Scotia Boyd, a Sudbury-born and raised makeup artist, won big at last weekend’s 2025 Makeup Artists and Hair Stylists Guild Awards.
The awards “recognize excellence in the artistry and creativity of make-up artists and hair stylists in 23 categories, including motion pictures, television, music videos and theatre entertainment,” according to the Guild.
Boyd, Julie Hassett and Bianca Appice won the Best Makeup Award for the commercial Secret – Beetlejuice Beetlejuice: Life Saver.
She created the makeup for a magician’s assistant character reminiscent of the original Beetlejuice movie, as well as a dead hiker character who had bee stings and wounds all over her body.
“I’m still in disbelief and, honestly, it’s just such a gift from God,” Boyd said.
“Yes, we worked hard, but I know who I was up against and I just feel really blessed and thankful.”
Boyd got her start in movies in the northern Ontario film industry. Before that, she learned makeup as a teenager working at Shoppers Drug Mart in the South End of Greater Sudbury.
“I didn’t wear makeup,” she said. “I just liked buying self-tanner and hair stuff. So I wanted a discount.”
Boyd learned how to apply makeup by practising on her sister every day after school.
“And I really fell in love with it,” she said.
“Then I went to school and … started my film career in Sudbury.”
She worked on many projects In the north, including CTV’s Cardinal and Bell Media’s Letterkenny. She eventually moved to Toronto, working on some of her favourite projects, including DC Titans and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
Two years ago, she made the leap of faith moving to LA. Boyd said it was a rough start, but everything worked out.
“We were hit with historical industry strikes and there was like a work slowdown leading up to that,” she said.
“For a full year, I wasn’t working, actually, until that commercial that came up.”
Boyd said the award meant a lot to her because her peers voted on it. She was nominated for an award last year, but this was her first win.
Her northern Ontario work includes Season 2 of When Hope Calls, which was shot in North Bay in the fall.
Boyd worked on the project with producer David Anselmo of Hideaway Pictures, who said he has seen her emerge as a talent in the industry.
‘We were all very proud’
“When the team at Hideaway Pictures found out that Scotia won an award in Los Angeles, we were all very proud of her,” Anselmo said.
“We had just finished working on two films and a television series in 2024 with her. And (we saw how) her skills have progressed and developed over the course of the last 10 years.”
For her part, Boyd said her immediate plan is to head north.
“Probably get to go back to Canada over the summer, which is lovely,” she said.
“Right now I’m doing press tours. I got to do the cast of Star Trek for the Saturn Awards. … So, getting to do cool projects like that here in L.A. and just back and forth. And I’m just going to see where life takes me. I’m having a lot of fun with this. So we’ll see what happens next.”
