The Contender Q & A: 'Star Trek's' Barney Burman

arney Burman is a scion of the legendary Burman family of Hollywood makeup effects artists - his father, Tom, is an Oscar nominee and multiple Emmy winner whose credits include "Planet of the Apes" (1968) and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," while grandfather Ellis Burman Sr. made prosthetics and props for the original "Wolf Man" (1941) and "The Twilight Zone." Burman himself has created effects for a slew of popular features and television shows, including "Tropic Thunder" (he transformed Tom Cruise into the repulsive Les Grossman), "Valkyrie," "Blades of Glory," "Alias" and many others. His work for J.J. Abrams on the feature film revision of "Star Trek," which blended interpretations of iconic makeup designs with new versions of the show's alien races earned him his first Oscar nomination. Burman spoke to The Envelope from his studio, Proteus Make-Up FX.

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/26/entertainment/la-etw-barney-burman26-2010feb27