Tom and Bari Burman

For more than four decades, Tom and Bari Burman have brought some of film and television’s most memorable characters, creatures, and transformations to life. As the husband-and-wife team behind The Burman Studio, they helped establish special makeup effects as an art form that could be simultaneously spectacular, startling, and convincingly human.

Tom began his career at 20th Century Fox, apprenticing under legendary makeup artist Ben Nye before collaborating with John Chambers on the groundbreaking Planet of the Apes. He later helped pioneer the independent special makeup effects studio, introducing new materials and techniques that became standards throughout the industry. Universally acknowledged as one of the finest special makeup effects artists in the world, he is responsible for creating the term “Special Makeup Effects.”
Bari Dreiband-Burman began her career in fine arts, studying under the likes of Judy Chicago, Jan Stussy, and Dale Chihuly. Her work was exhibited in galleries across the country. After establishing herself as a fine artist, Bari brought her creative practice to the film industry. Working at the intersection of sculpture, painting, anatomy and storytelling, she became one of the first female special makeup effects artists in the industry. In 1980, she joined The Burman Studio during the making of Cat People. This was the beginning of an enduring creative partnership and, soon after, a marriage.

Together, the Burmans created the unforgettable Sloth makeup for The Goonies and earned an Academy Award nomination for their work on Scrooged. Across their remarkable careers, in addition to numerous other accolades, Tom and Bari have received a combined 13 Emmy Awards. In 2020, Tom was presented with the industry’s highest honor, the Makeup Artists & Hair Stylists Guild Lifetime Achievement Award.