. But
what people don't understand is that when you're a kid

(13:07):
hanging out on set, I already knew how to act.
I already knew how to you know, interact with with
all the different you know, talent and actors and producers.
You know, I already had been in that world. So
I besides learning, you know, and I already had knew

(13:28):
a lot about makeup. And I knew my mom had
left me. She was you know, my mom's a character.
I'll tell you that she would leave me on set
to go to dinner and I wouldn't even I wasn't
even Union at the time. I was just eighteen years old.
And she would hand me a powder puff and say,

(13:49):
I'm going to dinner and you're just gonna watch these
people on set. And I didn't know what I was doing.
I was terrified, and she would just leave and I
would be watching famous people well, and she would go
to dinner and leave me in just very perilous situations
that I wasn't prepared for at all. So it was
kind of like, you know, just jumping off a cliff.

(14:12):
And so people always would say, oh, you had it
so easy. I did, But at the same time, I
it was you know, sink or swim, So it was
it was it was kind of different. It was just
you know, it was just right into the fire right away.

Speaker 2 (14:31):
Or was it terrifying?

Speaker 1 (14:33):
Terrifying? I will tell you one quick story that was
probably the most terrifying thing ever. I she left me
on a pilot at Paramount and I was not Union.
And I can say all this now because she's you know, retired,
so they can't do anything about it. And you know, Paramount,
this is a union law. You cannot not be union.

(14:54):
And she tells me. She says to me, okay, so
I'm on the side of your set. Here there is
uh powder puff and it is Alan Thick, the late
actor Alan Thick, And she says, and his powder is
in the left pocket, so just go up and you
will just powder him with that powder puff. I didn't

(15:15):
know a thing that I was doing, and she and
you're just gonna go powder. So I didn't know enough
to even check the powder or look at it, or
even pull him in the light. So I go up
to powder him in between takes, and I powder him
in the dark. I don't even know. He walks onto set.

(15:39):
It was a dark powder, like an African American, some
kind of dark powder. He has brown circles and they
yell action. I don't even remember what happened because it
was I was eighteen. I just know he had brown circles.
I freaked out. I'm like, oh, mom, but you know
this is what happened. She laughed. She could care less.

(16:01):
She could care less because at the time she had
so many shows. She could care less about this pilot.
She could care less that it happened. I was mortified.
I don't even remember what happened. I just remember that
I wanted to die and she didn't even care and
her friend Elizabeth that was with me at the time,
fixed it. But it was it was awful. But those
were the kinds of situations that I was in all

(16:23):
the time. So people thought, oh, she had it so easy,
and I did have it so easy. But at the
same time there, I mean, that's just one of many
terrifying situations that I was put in that I wasn't
ready for. So I didn't get I didn't get any
of the warm up that a lot of people do
when they do, you know, they do independent films that
you know are kind of kind of you know, easier,

(16:43):
and you know, these were like high stress situations. These
were pilots, these were TV shows that were big TV shows,
you know.

Speaker 2 (16:51):
So you had a mentor in your mum, which is great,
but sounds like she was very forgiving of you know,
your early mistakes there that you were thrown in, as
you say to you know, sink or swim, But it
sounds like it made you because it gave you the foundation,
no pun intended, for the career that you've had.

Speaker 1 (17:10):
It absolutely gave me the foundation Yeah, so I made
a lot of mistakes, and definitely it was forgiving because
my mom had so much work at the time that
she really wasn't She was like the queen of sitcoms,
so she really wasn't really concerned about being let go
from something because she just had so many backup jobs.

Speaker 2 (17:36):
Well, let's back up, since you know on the show,
we do like to start at the beginning, sure where
it all began. Because you're a North Hollywood girl born
and raised, yes, and in nineteen seventy five, and you
have a brother, Justin. Was just the two of you
growing up? What was that like? What were your earliest memories?

Speaker 1 (17:58):
So my parents met in a disco band. Uh, my
father is a composer and he and my mom were
in a disco band called Strut And so my dad was,
you know, a lot of times on tour with a

(18:18):
country Western singer called Mac Davis. And so my mom
ended up having to stay home with us when he
was on tour. So she had to quit doing the
singing and the dancing and stuff, and so my brother
to stay home with my brother and I and so
that's when she ended up going to make up school.

(18:39):
And that was when I My earliest memory of going
to set and seeing set life was when I was five.
I went to set for the first time when my
mom woke me up in the middle of the night.
I remember being woken up and being told that I

(19:02):
can't if it was my dad or my mom that
I was driven to set in the middle of the
night to replace an actress that was I guess, a
little girl that was being bad. And so they drove
me to the desert in the middle of the night
to play the young Sybil Shepherd and I was. I
was paired up with Jan Michael Vincent, this actor with

(19:25):
his son, and I was supposed to We're supposed to
stand in the middle of the street and we were
looking up the sky and they said, look up. You're
supposed to see a spaceship. Now look up and be surprised.
And so yeah, so that's what we did. And that
was my That was my really one and only big

(19:46):
acting part.

Speaker 2 (19:49):
But didn't not give you a taste? Did you not think, oh,
this is fun, I might do this.

Speaker 1 (19:53):
You know, I didn't. I was. I guess, you know.
Now I look back, as I'm such a ham I
think maybe I should have probably been an actress because
I have such a big personality and I really like attention.
But I was always more interested in singing. But uh yeah,
I I I don't know why I didn't. I didn't

(20:15):
catch the bug, but yeah, no, that I was. But
that was I really I really liked being on set.
I guess because that stuck. But that was. That was
my first time I was on a set. Was was?
Then was? Yeah? That's my one and only IMDb credit
for acting.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
One memorable role.

Speaker 1 (20:38):
One memorable role.

Speaker 2 (20:40):
Going to school and you know, growing up in that
environment is all consuming obviously, but when you did actually
go to school, what were you gravitating towards? What were
you interested in? I mean, I mean younger school, when
you were like from kindergarten to middle school.

Speaker 1 (20:56):
Oh, kindergarten. I was always into creative writing. I love writing.
I still write a lot, and I still write plays
and musicals, and I still dream of being a television
writer and I still am. I pitch shows and things
like that. Now I haven't sold anything yet, but I've

(21:17):
come close. So that's really my true passion in my heart.

Speaker 2 (21:22):
So that's what you want to be when you grow up, then.

Speaker 1 (21:24):
That's what I want to be when I grew up
for sure, and yeah, I really have a creative mind.
And then I also wanted to be a singer. That
was what I pursued, really really hardcore from I would
say about I did my first demo with my dad.

(21:45):
My dad recorded my first demo that we shopped when
I was fourteen, and then I wrote all my songs
and stuff all the way. I officially retired from being
an aspiring pop star at twenty eight, and I was
very serious about it. I even on YouTube have a
music video that was shot by a guy that did

(22:06):
Britney Spears and Madonna's video. So it's pretty It's called Electricity.
It's pretty serious. You have time to google it. It's
pretty good. But yeah, I but the whole time. You know,
my parents are so supportive of my music career, but
they were sensible enough to know that I should have

(22:28):
you know, that I needed to have a steady job,
and you know, thank God, because Makeup afforded me the
time and the freedom of schedule, you know, freedom for
my schedule to be able to pursue my music career
and and you know, have a job at the same
time that paid really well. So especially back when I
was doing makeup when I was young, you know, especially

(22:50):
doing sitcoms, you know, like when I was on Will
and Grace and I we had it was like the
boom of multiicam because that's what I really I really
do multiicam. That's my specialty, which is that's the format
of a live audience shows with the live audience, you know,
with the laugh track and everything. But you know the
shows that are really funny, like well a Grace, it's

(23:11):
not a laugh track, it's a live you know, it's
a live laughter. That's what I really like to do.
For anyone who doesn't know the difference between single camera
and multi camera. You know, single camera shows like Succession
or you know Big Little Eyes shot like a movie
with one camera that gets shifted around, you know, to

(23:33):
show different angles. Takes an incredibly long amount of time
for camera setups and the lights move along with the
camera and you're there for probably you know, fourteen sixteen hours.
Multi camera we shoot usually you know for six hours

(23:54):
on a tape night and in front of a live audience.
It's more like a play. So fun, it's so fun.
There's a DJ, there's music, guests come it's the best.
You don't get you know, it doesn't have like kind
of the art cinem photography aspect, but it's it's just

(24:15):
really like I mean, that's what Friends Frasier, I Love
Lucy was the very first multi caam sitcom. That's that's
you know, the multiicam is just it's such a great life.
So people that want a life, especially people with families,
it's it's the best life that you could have. So
I usually, you know, that's that's what I specialize in

(24:38):
as multi camera and live shows like Dancing with the Stars,
the Oscars specials, things, Emmys, things like that.

Speaker 2 (24:45):
So worse far than the little girl who played with
makeup then, or played with your mother's makeup then when
you were a child.

Speaker 1 (24:53):
So me as a little girl with makeup, it's an
interesting thing. I oh, is very I cannot say that
I was very interested in makeup as a child. I
would huddle my bike to the you know, grocery store,

(25:14):
pharmacy and get myself some wet and wild makeup like
electric blue eyeliner, like just the most hideous eighties makeup.
And I wouldn't listen to my mother at all, and
she would tell me this is not does not look
good on you. And you know, I would do hot
pink eye shadow and hot pink lipstick and electric blue

(25:35):
eyeliner and I would not take any of her notes
and I just you know, and I had my braces
and it was just got awful. And she would tell me,
you know, try to give me tips. And I would say,
you know, mom, you do makeup on television people. You
don't know what real people like, okay. And it's just

(25:57):
so funny looking back now, because I look at my
picture and I tell my mom, like, why why did
you let me look like that? She goes, you wouldn't listen.
And one day, I remember I went to a taping
of a show called Charles in Charge and there was
a girl called Nicole Eggert that was an actress on
the show. And she was so beautiful and she had
long flowing hair with no hairspray, and it wasn't all

(26:20):
you know, sprayed up like like the like what we
were doing in the eighties. And she didn't have hot pink,
you know, eyeshadow and electric blot. She had brown naturals
and she was the coolest thing to me, and I thought, okay,
that's what I want to look like. And so I
went home and I changed all my eyeshadows to you know,
neutral natural browns, just what my mom wanted me to wear.

(26:43):
And I wouldn't listen to my mother, but I wanted
to look like Nicole Eggert. And so that was when
I finally started wearing natural colors. And you know, so
that was when I started taking more of an interest
in my makeup, was you know, then in high school.
And then it was funny because when I went to
makeup school, you know, I just discovered it was weird.

(27:05):
It was like my hand just did these things. My
hand naturally did the things that it was supposed to do,
like it knew how to blend because it was a
gift like from my mom. It was the weirdest thing.
Like so obviously there's like a family natural talent that

(27:27):
went in. So that's that's all I can explain. Like
I don't I didn't have an early interest in it,
but that was it was It's like a genetic gift
because my mom is My mom is one of the
most talented makeup artists I've ever seen. My mom is
truly like loved it in her guts and she can do,

(27:48):
She can do anything. And then so I just have
to say that I just naturally inherited something from her
that I didn't know that I had until I started trying.

Speaker 2 (27:59):
Well, you a girly girl. Then it sounds like you
were all about dresses and makeup for you know, right
from the get go. Did you feel that, you know,
very feminine and wanting to show your femininity?

Speaker 1 (28:11):
Oh? Yeah, like you you could see my like effemininity
when you see, like there's high school pictures of me
and oh gosh, there's one that I have to send
you that is so funny of me in high school
and there's you know, there's all these girls next to
me in these big hoodies because it was the nineties
and they're all big. You know, there's different versions of nineties.

(28:33):
I'm sure that you can remember. There's the big hoodies
in the flipped hair and Doc Martins and you know,
and then there's me and I am like chaer and clueless,
you know, with like this big like fedora hat with
like roses on it and short little crop best thing

(28:54):
with you know, I was so extra, as they say now,
everything was is loud and adorable, and I had this
long long blonde haired, big hoop earrings and red lipstick,
like everything was extra. So definitely your own version of
loud and proud, my own version of that. Exactly what

(29:17):
everything everyone calls me share, Like everyone would say, I
was like a share from clueless. I even had the jeep.

Speaker 2 (29:25):
Now what about fashion? You talked about some of the
fashion items and that were trending at the time, But
was that something that was part of your image, the
image you were trying to create as a makeup artist.
Did you, I mean, pay attention to your to your
fashion as you were going out into the world, not
just as a teenager, but when you were going into

(29:45):
the business.

Speaker 1 (29:46):
Oh yeah, absolutely. You know, it's funny because my mom
she talks about how like my mom has instilled this
in me, and I say it now, it is so
important to I think dress the part and other makeup

(30:06):
artists will completely disagree with me on this, but I
think that we are selling an image, you know, and
I think that I think that we are in the
beauty business. So I always care about my appearance when
I go to work, and I try to look really
cute and I you know, it's funny because my one

(30:29):
of my best friends. Her name is Don and she's
really beautiful makeup artists, blonde, adorable, And we would come
to work and we'd be wearing like Converse and you know,
a little sweater and jeans. And then my mom, my mom,
this is before she retired, when we were at Will
and Grace, my mom was dressed in the nines with
heights and blazers and you know, the whole thing. And

(30:49):
my mom would tell Don and I, you girls are
ruining the look of the industry because we would be
wearing converse, you know, and she would just say that
that's not okay because she just thinks it all time
you should be dressed, you know, one hundred percent. But
she doesn't know that. My mom wouldn't understand the Converse
that were at that time extremely in, you know. And

(31:10):
so but I do think that you should always look
on trend and very cute, and some people just don't.
I mean, some people in our industry don't care at all,
which I think is a little weird because I think
talent does judge to me. This is my opinion, But

(31:31):
I do think that one hundred percent, I personally always
like to shop and look cute and make sure that
I'm on trend because I want to show that I'm
paying attention to what's happening in the fashion game, so
that you know, I look like, you know, I look
like I'm researching what's what's big on Instagram and what's happening,

(31:56):
you know, on TikTok, so that you know. And I
think that that shit in your outward appearance.

Speaker 2 (32:09):
It sounds as if the way you introduced to the
industry that your mother empowered you in many ways at
a very young age. But I'm wondering if you deep
down felt self assured, self confident to go out into
this world and be judged just like the talent is
once you get on set. Was that something that you
were always comfortable with as in your own professional persona.

Speaker 1 (32:35):
I think definitely. I mean, I think I definitely felt judged.
I mean that you this is a very superficial business,
and I mean I think that you always feel you know,
you feel judged, and you it's a very superficial business.
And I think that you know, you sit all day.

(32:58):
Part of it is you sit all day front of mirrors,
you know, and you want to look cute and everybody,
especially in the multi camera business. You know, everybody dresses
up for show nights, and it's a little bit different
because everybody's you know, looking their best, and it's a
little bit it's a little bit different. So you want
to look nice because I just I just think, I

(33:21):
just think like we are a different department. We're not
the grips, we're not electric, you know, we're not doing construction.
We are the you know, beauty department. So I do
think that we should, in my opinion, portray beauty. But
that's that's just me from the point of view. But

(33:44):
that's instilled, definitely pounded into me from my mom. But
I gotta say I is kind of bad as she's
been about that. I do think I agree with her
on that. It's controversial because some people would think that
that's a really bad thing to say, but I gotta

(34:06):
say I agree with that a little bit.

Speaker 2 (34:09):
Well, it sounds like you have a wonderful relationship with
your mum. But I want to talk about your dad
for a while, because he was a multi Emmy nominated composer,
So you grew up with that musical influence, as you said,
which clearly was steering you in one direction when you
were younger. What was your relationship like with him and
what kind of things did you do with your dad?

Speaker 1 (34:31):
Oh? Yeah, so my dad and I are My dad
is my best friend. I talked to my dad multiple
times a day every day, and we are so close.
Like I get my really dry personality from my dad.
He's like very practical, and we are the most alike.

(34:52):
He is so talented, and he's really funny and smart,
and you know, we're just very very close friends. And
he's always just been so supportive of everything that I do.
He's so supportive of my writing career. So he's the
one who won't ever let me quit. You know, when
I want to give up, he will call me and

(35:13):
be like, have you written anything today? Because he thinks
he thinks I'm so talented, and which is so sweet,
you know. And he's also very honest, you know, and
I appreciate that because he's had so many people auditioned
for him throughout you know, his life, and he would
have to tell them that they weren't good, and he
will tell them. So he's a really great guy. I

(35:35):
love my dad and he's just a super cool guy,
so accomplished, and yeah, we're very close.

Speaker 2 (35:42):
And is he still composing.

Speaker 1 (35:45):
The last thing he did was Dolly's Movie for Dolly
Parton's movie for Netflix, and I think that was kind
of his last thing that he wanted to do. He's
seventy eight, he just has many eighth birthday. I think
he's pretty I think he's pretty tired. I mean, he
goes to the gym. He goes to the gym every day.

(36:07):
And he still played. He still plays fast pitch baseball.
So he played college ball in North Carolina. So he
loves baseball. So he's a he's a pretty fit guy.
But I think, you know, the industry has changed quite
a lot for composers as well. You know, they don't
want to pay as much again, you know, he he
still writes, He still composes with a pencil and the piano.

(36:31):
And these days all these young composers they don't use
you know, the symphony, the orchestras. They still compose, you know,
now they compose with the computer. And he's that he
can't even turn on a computer. Times have changed.

Speaker 2 (36:47):
Do you pay any musical instruments?

Speaker 1 (36:50):
No, I mean, it's that's the weirdest thing too, is
that I I can write. I'm I've got that gift
from my dad to not I mean not like I
don't know how to write music, but I can write
melodies and songs. So my dad and I write a
lot of songs together. And I'm actually writing a musical
and my dad's going to help, you know, my dad's
going to write. So we did write a lot of

(37:10):
stuff together. So I can write so many melodies. But
I have him chart my melodies for me, Like if
I need to have it charted, he does it. So
I tried to take piano lessons when I was a kid,
but that just my attention span was not great. So
I wish that I had learned an instrument. But no,

(37:32):
but I love songwriting.

Speaker 2 (37:35):
Was there any interest in any other parts of the
arts than when you were younger? You know, And did
you get the opportunity to go to museums and galleries
with your parents?

Speaker 1 (37:45):
No? My dad, Well, my dad took me to plays
a lot. So my interest in singing came from my
dad took me to see Annie at the Pantagious and
I came home and from the play, I remembered Di deeply,
and I had watched the girl, you know, seeing the

(38:06):
Sun will come out tomorrow, and I was like, I
went in my room, this SI will come out tomorrow,
and I went, I can do that. And I like
had a moment where I thought I can do that.
And it was like that moment I went, this is
what I want to do from seeing that play. And

(38:26):
then from there my dad would buy season tickets to
everything and take just me to all of you know plays.
We went downtown to this theater by season tickets and
so it was that was that was what we did together.
So it was specifically art art, you know, the theater.

(38:48):
That was what we loved, musical theater, any kind of plays,
things like that.

Speaker 2 (38:53):
And how about grandparents on either side? Did you bond
with any of them?

Speaker 1 (38:59):
Oh? Yeah, oh both of them. So my mom's mom
was a dancer, cap dancer, and then my grandpa on
my dad's side, he was a he was a drummer.
So I had a lot of musical I mean, both

(39:19):
of my grandparents were really on both sides where I
had wonderful grandparents on both sides. But so I had
a lot of arts, a lot of kind of you
know art on both sides. So really kind of artsy
fartsy family.

Speaker 2 (39:35):
Where did they come from. Your grandparents, Were they immigrants.

Speaker 1 (39:39):
No, they were. My dad's side of the family was
North Carolina, and so you know, when my dad grew
up in North Carolina, he would play the piano for
the White church on Sunday morning early and then he
would ride his bike to the Black church and he
would play in the gospel church. And he that's what

(40:02):
was his favorite. That's how he got his experience. And
so my grandmama, my grandmama was very religious, and then
that was how he really got into his musical and
then my dad majored in music at East Carolina University.

(40:24):
But and then my granddaddy played the drums. And then
my mom's side of the family, my grandpa, he was
a basketball player for he's got a scholarship for basketball
at the University of Arkansas. But he came out to
Anaheim to work for Boeing and they both worked for Boeing.

(40:46):
And and then to my mom, you know, was like
a surfer girl. My mom was a very pretty woman.
My mom was a very very pretty woman, and she
was like a surfer girl. And then she was a
dancer too, and then that's how she ended up me
eating my dad like I said in a disco band.
Was that she auditioned and so that's like that was

(41:10):
their story.

Speaker 2 (41:10):
But yeah, so when you got into the business then,
I mean it seems like it was a given. You
knew exactly what you wanted to do. If it wasn't
going to be singing, it was going into makeup. So
that was, as you said, seamless getting into the business.
But at what point did you realize you wanted to
specialize in multicam? Was that opportunity?

Speaker 1 (41:33):
Okay? So I went straight into multi camera because of
my mom. That was the shows. Those were the shows
that my mom was working on were the multi cameras.
And it's a funny thing because when I was young,
I didn't understand really the difference between multiicam and seable cam.

(41:54):
I remember when I was in high school, my mom
was offered Beverly Hills nine two oh and now this
was the exact year that Beverly Hills nine two and
oh hit and Beverly Hills nine A two O is
a single camera and she was offered it and I

(42:15):
was absolutely just devastating when she told me she turned
it down. I thought it was the most selfish thing
that a person could do to a teenage daughter. Ever,
I couldn't believe it. She goes, well, I don't do
single camera, and she goes in the rate was terrible,
and I said, I don't care what the rate is,
and I don't know what single camera is, and how

(42:35):
could you do this to me? You're ruining my life.
I could be the most popular person in this school.
And years later, only years later, after Will and Grace,
there came a time when after Will and Grace wrapped
and we finished, and there came a time in my
career when sitcom multicams were not popular anymore. It was

(42:59):
when The Off and Parks and Rex and Community and
all those shows were really popular, and multicams really were
not popular anymore. And I spent eight years and I
had to switch to single camera. And I did a
show called Greek that was on ABC Family and we
would shoot until four or five am, till the sun

(43:22):
was coming up. And I really saw what life was
like doing a single camera and we would have, you know,
four or five am calls then again Monday morning like
switch and turn around. And I went, oh, now, I
see now, I see what the difference is. I had
no life now I had a great time on a

(43:42):
show Greek because I was young. I was, you know,
thirty years old, and so it was it was different
because I could handle it. But then going for eight
years doing that, and I realized, I, I can't have
this kind of life, Like I don't want to sit
in a chair, you know. I don't want my life
to be sitting just in a set chair watching other

(44:05):
people's dreams come true, you know, and then go home
for ten out you literally you sit there for you know,
fourteen to sixteen hours like I described earlier, and then
you go home for you have ten hours to go home,
and then you come right back and you just sit there.
It's horrible for your body. It's horrible for your you know,

(44:28):
mental state, and you know, psychologically, and then to not
get any sleep like that and not see your loved
ones to you know, just it's it's so grueling, it's
so you know, emotionally, physically, it's just terrible for you.
And I just thought, I can't do this with my life.
I can't. I can't just give my life, you know,

(44:51):
to live a middle class lifestyle. I just don't want
to do it. And so for me right now, it's
it's difficult because I'm at a real cross boats where
even if the business bounces back here, you know, in
Los Angeles, I just don't know that I want to
spend the next fifteen years of my life, you know,
sitting in a set chair. So I have to make

(45:13):
a real decision for myself. You know. If multi camps
don't bounce back and I don't have that, I'm not
sure that a single camera is what I want to do.
I don't think I can do that.

Speaker 2 (45:25):
Well, I was going to ask you about your private life,
and I mean because it sounds like you know, you
were their career driven. It's all about your profession. Yes,
So where did that leave the social life, the loved life,
the dating, the friends, and the social life. How did
that all fit in them? From college through through the

(45:47):
early part of your career.

Speaker 1 (45:51):
Well, I will tell you, Chris, I have made some
really bad decisions. I I I've dated a lot of actors,
which is not surprising because I, uh, you know, I'm
around them all the time. Surprisingly, I only have met
one actor on set, So I've been pretty good about that,

(46:12):
I you know, mostly, but I've just met actors just
because you know, we're in Los Angeles, and I tend
to be really attracted to that sort of personality. I'm
a big personality, so I really like a super dynamic
person and a real charmer. So I think that gets
me in trouble with the people that I pick, because,

(46:33):
you know, charming people tend to have a little bit
of narcissism and then most of the time unfortunately so
but I you know, because I've worked in multicam, I
tend to do I tend to have time for dating,
but I just have definitely prioritized career. I think I

(46:55):
wasn't ready when I was young. Definitely in my twenties
and even in my third I never was thinking about
marriage or definitely not kids, you know. I was definitely
more like, what's the next adventure. And then now I'm
kind of at fifty years old, going, uh oh, you know,

(47:15):
I think I pushed this a little late. I mean,
not that I never really wanted kids, but I definitely
didn't prioritize kind of meeting someone. I was always looking towards,
looking for something exciting, and now I'm like, oh wow,
I'm fifty and now it's you know, you sat on
the shelf too long, you know what I mean. That

(47:37):
sounds sad, but it's true.

Speaker 2 (47:39):
What's on your bucket list.

Speaker 1 (47:42):
I just think now is more of the time I'm not.
You know, it's a little bit hard because I would
like to settle down with someone. But at the same time,
you get to maybe a point in your life at
this age, you know, I'm fifty where I it's hard
to compromise in your life, you know what I mean.

(48:03):
And I would like to I think maybe move somewhere
with a little more land because I'm right in the
middle of, uh, you know, of a busy suburb. I'd
like to move somewhere. I'd like to meet someone, like
a person with a little more you know, good stable

(48:24):
income and have like a nice little farm like Kevin
Bacon Kira Cedwick can have some animals.

Speaker 2 (48:30):
And would you head towards North Carolina? Would that mean
you're coming back east to your family route?

Speaker 1 (48:39):
Yeah, I mean, I would love to move somewhere that's
like you know where I had, like like Asheville or something,
and like my my in game basically is to move
somewhere like that. And you know, like I was in
Charlottesville once and I thought, God, this is a place
that I could live and you know, someplace really cute

(49:01):
and have just just some land and you know, like
a cute little like a cute town, like a small
like small city, cute town type thing, and just have
some space and animals and live definitely probably not in
Los Angeles and retire someplace and I would I would

(49:23):
love that and maybe do and do weddings and work
in a salon. I just got my hair license, my
cosmetology license, and do a lot of weddings something like that,
because LA is not a great place for retirement. It's
so expensive and it just even though the weather is fantastic,
it's it's not a great place to live out your

(49:43):
sunset years. But I've got fifteen years left and that's
why I better figure something out.

Speaker 2 (49:49):
So what do you find is most satisfying about the
art of makeup?

Speaker 1 (49:57):
The art of makeup is about transformation, and for me,
the most satisfying part is making someone feel fantastic about themselves.
And I think that's why there are a lot of
makeup artists in the industry that don't like to do weddings,

(50:23):
and I'm the opposite of that, especially when it's somebody
that has never had their makeup done before. I really
love to do makeup on people that have not had
their makeup done before. And I love the shock on
their faces when they see themselves and go wow, you know,

(50:46):
you know, I've had people cry like when they've you know,
when they've when they see themselves, you know, with the hot,
smoky eye and they're so shocked at how they look,
and their husbands go, whoa, you know, and they feel
sexy and they feel you know, so you know, beautiful,
and that makes me feel like, Wow, I did something

(51:10):
And that makes me feel like just because sometimes it's business,
you could be like, am I doing anything important? You know?
And sometimes you can feel like that, especially when you're
sitting in a set her all day long and you
just get up in this repetitive motion and touch people up.
Sometimes you can feel a little bit like does my
life have meaning? But when you transform someone and they

(51:34):
feel really great for an event and they feel good
about themselves, then you feel like, I don't know, like
you added something special to their important day.

Speaker 2 (51:45):
What would your mom say about you?

Speaker 1 (51:48):
Now?

Speaker 2 (51:48):
If I was to ask her, I'm wondering what she
would have said about the little girl who thought she
was going to be a makeup artist one day just
because her mom was. And the woman that you've become
as successful as you've become following in her footsteps, well
then truly, well.

Speaker 1 (52:02):
She's a she's a complex person, so she she might yeah,
I mean she might say that. I mean I think
there's a lot of times where she's very proud of
I think she's gotten to the point now that she's
you know, very proud of me. I mean, we had
a tough it was a it was a we had

(52:23):
an interesting time working together. You know, there was a lot.
You know, moms, moms and daughters working together are are
a hard thing because for so many years it's you know,
the daughter trying to establish a freedom, you know, and

(52:44):
and and independence you know. And at the same time,
because there's so many it's it's funny there are in
our in Los Angeles, you know, and you know in
the film industry there are so many Nepotism is a
big thing. And so I have so many friends that
are you know, mom and daughter teams, and they all

(53:05):
say the same thing, like like, oh they have you
know a hard time kind of working with their moms.
You know, and so it's because you know, the the
daughters think, oh that my mom's telling me what to
do or you know, da da da, and then the
moms think, oh that the daughter doesn't respect or appreciate.
But I think I think it's a mixed mixture, probably both.

(53:26):
You know, it's hard to be told kind of what
to do for at a certain point, you want to
gain your own independence, in your own name and things
like that. And I definitely do things differently than my mom.
You know, my mom's kind of like Jean Smart and Hacks.
I don't know if you watched that show. My mom's
more of a character, you know, and I'm more, I

(53:49):
think a little more chill and relax. But I think
we'd go about doing things in a different way. But
I think she in the end is probably proud that
she knows that she raised and kind of prepare me
in a way that I'm kind of have taken over

(54:10):
her shows and her accounts with her you know people,
and that they trust me enough that I have been
able to, you know, kind of fill her shoes, not
fill her shoes, because there's no one that could ever
take her place like she is a legend. No one
is ever going to fill her shoes like she is,
to me, the best sitcom makeup artist there is. And

(54:33):
but she knows, like these people hire me because I'm good,
you know, she knows that, like now that she's completely
stepped away and retired, like no one's hiring me anymore
because they have to. They're hiring me because they want to.
And I think that that makes her proud.

Speaker 2 (54:50):
How do you cope with the pressure? Oh, do you
see it as pressure now because you're so seasoned at
this work? Do you do just take in your stride?

Speaker 1 (55:02):
I think yeah, I mean I think that there's definitely pressure.
You know, there is a lot of pressure, you know.
I think like sometimes you get your feelings hurt, and like,
I mean, there's definitely things like you you know, you
always want to do a good job, and there is
definitely pressure. I know. I worked on a pilot recently

(55:24):
this past year and there was this showrunner that was
I had never worked with before. I had never seen
her before, never heard of her, and she just kept
giving me a hard time about this young girl's makeup
and telling me, you know, that she had too much
makeup on and the girl had no makeup on. I
could not figure it out. I mean, she was just
on me and she snapped at me in the middle

(55:46):
of set, and I was so confused. I even took
a picture because I took a picture of the actress
and just said, I said, I'm really sorry, I just
don't know what you want me to do here there's
no makeup on her, and I just felt like, you know,
I was being picked on, you know, and then it
was like I reverted back to like being nineteen again,

(56:09):
me in into that feeling of being insecure and like
I didn't know what to do. And I even set
my mom the picture of the girl and I called
my mom after work and I'm like this, this woman
is picking on me and she and she snapped at
me in front of people in the middle of set.
You know, I was like, mom, you know, back to
and my mom looked at the picture that it was

(56:30):
just she's just didn't how many makeup on You didn't
do anything wrong, and so, you know, it was sometimes
you still feel insecure, and then I had to tell
myself I didn't do anything wrong, and yeah, so there's
still that there's still that pressure where you feel insecure off. Yeah,
it's it's it's interesting, but you get you get confident,

(56:52):
but then still can one little thing can set you
back feeling you know, nineteen and insecure again. It's it's
that dynamic, even though all these years later, you still
can feel like that.

Speaker 2 (57:05):
So what next, Farah are you working?

Speaker 1 (57:07):
At the moment, I am waiting. I work on a
show called mid Century Modern with the Nathan Lane and
Matt Boehmer and Nathan Lee Graham, which is on Hulu,
and we are waiting to hear if we are going
to get picked up or not for season two, which
we were really surprised about because it's such a funny

(57:27):
show and we were really thought it was going to
be a huge success, and so we're kind of a
little bit surprised that we didn't get a pickup. So
I'm praying that we do because not a lot of
work here in the horizon, so fingers crossed. But I'm
doing hair in the meantime, and I'm assisting in a
salon and you know, just pivoting as as they say,

(57:51):
to make sure that I have some work in the
you know, in the other ways in the future.

Speaker 2 (57:57):
So yeah, well see how that goes ticking along and
when you're pivoting, you're also doing pilates and you go
I believe, yes.

Speaker 1 (58:04):
Those are my two forms of exercise that helped.

Speaker 2 (58:06):
Me distress great way to distress. Yes, well, obviously you
know there's a lot more to come in the future.
Who knows which direction you're going to go in, Fara,
but I wish you the very best of luck wherever
life takes you, because you know, life's a journey, isn't it,
and you have to enjoy the ride, you know.

Speaker 1 (58:26):
It, sure is it, Sure is I. I it's an adventure,
a journey. It's scary, it's frightening. But you know, this
is definitely a fork in the road for all of us,
you know, at crew in the film industry in the States,
and hopefully we'll land on our feet, hopefully something will
will help us all. So yeah, thank you, thank you

(58:48):
so much.

Speaker 2 (58:49):
Well, thank you so much for coming on the podcast,
and we're going to continue our conversation on our YouTube channel,
so do join far and I over there where we'll
offer a little bit of added content, So look for
our YouTube channel. And for now though, for the podcast, Fara,
thank you so much indeed for being my guest this week.

Speaker 1 (59:08):
Thank you, I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (59:10):
Be sure to hop over to our YouTube channel now
The Art Podcast, where we'll hear, among other things, about
Fara's love of music and what her go to karaoke
song is. So join us on The Art Podcast YouTube channel,
and don't forget to follow us on social media on
Instagram where The Art Podcast you'll also find a link

(59:32):
to far As IMDb and also her social media in
the show notes. You can reach us here as always
by email The Art Podcast at gmail dot com, and
don't forget wherever you're listening to share this podcast with
someone you think might enjoy the show too. I'll be
back in two weeks time with the Colombian artist Katalina

(59:55):
Gomes Berth, who was nominated by a guest from season one,
the cinematographer and director of photography Anna Amortegi. So I
do hope you'll join me then in the meanwhile, my
thanks again to this week's guest, far A Bunch, and
to you for listening when I know you have so
many choices in podcast land