Matteo Silvi is a 4th generation film makeup artist.
His great-grandfather was the first in his family to become a makeup artist–he was an Italian actor and back in those days, actors had to do their own makeup. After developing quite the skill, his great-grandfather started working on other actors, thereby creating the makeup artist category in Italy.
Two of Silvi’s cousins are also makeup artists and even his nephew, who worked with him on the movie The Last Duel.
His dad’s uncle worked on comedy movies in the 1950’s with the famous comedy actor Totò (Antonio de Curtis). It was natural then, that his dad would work in the same line of business.
Matteo’s father, the late Maurizio Silvi was a BAFTA Award winning & Oscar nominated makeup artist.
When Matteo was 17, he travelled to Australia with his dad as he was working on ‘Moulin Rouge‘.
Matteo attended an English school there, and in the afternoons he would go on set and was really inspired by the environment.
When Matteo returned home to Italy, he expressed the desire to become a makeup artist to his father, who was not thrilled by the idea, but eventually Silvi couldn’t escape it, since his father and great-grandfather were leaders in the industry.
Over his 20-year career, Matteo Silvi has worked on some of the most iconic films of our time, from ‘James Bond: Spectre‘, ‘Everest‘, to ‘The Avengers‘, ‘Men in Black‘, ‘Hercules‘ and many more.
When he is not on set, Silvi works also as an Associate Professor at Accademia Nazionale del Cinema in Bologna, Italy.
He loves teaching and thanks to these opportunities, he is able to share his wealth of industry experience with young makeup artists.
He is represented by The Milton Agency and you can find his portfolio HERE
If you want to know more about his career, you can check his IMDb page.
