Instructors

About the Faculty

Empire Academy of Makeup is the only licensed professional makeup artistry school in America that is owned and daily operated by a working Makeup Artist. Donna Mee owns the Academy, teaches a large portion of the courses herself and is considered one of the best teachers in the industry. EMPIRE’S focus is offering intensive, quality instruction from industry veterans who speak and teach from experience. The ability to learn from the Instructors mistakes makes our graduates road to success a more direct route.

DONNA MEE

Donna has been working as a Professional Makeup Artist for 26 years and has taught the Art and Science of Makeup for over 18 years. She was formerly a trainer with Christian Dior and the first Beauty Director for Cosmetics in the Nordstrom chain. Prior to starting her own business, Donna was Director of the Paris based professional makeup line, Make Up For Ever and was solely responsible for launching their first 42 doors into the United States, creating and implementing their training program, hiring all staff, as well as marketing and new product development. Donna has written many published articles on makeup, she’s been featured on television and in newspapers and has been referred to as the "Guru of Makeup".
Through Donna's education, experience and teaching as a professional artist, she has worked with many celebrities and models doing makeup for both stage and television. Her credits include working with celebrities such as Mandy Moore, Ali Landry, Cindy Crawford, Meg Tilly, Raquel Welch, Aaliyah, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Kevin Costner among others. Her work has been featured in Marie Claire, Harpers Bazaar, GQ, Fit, Coast, Audrey, 13 Minutes Magazine, Los Angeles and Orange Coast Magazine. She has also worked on designer runway shows such as Tommy Hilfiger, Christian Dior, Richard Tyler, Christian Lacroix, Peter Lau, and Annie Who.
In 1997, Donna opened Empire Academy of Makeup, a school for aspiring professional makeup artists. Through this facility, Donna's time is strongly dedicated to improving the caliber of people who call themselves "Makeup Artists."

JOSEPH McDONOUGH

Growing up in Southern California, Joseph McDonough won awards for art in grade school at an early age. During the pursuit of his engineering degree, he broke up the intense class schedule with art classes, including sculpture, life drawing and computer animation. Joe formerly worked at Coast Airbrush, giving technical

support to their artist clients while expanding his own freelance business. He maintains his own personal customers who are often large companies expanding into the airbrush field. In 2001, Joe joined the Empire staff as an Instructor for the Airbrush Makeup Workshop.

A few of Joe's clients include CBS, Gotcha, Lightning Bolt, Disney, Knott's Berry Farm, Universal Studios and the Queen Mary. Specializing in fantasy effects, Joe has done makeup for print ads for P.E.T.A. and Sports Illustrated Magazine. His expertise has also landed him consulting positions with Sony Pictures and Knott's Scary Farm. He has also worked with the acclaimed Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach. You can find Joseph McDonough at Empire Academy cheerfully sharing his knowledge and his "artistic endeavors."

MARIETTA CARTER-NARCISSE

Marietta Carter-Narcisse is a celebrity makeup artist and internationally renowned educator. She has worked with Angela Bassett, Denzel Washington, Michelle Pfeiffer, Whoopi Goldberg, Cindy Crawford and was a personal makeup artist to Samuel Jackson for many years. Some of her film credits include:
Baby Boy, The Negotiator, The Red Violin, Sphere, Eve’s Bayou, The Long Kiss Goodnight, A Time to Kill, Dangerous Mind’s, Strange Days, Tina: What’s Love Got to Do With It?, Malcolm X, Boyz ‘N The Hood, Ghost, and Beverly Hills Cop 3. A respected expert in her field, Carter-Narcisse has been interviewed by and written for such publications as Vogue, Glamour, Premiere, Seventeen, Vogue Hollywood, Panache, Shades of Beauty, First Hold, Makeup Artist Magazine and Essence, among others. She is a seasoned educator who has lectured before Procter and Gamble, the Society of Cosmetic Chemists, and numerous schools in the USA and abroad. She has a passion for sharing her beauty knowledge and is proud to be training a whole new generation of makeup artists at Empire where she has taught consistently since Empire opened in 1997.

Putting all of her loves together, Marietta’s experience as a motion picture makeup artist along with her BA degree in chemistry, she found another way to share her extensive knowledge by creating her own line of handmade beauty and skin care products. It’s no wonder that she is often referred to as the “makeup evangelist.” Carter-Narcisse lives in southern Florida but travels to California several times a year to teach and inspire Empire’s Media students.

MARGAUX LANCASTER

Margaux is the youngest female ever to be accepted into the Makeup Artist Union Local 706 where she has been a member since 1991. She has worked on such films as National Treasure, Shaggy Dog, XXX2, The Princess Diaries, Man on the Moon, Very Bad Things, Living Out Loud, Born Yesterday, Stone Cold, The Waterdance, Why do Fools fall in Love???? and Batman and Robin.
She has also worked on numerous television productions such as: Ugly Betty, The Unit, The OC, Alias, ER, Judging Amy, ITV Hit me Baby, Clueless, Pacific Blue, Blade Squad, CSI - New York, Providence, Mad TV, VH1, MTV, the E! Entertainment channel. Recent celebrity clients include Hilary Duff, Benjamin Bratt, Nicollette Sheridan, Rosie O'Donnell, Martin Sheen, Tyne Daly, Amy Brenneman, Melina Kanakaredes, Wesley Snipes, Billy Bob Thornton, Peter Gabriel, Tiffany, and David Spade among many others. Margaux specializes in Beauty, Character and Injury makeup applications for Television and Film.

MICHAEL MOSHER

Michael received a makeup kit for his 7th birthday and has been doing makeup in one form or another since. His career has spanned decades and continents. His theater credits include Phantom of the Opera, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and over 150 other shows as costume, makeup, and/or hair designer. His resume highlights include such film credits as Pirates of the Caribbean, Titanic, Cat in the Hat, Bring it On, Pulp Fiction and 25 other films in the last 6 years. He recently became a member of the Makeup Artist Union (local 706), and also worked on the Project Greenlight Feature, Feast.

Michael's makeup talents include sculpting, mold making, wig and facial hair making, character makeup, specialty blood effects, prosthetic makeup, and virtually any other makeup related to TV and film. Michael has taught at Empire since 1999 when he is available between projects.

NANCY PELLIGRINO

A former EMPIRE graduate, Nancy left a career as a delivery nurse in order to utilize her passion for beauty. Since 2000, she has worked as a Nurse Practitioner performing peels, laser treatments, Botox and Restylane, along side a prominent Newport Beach Plastic Surgeon.
Nancy brings her expertise to the Post-Surgical/ Camouflage workshop by educating artists in the most up to date industry procedures to improving skin, the differences in skin diseases and skin disorders, how to detect if a mole is cancerous, in addition to how to work with doctors and plastic surgeons.