Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1963, Greg Nicotero was inspired to become a special effects master after seeing the movie Jaws as a kid. He was amazed on how the film's giant creature was brought to life and how it moved and attacked people. Also, as a big fan of makeup-heavy effects movies like Planet of the Apes, The Exorcist, and the Universal Monster films, it laid the seeds for the man and artist he would later become.
While still young, Greg started working with makeup artist Tom Savini learning the craft on Dawn of The Dead under the direction of George A. Romero. The experience taught him about applying prosthetics, blood effects, airbrushing, and working with actors plus all behind the scenes of making a Hollywood motion picture. These were all tools that Greg would later run with when carving out a career in special effects makeup design for himself after Dawn of the Dead wrapped production. It was while on the set of Dawn that he would meet fellow makeup artists Howard Berger and Robert Kurtzman and become friends and in 1988 the three would form KNB Effects.
Together with KNB Effects, they would go on to work on such movies as A Nightmare on Elm Street 5, Halloween 5, Army of Darkness, and even non-horror features such as City Slickers, Dances with Wolves, and Reservoir Dogs. Together they even dipped their toes into fantasy with makeup design and animatronic work for The Chronicles of Narnia films as well.
But zombies were still in Greg’s blood and his future and in 2010, he would find himself again facing the living dead only this time on TV. When The Walking Dead was first starting production, Greg was brought in as one of the show's zombie (Walkers) makeup production leads, producer, and even episode director as well. Greg was to oversee the creature design of the Walkers and try and make them stand out from other film interpretations of zombies that were going through a sort of zombie renaissance at the time. After all, this was on the heels of the Dawn of The Dead remake, 28 Days Later, Zombieland, Resident Evil, Shaun of The Dead, Planet Terror, and hell, even three all-new George A. Romero features Land of The Dead, Diary of The Dead, and Survival of The Dead. Plus another TV series was lurking in the shadows with Z Nation soon to follow. Yeah, zombies were all the rage in the new millennium!
Along with his work as head makeup effects wizard on The Walking Dead, Greg Nicotero also wore other hats as well as effects god. He worked as the show’s producer as well as directing 37 episodes of the long-running series. The Walking Dead is in fact the second longest-running horror genre series in television history with 11 seasons, only being beaten out for the top spot by Supernatural with an amazing 15 season run.
Today Greg is busy working on all new projects in the Hollywood machine with productions on Fear The Walking Dead, Suicide Squad, Oz The Great and Powerful, The Gray, and so much more. At 59 years of age, he shows no signs of slowing down and that’s a good thing because we, the fans who enjoy his work and creature and makeup effects, would miss his wonderful work.
