(written from a Production point of view)
Irena Stepic, also known as Irena Stepic Rendulic, is a Costumer and Assistant Costume Designer who worked for Costume Designer Sanja Milkovic Hays on Star Trek: Insurrection in 1998 for which she received credit as Irene Stepic. According to the IMDb, Stepic is also working as Assistant Costume Designer for Milkovic Hays on the 2016 sequel Star Trek Beyond.
Stepic made her first entertainment industry experiences in her home country as an actress in the 1985 European television mini series Quo Vadis? followed by the Yugoslavian television musical Baal (1990) and the drama Stand By (1991) beside working primarily as a stage actress.
In 1991, Stepic and her husband fled and moved to Los Angeles where she took jobs as property manager in the Hollywood Hills and as production assistant for film and television productions. She met costumer Sanja Milkovic Hays and the two became friends. In 1993, Hays brought Stepic as a production assistant and costume department floater aboard the production of Roland Emmerich's science fiction film Stargate for which Stepic joined the Motion Pictures Costumers Local 705.
Stepic continued to work with Hays thoughout her career on projects such as the fantasy film Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995), the action thriller The Quest (1996), the science fiction film Independence Day (1996), the crime comedy 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag (1997), and the comic adaptation Blade (1998) on which she was also featured as a Slavic Vampire Lord.
Following Star Trek: Insurrection, she worked as costumer on the science fiction film Mission to Mars (2000), the thriller Along Came a Spider (2001), the fantasy film Vanilla Sky (2001), the comedy Big Fat Liar (2002), the action film xXx (2002) and its sequel xXx: State of the Union (2005), the comedy Cheaper by the Dozen (2003), the action comedy Taxi (2004), the sport drama Gridiron Gang (2006, starring Dwayne Johnson), and the science fiction thriller Next (2007). In 2005 she joined Costume Designers Guild Local 892.
Like Hays, Stepic worked on the Fast & Furious films beginning with the first film of the franchise, The Fast and the Furious in 2001, credited as set costumer. On the 2003 sequel 2 Fast 2 Furious, she worked as key costumer and beginning with the third film The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006, directed by Justin Lin) she was credited as assistant costume designer. Further sequels include Fast & Furious (2009), Fast Five (2011), Furious 6 (2013), and Furious Seven (2015).
Further credits as assistant costume designer include the fantasy sequel The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008), the science fiction remake Total Recall (2012), and the science fiction sequel Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015). In addition, she was a key costumer on the first season of the fantasy series Sleepy Hollow (2013-2014, created by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, produced by April Nocifora, music by Brian Tyler, and co-starring John Cho).
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