Gil Mosko
Journeyman Makeup Artist
1950-2021

 Gil Mosko was an award-winning artist and creator of GM Foam - which revolutionized prosthetic makeup. He worked as a makeup effects labor artist and foam technician in feature films including the Academy Award-winner Dick Tracy, and his work was featured on multiple seasons and incarnations of the Star Trek film and television franchise which garnered eight Emmy Nominations and three wins.  Gil won two Daytime Emmys for The Munsters Today in 1990-91, and was twice nominated for Makeup Artist & Hairstylist Guild Awards for his work on Alias.  Screen credits include Killer Clowns From Outer Space, Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula, Face/Off, Galax Quest, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolution, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Hancock.

At the age of 13, Gil was well on his way to an amazing musical career - playing sax and piano - but had an accident and lost part of his left hand; he became very accomplished in classical guitar by simply flipping the instrument over to play chords with his right hand and pick with is left. He sent demo tapes around and got accepted into a group only to be turned away when they saw the upside-down guitar.  Gil needed other outlets for his creativity… 

Gil moved to Southern California in the 1970’s and began his career at Mattel Toys. He was in the Research & Development department and invented the Creepy Crawler Thing Maker – in which a liquid-type of plastic poured into a mold and heated on a (very) hot plate; in a few minutes you had a dinosaur or other creature. It was a huge hit for the company.

A family relative of the owner of Mattel started a new company for women who had undergone mastectomy operations called NearlyMe; the owner hired Gil for production and product development. The product was a prosthetic breast of silicone gel covered with a foam Gil invented; this was before reconstructive surgery was common. Gil moved from Mattel to NearlyMe and worked there for many years prior to forming his own company. Gil saw a market for the foam he invented but needed to learn how to use it as a facial appliance; he took advanced make-up classes at UCLA and learned how to blend make-up from the foam to the skin seamlessly. Due in large part to his natural artistic gifts, he was a huge success.

After attending a presentation about raw land in rural Colorado, Brother Mosko purchased roughly 60 acres of land which he owned for 10 years prior to building his retirement home: a small 2 bedroom/2 bath home with a thousand feet of studio space where he and his beloved dog Wendell lived out his life. Gil built an outdoor kiln and continued to teach classes at the nearby college in Pueblo, throwing pots and dabbling in makeup until the very end, leaving over 600 pots he had intended for sale. 

A small private service was held for family. A memorial service is planned when Covid restrictions are lifted.