Todd Debreceni

Todd Debreceni, BS in Psychology, University of Tennessee. CU faculty since 2014.

Todd began his almost 40-year career in entertainment with PBS while a graduate student at the University of Tennessee. Before starting his own small effects shop/lab in Denver, Todd worked for cable television pioneer Ted Turner at TBS in Atlanta. He’s worked for Cannon Films, Warner Bros., Walt Disney Pictures, Starz/Encore and 20th Century Fox Television. Film and television work includes Ink; Decay; Contact; Batman and Robin; My Favorite Martian; Captain Phillips; Die Hard II; Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves; Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects, Doctor Who and JAG. He has created prosthetic makeup, makeup effects, special effects and specialty props for many stage productions, including Dracula, Shrek; Spamalot; Man of La Mancha; Disney’s Beauty and the Beast; Young Frankenstein; Elephant Man; The Toxic Avenger and Batboy: The Musical.

Todd is the recipient of a 2015 True West Award, a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award, two Denver Post Ovation Awards, a 2010 Henry Award nomination, and several other design awards for his work. Todd was a founding partner and Producing Director of the Hudson Theatre and the Hudson Backstage Theatre in Hollywood.

He taught acting, animation, sculpture and visual effects at the Art Institute of Colorado for nearly 17 years, has been a Guest Artist at the Denver School of the Arts since 2006, and was a makeup design instructor at Metropolitan State University of Denver from 2011 to 2012.

Todd conducts workshops on prosthetic makeup design internationally, and literally wrote the book on special makeup effects; the 2nd edition of his highly acclaimed book is called Special Makeup Effects for Stage and Screen Making and Applying Prosthetics (Focal Press, 2009, 2013). He is also a regular contributor to Prosthetics Magazine, published quarterly in the UK and distributed worldwide, and produces a twice-monthly podcast called Battles with Bits of Rubber with noted British makeup artist and educator Stuart Bray.

Todd is a member of the USITT Costume Commission, and IATSE Local 7.