Michael George Westmore was born on 22 March 1938, in Los Angeles, California USA, and is a make-up artist, best known for his work in various “Star Trek” projects. He’s won nine Emmy Awards throughout his career as well as an Academy Award for make-up thanks to his work on the film “Mask”, but all of his efforts have helped put his net worth to where it is today.
How rich is Michael Westmore? As of mid-2017, sources estimate a net worth that is at $5 million, mostly earned through a successful career in make-up. He’s been working in the industry since 1961, and has even helped the CIA create make-up kits for agents. All of these achievements have ensured the position of his wealth.
Michael Westmore Net Worth $5 million
Michael is part of the Westmore family, which is heavily involved in Hollywood’s make-up industry. His grandfather created the first studio make-up department, and his father was a make-up artist on the iconic film “Gone with the Wind”, and his uncle was Bud Westmore who was responsible for the co-creation of “Creature from the Black Lagoon”. His brothers are also make-up artists.
He attended the University of California-Santa Barbara and after graduating, started working for Universal Studios in 1961 as a make-up artist, and after three years, was promoted to Assistant Department Head of Make-Up. Some of his earlier work included “The Munsters” and “Land of the Lost”, which laid a solid base to his net worth.
In the 1970s, Westmore ventured out to become a freelance make-up artist, and worked on films such as “Raging Bull and “Rocky”. He then worked with the CIA to help operatives overseas change identities using make-up sets. His net worth was increasing significantly thanks to these numerous opportunities. In 1985, he appeared in the video “Looking Your Best with Michael Westmore”, and the following year would start to work on “Star Trek: The Next Generation”, which led to him working on all other “Star Trek” projects including “Voyager”, “Enterprise”, and “Deep Space Nine”; he helped develop make-up for several alien races such as the Ferengi and the Jem’Hadar, and also helped develop make-up for the Klingon characters. One of his first projects with the make-up team was to create the character Data, however, he would leave the show after the cancellation of “Enterprise”. Despite this, he increased his net worth significantly with the franchise.
After “Star Trek”, Michael went into semi-retirement, though he worked on the musical version of “Mask”, and also spent 18 months working on the Indian film “Dasavathaaram”. He began production work too, and made a guest appearance in the third series finale of the reality television make-up show “Face Off”, and subsequent appeared in other seasons as a mentor.
For his work in the 1985 film “Mask”, Westmore won an Academy Award, plus he’s also been nominated three other times for his work on “Star Trek: the First Contact”, “2010”, and “The Clan of the Cave Bear”. He was nominated for at least one Emmy every year from 1984 to 2005, winning nine throughout his career.
For his personal life, it is known that Michael is married to Marion, and their daughter is actress McKenzie Westmore.
