Former York College student Nadia Stacey wins Best Makeup Oscar!

Nadia, who studied Media Make-up with the college from 2004 to 2006, scooped the Best Makeup & Hairstyling gong at Sunday’s 96^th Academy Awards Ceremony.

It was in recognition of her work as Makeup, Hair and Prosthetics Designer on the movie Poor Things, for which she also won a BAFTA last month.

Nadia has always maintained close links with her former education provider, where she was a classmate of current York College University Centre BA (Hons) Media Make-up, Special Effects & Hair Design Programme Lead Sharon Barrington.

She has previously expressed her pride at being a former student and sent a video message of support to students during the Covid Lockdown.

Nadia is now intending to visit campus when her busy schedule permits.

Her prestigious accolade follows the success of another former York College Media Make-up student Freda Ellis, who won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Contemporary Makeup earlier this year in recognition of her work on the Netflix show Wednesday.

Such international acclaim has generated immense excitement on campus with department head Sharon enthusing: “The success of both Nadia and Freda this year has created quite a buzz in the department. Students have found great inspiration and encouragement in knowing that one of us or, in fact, two of us have made it to the top and are well-known names in the television and film industry.

“Nadia has fond memories of studying at York College and we have swapped memories of the lovely tutor Val Elliott, who we both admired during our studies together. Although Nadia is an extremely busy make-up designer, she has found the time to reach out and check in via Instagram and support our students.

“We are truly proud that two women who studied at York College have gone on to great success. We extend our heartfelt congratulations to both and will be drinking a lovely cup of Yorkshire Tea to celebrate.”

Nadia’s triumph was even celebrated with exuberance by Best Actress winner Emma Stone, who she worked with on Poor Things, as well as other award-winning films such as Cruella and The Favourite.

The Hollywood A-Lister was videoed breaking off from chatting backstage with fellow actress Kirsten Dunst when she spotted Nadia’s acceptance speech on TV.

Dashing over to listen, she was heard to cry: “Oh my God, it’s Nadia! I love her!”

A clearly excited Nadia went on to express her gratitude to a number of people including her Mum and Poor Things director Yorgos Lanthimos, saying: “Thank you to the Academy. I can’t believe I just said those words. Thank you to Yorgos for making films like nobody else.”

Having initially been inspired to get into media make-up by Michael Jackson’s Thriller music video and The Elephant Man film, after leaving College Nadia worked her way up through the ranks as a trainee, junior, artist and then designer.

With credits for TV and film as a Make-up Artist dating back to 2006, some of her early work included roles for directors such as Steven Spielberg and Guy Ritchie on War Horse and Sherlock Holmes respectively.

She has also carried out make-up duties for Harry Potter and Marvel films, as well as the hit TV drama Downton Abbey.

In an email to York College, Nadia wrote: “I’m so proud that I came from your course and, if you ever want me to do anything for the students on the course, I’d be more than happy to.”

*If the video link below does not work, please visit our @MoviesYorkCollege YouTube channel and click on our Shorts.

During her video message to students amid the pandemic in 2020, meanwhile, she spoke about how the Media Make-up course had impacted her life and career and how it could provide them with a platform to prosper in the industry, too.

She said: “I just wanted to let you know how good a course that you’re on and what great things you can achieve from that course and I know that because I did it a few years ago – quite a few years ago – and in 2019 this happened…”

Nadia then turned the camera towards the awards she won for The Favourite and went on: “I won the European Film Award, the BAFTA and the British Independent Film Award all for the film The Favourite and all because I was on that course at York College so, even when it feels like you won’t get there, you will. Stick with it and I can’t wait to see what you all achieve in the future.”

On Nadia’s position as an inspirational College role model, Sharon added: “Nadia is often mentioned in workshops when we are studying current makeup artists in the industry, with tutors and students dissecting her great ability to research a character. Nadia’s Northern grit, with a brutally honest approach towards character design, is an aspect often debated.

“She has the greatest ability to look into a character’s soul, not only the character as seen on the screens, but how she thinks about the characters’ past lives, their journey to the now and how this has impacted on their current look and physiology from past scars, tattoos, weathering and general aging. She considers all those layers to build a final look.

“Nadia also posts references to design on her social media platforms where her ability to see beauty in the least expected places, her love of historical references with attention and interest in the working classes and the under-represented from past to present is all evident. She has been and will continue to be a huge inspiration for all students studying Media Make-up at York College University Centre.”

Here is a full list of the productions Nadia has worked on: Miss Potter (2006); Notes on a Scandal (2006); Exodus (2007); Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day (2008); Doomsday (2008); Charlie Brooker’s Screen Wipe (2008); The Commander: Abduction (2008); Sherlock Holmes (2009); Harry Brown (2009); Trial & Retribution (2009); Runaway (2009); Above Suspicion (2009); The Wolfman (2010); Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010); Gulliver’s Travels (2010); Green Zone (2010); Bonded By Blood (2010); This Is England ’86 (2010); Downtown Abbey (2010); War Horse (2011); Weighed In: The Story Of the Mumper (2011); Point Of Rescue (2011); Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011); Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 (2011); Double Lesson (2011); This is England '88 (2011); Blitz (2011); Tyrannosaur (2011); Borrowed Time (2011); Captain America: The First Avenger (2012); John Carter (2012); 47 Ronin (2012); The Fear (2012); Good Vibrations (2012); Sightseers (2012); A Fantastic Fear of Everything (2012); Mayday (2013); In The Flesh (2013); Breathless (2013); The Suspicions Of Mr Whicher: The Murder in Angel Lane (2013); Spike Island (2013); In Fear (2013); Emotional Fusebox (2014); The Suspicions Of Mr Whicher: Beyond The Pale (2014); The Suspicions Of Mr Whicher: The Ties That Bind (2014); Pride (2014); Spotless (2015); Bill (2015); Eddie The Eagle (2016); NW (2016); The Girl With All The Gifts (2016); Where Hands Touch (2017); Krypton (2017); The Sense Of An Ending (2017); Williams (2017); Journeyman (2017); Beast (2017); The Favourite (2018); Teen Spirit (2018); Tolkien (2019); Official Secrets (2019); Devs (2020); The Secret Garden (2020); The Father (2020); The Almond And The Seahorse (2021); Cruella (2021); Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (2021); True Things (2021); Mothering Sunday (2021); See How They Run (2021); Living (2022); Poor Things (2022); Snow White (2023); Bob Marley: One Love (2023); The Bride (2024).

For more information on our BA (Hons) Media Make-up, Special Effects and Hair Design course, please click here

You can also discuss the course with tutors at our next Open Event on Tuesday 19^th March from 5.30pm-8pm. To register a place, click here or, alternatively, you can turn up and register on the night.