Tom Savini’s name might not ring a bell, but chances are you have seen his work. He has been in the entertainment industry for decades as a makeup artist, actor, director, and stunt performer. Collaborations include everyone from George A. Romero to Quentin Tarantino to Corey Taylor. The guy as been around. Let’s find out more.

The picture in this article’s title image is completely legit. A buddy of mine ran into him at a Comic Con a few years ago and got a photo for me because he knew I am a fan.

Thomas Vincent Savini was born in 1946 in Pittsburgh and attended Point Park University. His eventual career in Hollywood makeup was inspired by Lon Chaney, which makes perfect sense. Before working on movies, Savini served in Vietnam as a combat photographer. After his tour in the United States Army, he went to Carnegie-Mellon University.

His career breakthrough came from working with the grandfather of zombie films, director George A. Romero. A native of New York, Romero was known for shooting his films in the Pittsburgh area, including 1968’s Night of the Living Dead. Ten year’s later, Savini would provide makeup effects for the film Martin. Savini continued work on the “Living Dead” series with Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead, for which he won a Saturn award in 1985 for Best Makeup Effects.

This was a busy time for the “Sultan of Splatter”, having also worked on Stephen King’s Creepshow, Texas Chainsaw Massacre II, and several of the Friday the 13th films, including the 1980 original. Savini often had small cameo roles in the same movies he was creating effects for throughout the 80’s and 90’s.

The first time I can recall seeing him as an actor was in the 1996 Tarantino/Rodriguez film From Dusk Till Dawn. He would work with those guys several more times in Planet Terror, Machete, and Machete Kills. Many of his acting roles also included the stunt work, as he is an expert with motorcycles, fencing, and the bullwhip. According IMDb, Tom Savini has a total of 77 acting credits, 23 for effects, and 9 as director. In 1990, he helmed the remake of Night of the Living Dead, originally made 22 years prior.

It was revealed in a 2019 interview with Corey Taylor that Savini had designed the singer’s masks for the upcoming We Are Not Your Kind Slipknot tour. Not bad for a guy in his 70’s.

You may have heard of a guy named Greg Nicotero, a founding member of the KNB EFX Group and a producer/director of The Walking Dead. He’s also from Pittsburgh, and got his start learning makeup techniques from Tom Savini.

As you can see, this guy has had quite a career and encourages others who share similar interests. If you would like to get into makeup effects, you can attend Tom Savini’s Special Make-Up Effects Program at the Douglas Education Center in Pennsylvania. Yeah, he has his own makeup school, how cool is that?