Behind The Scenes: American Horror Story: Asylum – My first lace front wig Experience

Who’s the main character in American Horror Story

In American Horror Story Asylum, Sarah Paulson was one of my main actors. At this point in my career, I had taken several classes from top artists in the industry but I had never applied one on an actor to go on camera. Sarah’s character had so many different looks. At the end of the show, it even flashes forward to her being old. Which meant she needed a lot of prosthetics applied under the wig. Not only was I doing my first wig application but I was also applying it on top of makeup’s beautiful prosthetic pieces that took them hours to apply. Needless to say, I was nervous. I let my team and Sarah know about my nerves too. I just wanted to be honest and, thankfully, they were all very supportive. Luckily, it was at the end of the season and I had already developed a relationship with Sarah where I could be honest. Otherwise, I would have been afraid to mention it. 

A Tragedy on its Way

Cut To: the morning of. I woke up not feeling well and didn’t hear my alarm go off. But I was saved by the massive application that the makeup dept had on their end. Everyone was very supportive when I got to work. I will never forget the moment Sarah sat in my chair. Monte, Janice, and I were huddled around her. Sarah stopped everyone and asked if it could just be me and her. At first, I was like WHAAAT??!!!  But then I grounded myself and became calm, cool, and collected like my dad always taught me. Sarah believed in me and as nervous as I was, I pulled it off in 25 minutes! Everyone was happy with it! I was so relieved, I could finally breathe! 

Now I just had to worry about being on camera myself. Sarah wanted me to play her hairstylist on camera. I was so nervous, rightfully so. I had to time out my movements perfectly with the camera and her lines. To this day I have never watched my part in the American Horror Story. it…. imagine lol. 

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