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Peter Swords King

Costume & Make-Up

Born January 1, 1955 · UK

Also known as Peter 'Swords' King · Peter "Swords" King · Peter King

Biography

Peter King (born 1955), also known as Peter Swords King, is a British Oscar-winning makeup artist who won the 2003 Academy Awards for Best Makeup for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. He shared the award with filmmaker Richard Taylor. He was nominated again at the 2012 Academy Awards for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Besides bringing movie characters to life by way of make-up and hairstyling, King, for the 13 dwarves in the movie The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, had to work on 1,000 drawings before finalising down to a single image. "We make the prosthetics, wigs, beards and then do a show-and-tell for each character in the film", was Peter's remark about his work. He is credited for his exemplary work of immortalising characters like King Kong and Marquis de Sade on celluloid. His other movies include Quills, Thunderbirds Little Voice, The Importance of Being Earnest, An Ideal Husband, and The Avengers. King has also won several BAFTA Awards. He has worked on nearly 40 films since 1982. King is artistic director at Bath Academy of Media Makeup, a private school for makeup artistry in media and fashion. Description above from the Wikipedia article Peter King (make-up artist), licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Awards & recognition

  • Academy AwardBest Makeup and Hairstyling · 2004
  • Academy AwardBest Makeup and Hairstyling · 2013 · nominated
  • Academy AwardBest Makeup and Hairstyling · 2004 · nominated

Filmography35 titles

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

2003Hair Designer, Makeup Designer

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

2002Makeup Designer

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

2001Hair Designer, Makeup Designer

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

2013Hair Designer, Makeup Designer

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

2012Hair Designer, Makeup Designer

Superman

2025Hair Designer

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

2014Hair Designer, Makeup Designer

Quills

2000Hair Designer, Makeup Designer

The Draughtsman's Contract

1982Hairstylist, Wig Designer

Love & Other Drugs

2010Makeup Artist

King Kong

2005Hair Designer, Makeup Designer

Velvet Goldmine

1998as Cecil's Friend 2

Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi

2017Hair Designer, Makeup Designer

The Importance of Being Earnest

2002Makeup & Hair

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

2017Hair Designer, Makeup Designer

Nanny McPhee

2005Makeup Artist

Alice Through the Looking Glass

2016Hair Designer

I'm Not There

2007Hair Designer, Makeup Designer

An Ideal Husband

1999Makeup Designer

Little Voice

1998Hairstylist, Makeup Artist

FairyTale: A True Story

1997Hairstylist, Makeup Artist

The Tango Lesson

1997Wigmaker

The Witches

2020Hair Designer, Makeup Designer

Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang

2010Hair Designer

Beyond the Sea

2004Hair Designer, Makeup Designer

The Golden Compass

2007Hair Designer, Makeup Designer

Youth Without Youth

2007Makeup & Hair

The Portrait of a Lady

1996Makeup Artist

Into the Woods

2014Hair Designer, Makeup Designer

Princess Caraboo

1994Makeup Supervisor

Nine

2009Makeup & Hair

Talk of Angels

1998Hair Designer, Makeup Designer

Thunderbirds

2004Makeup Artist

Innocent Lies

1995Makeup Artist

The Avengers

1998Makeup Artist