28 Days Of Black History: Who Was The First African American Female Makeup Artist In Hollywood?
Who Was The First African American Female Makeup Artist In Hollywood?
“I had to file a class act suit to do this because they just wouldn’t let minorities in, it was a very hard industry to break no matter how hard you tried, you just couldn’t break it”
Bernadine Anderson has paved the way for a lot of makeup artists today. She was the first black female celebrity makeup artist. After working as an apprentice for three years at Warner Brothers, she went on to work with some of Hollywood’s top actors such, as Eddie Murphy and Jane Fonda for 8 years. Anderson also worked in the makeup department for some major films and TV shows like Vampire in Brooklyn, What’s Love Got to Do with It, Boomerang, Another 48 Hours, Julia, Amen, and Head of The Class.
Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of information on Bernadine Anderson. I would love to find out more about her and her work in Hollywood as the first black makeup artist.
Randall James Gully
Bernadine Anderson and I were friends but her schedule didn’t allows for us to interact that often. What you may not know was that she was a great cook and maintained a very upstanding and well decorated home. And one the best things she would do just about every time we hooked up was to make to make. from scratch, cakes and I must say I miss the good times we shared. I’d love to reconnect with her again.
Miss Jamila
Randall James GullyThanks for sharing your memory of her with me.