Legends founders

ve neill

Ve has earned 23 international nominations that include 8 Oscar nominations. She won three Academy Awards for Beetlejuice, Mrs. Doubtfire and Ed Wood, two Emmys for Pee-wee’s Playhouse and The Shining, a BAFTA for Pirates of the Caribbean, five Saturn Awards and Local 706 Best Character Makeup Award. She’s also the first Artist to be awarded Hollywood Foreign Press “Makeup Artist of the Year.” Ve created space travelers for Star Trek the Motion Picture and the hit comedy “Galaxy Quest”; Rock ‘n’ Roll Vampires for “The Lost Boys”; visions of the Afterlife for “Beetlejuice”, transformed Johnny Depp into “Edward Scissorhands”, Jack Sparrow, “Ed Wood” and “Sweeney Todd” and Robin Williams into “Mrs. Doubtfire.”

She’s also Headed some of the largest movie franchises in the world; Batman, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Amazing Spiderman and The Hunger Games. She’s been on the Local 706 Executive Board, an educator, a businesswoman and a judge on the hit TV series for Syfy “Face Off”. She has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by her guild, Local 706. She had three films come out in 2018, “Shock and Awe” starring Woody Harrelson and James Marsden, “A Star is Born” starring Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga and the quirky life inspired film “Welcome to Marwen” starring Steve Carrell and Leslie Mann directed by Robert Zemekis. In 2019 she completed The Highwaymen, where Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson chased down Bonnie and Clyde. 

lee joyner

Lee started sculpting at the early age of 12, drawing for years before that, after being raised reading H. P. Lovecraft, Stephen King and Piers Anthony, as well as the fantasies from Watership Down to Dungeons and Dragons stories, as his brother Cliff raised him on D&D in the 1970’s.  His obsession with fantasy and creature art led to Lee attend the Savannah College of Art and Design on scholarship for Illustration. He then traveled the country to various other colleges, majoring in sculpture, Russian, computer engineering and quantum theory, completing his education journey at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh for industrial design.

Starting his career with animatronic firms, Lee contributed to and led projects worldwide, such as Disney’s Lion King Lion Puppet Show. He then headed to Los Angeles, creating and contributing to some of Hollywood’s iconic creations, from Mimic to Godzilla, Star Trek DS9 and Voyager to Stargate SG-1, Star Trek Beyond and The Orville, as well as with musicians such as Slipknot, Usher and Alice Cooper. He was featured on History Channel’s “Making Monsters” and has an extensive history in Halloween animatronics and creatures. He is an award winning gallery sculptor as well, embracing the dark art community. He has trained twenty of SyFy’s FaceOff contestants during his time as an educator and has many award winning graduates around the world that he is very proud of.  He has created and led innovative industry standard makeup education classes for over 20 years. 

“Lee Joyner has a background as a Master Sculptor and Special Effects Artist, with many television and film credits.  Lee has a multi-year background and in-depth knowledge of managing and directing a successful Makeup School and positively coordinating with students.”

-Leonard Engelman

paul esper 

Paul brings over 2 decades of business experience to LMA. He started in the TV & Film industry by working at Frends Beauty, an industry leader in makeup & hair supplies for professionals worldwide. He became GM of Frends in 2006 and has toured the world via trade shows and other related events. Over the course of his travels and his tenure at Frends Beauty, Paul has developed personal relationships with most high-end makeup artists and hair stylists working in the TV & Film industry.

Paul is also an innovator in brand-specific, curated makeup education. He has developed dozens of highly informative classes that were taught by some of the most desired artists in our industry. The classes were very valuable given the caliber of the instructors, the rare nature of the subject matter, and the method in which it was delivered to the audience.