Kazu Hiro

Biography

Kazu Hiro (born Kazuhiro Tsuji, Japanese: 辻 一弘 Tsuji Kazuhiro; born May 26, 1969) is a Japanese-born 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). 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.