Kazu Hiro (born Kazuhiro Tsuji, ; born May 26, 1969) is a Japanese and American special make-up effects artist and visual artist. He won the Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling for the biographical films Darkest Hour (2017) and Bombshell (2019) after earning nominations for the comedies Click (2006) and Norbit (2007). He was additionally nominated for Maestro (2023) and The Smashing Machine (2025).
Life and career Kazu Hiro grew up in Kyoto, where he spent much of his time alone engaging in art projects. Kazu Hiro came across an issue of Fangoria which featured Dick Smith and his work turning Hal Holbrook into Abraham Lincoln for the 1976 miniseries Lincoln. This led to Kazu Hiro's own experiments with special make-up effects, photos of which he began sending to Dick Smith after discovering his P.O. box in the back of a magazine. The two would eventually meet in person when Smith traveled to Japan to work on Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Sweet Home. Smith invited Kazu Hiro to work on the film with him and this began his film career.
While working on Sweet Home, Kazu Hiro met fellow artist Eddie Yang, who was visiting from the United States. In 1996, Kazu Hiro moved to Los Angeles to work with Yang and Smith's protege, Rick Baker, on his first U.S. work, Men in Black. Continuing his work with Baker, Kazu Hiro worked on many projects including How the Grinch Stole Christmas, for which he won a BAFTA.
Kazu Hiro crafted the silicone model of Brad Pitt's head used to artificially age him via CGI for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in 2008. In 2012, Kazu Hiro created the prosthetics which turned Joseph Gordon-Levitt into a young Bruce Willis for Looper.
After his work on Looper, Kazu Hiro retired from the film industry and focused on sculpture, crafting giant busts of people such as Frida Kahlo, Salvador Dalí, and Abraham Lincoln, as well as Smith.
For the 2017 film Darkest Hour, Gary Oldman talked Kazu Hiro out of retirement to create the Winston Churchill prosthetics. Oldman had been considered for the role of General Thade in Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes (the role went to his Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead co-star, Tim Roth) and Kazu Hiro's work at that time had impressed Oldman enough that for him, Kazu Hiro was the only man to turn him into Churchill. For this work, Kazu Hiro won the Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling in 2018, making him the first Asian to win that award.https://x.com/IndieWire/status/970472820928020480
He won the award again in 2020 for his work in the 2019 film Bombshell, where he made prosthetics for Charlize Theron as news anchor Megyn Kelly.
In 2024, Hiro received an Academy Award nomination for Best Makeup and Hairstyling for his work with Maestro. In January 2026, he received his most recent Academy Award nomination for Best Makeup and Hairstyling for his work with The Smashing Machine. His nomination was shared with Glen Griffin and Bjoern Rehbein.
Personal life In March 2019, Tsuji became an American citizen and officially changed his name to Kazu Hiro. At the 2020 Academy Awards, Kazu Hiro said he became an American citizen because he "got tired" of Japanese culture, which he found "too submissive" and a place where it is "hard to make a dream come true".
Filmography YearTitleDesignation1989Sweet Home Special makeup effects artist1991Rhapsody in August Special makeup effects artist1992Minbo Special makeup effects artist1997Men in Black Sculptor1997Critical Care Makeup application: Albert Brooks1997The Devil's AdvocatePrincipal artist2000Nutty Professor II: The Klumps Sculptor1999LifeKey makeup artist1999 Wild Wild WestMakeup designer2000How the Grinch Stole ChristmasMakeup artist: Jim Carrey as Grinch2001Planet of the ApesDesigner/sculptor: Cinovation Studios/ makeup designer: Tim Roth as General Thade/makeup designer: ape makeup2002Men in Black II Special makeup effects artist2003The Haunted MansionSpecial makeup effects artist2004HellboySpecial makeup effects artist2004Blade: Trinity Art supervisor2005The Ring TwoMakeup effects supervisor2006Click Prosthetic makeup supervisor2007NorbitProsthetic makeup supervisor2008The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Special makeup effects artist2009Angels & DemonsProsthetic makeup artist2009Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Special makeup effects artist2009G.I. Joe: The Rise of CobraProsthetic makeup designer: "The Doctor"2010Salt Prosthetic makeup designer: Angelina Jolie2010Tron: LegacySpecial makeup effects artist2012Hemingway & GellhornSpecial effects makeup artist: Nicole Kidman2012Total RecallSpecial makeup effects artist2012Looper Prosthetic makeup designer: Joseph Gordon-Levitt2012The Place Beyond the Pines Prosthetic makeup crew2017Darkest HourProsthetic makeup and hair designer: Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill2019BombshellProsthetic makeup and hair designer: Charlize Theron as Megyn Kelly, John Lithgow as Roger Ailes2023Maestro Prosthetic makeup and hair designer: Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein 2025The Smashing MachineProsthetic makeup and hair designer: Dwayne Johnson as Mark Kerr
Awards and nominations Year Award Category Nominated work ResultRef.2007 Academy AwardBest Makeup & Hairstyling Click 2008 Norbit 2018 Darkest Hour 2020 Bombshell 2024Maestro 2026The Smashing Machine 2022 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup Gaslit: Final Days 2024 Santa Barbara International Film FestivalVariety Artisans Award – Hairstyling/Makeup Maestro
References
External links Kazu Hiro