Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1500442
40 • THE ARTISAN SUMMER 2023 How did you get your start as a hair stylist? What was your first film or television show? I became a hair stylist in 2001, with the dream of working in the entertainment industry. I had a dear friend who was a make-up artist in the "biz" and his life experiences seemed so intriguing and exciting. I wanted that. I never had interest in pursuing a career in a salon but knew that proper training was essential, so I continued my training there for two years. Opportunity knocked when a friend asked me to cover for them on Fox 11 morning news. Soon, I landed work on several Hallmark movies, which helped me collect my union days and later, in 2006, I got hired on my first union show, Charmed (thanks to my friend Bret Mardock, who asked the hair department to hire me!) My hard work paid off and I'm grateful to have a career in an industry I love, for almost 20 years now. You've previously worked with Ryan Murphy on many projects including American Crime Story and Halston. How did the collaboration start? What is it like working with him? I began working on Ryan Murphy projects in 2012. First on Glee and then in 2015, Chris Clark, who was the Department Head Hair of The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, invited me to join his team. For the L.A portion of Halston, I was called to do Ewan McGregor's hair, which led to me being offered the department head position on Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. In my experience working with Ryan Murphy, it's evident that he always has a vision. He sets a very high bar for the hair/make-up/ costumes departments, but it pushes us to be better at our craft. He and his amazing team are very collaborative and it's always mind- blowing to see how his projects come to life. When it came to Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, did Ryan have a clear vision of how to bring these characters to life? What made this project different from your previous work together? Ryan always has a clear vision of what he wants and is an extremely detailed person. I really appreciate that going into a project! Monster was different for me, since this time, I was the department head and designer. It was important that I discussed with Ryan to see what his vision was and how he wanted to visually tell the story, and I presented my ideas and the collaboration begins! It was a lot of challenging work for my team and me. We were always on our toes, waiting to see if we needed to change something or if everything looked as he'd imagined, once he saw it on the monitor. I have the utmost respect for him, all the projects he has done and all the teams that worked on them. Jeffrey Dahmer is an American monster that has been seen on TV, in history books, and on the internet countless times since he was apprehended. What was it like being tasked to recreate the hair of such a widely known and infamous person? There is a vast amount of information about Jeffrey Dahmer readily available. I studied tons of research material to learn the history of this American monster and just when I thought I knew everything about the timeline of his life, I would learn something new! The style of his hair changed through the decades, depending on where and how he was living. In 1977-1978, he had grown his hair longer. Later, after joining the military, Jeffrey wore a short, tapered haircut, which he would keep until the late '80s. As far as we know, it was in 1987 when he started his attacks again, where he became more unkempt and unbathed looking, until his capture in 1992. Glenda Cleveland, played by Niecy Nash, was an unseen hero while Dahmer killings eventually made headlines. How did you AN INTERVIEW WITH S H A Y S A N F O R D - F O N G | DEPARTMENT HEAD HAIR THE DAHMER MONSTER: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story PHOTOS BY AARON EPSTEIN/HULU