Joe Podnar (9 December 1953 – 4 January 2020; age 66)[1] was a make-up and special effects make-up artist who worked on three Star Trek television series and three Star Trek feature films.
During his time on Star Trek, Podnar earned five Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Makeup for a Series:
- 1998 for the episode "Who Mourns for Morn?", shared with Michael Westmore, Camille Calvet, Dean Jones, Karen Iverson, Mark Bussan, Ellis Burman, Karen Westerfield, Mary Kay Morse, Belinda Bryant, Suzanne Diaz, Jill Rockow, David Quashnick, and Bernd Rantscheff
- 1999 for the episode "The Dogs of War", shared with Michael Westmore, Camille Calvet, Dean Jones, Mark Bussan, Mary Kay Morse, Ellis Burman, Belinda Bryant, Karen Iverson, Karen Westerfield, Brad Look, David Quashnick, Earl Ellis, R. Stephen Weber, Jeff Lewis, Toby Lamm, Sandra Rowden, Michael F. Blake, June Westmore, Judith Silverman, Craig Smith, Kevin Haney, Suzanne Diaz, Scott Wheeler, James Rohland, Tina Hoffman, and Natalie Wood
- 2001 for the episode "The Void", shared with Michael Westmore, Tina Hoffman, Scott Wheeler, James Rohland, Suzanne Diaz, Natalie Wood, Ellis Burman, Jeff Lewis, Belinda Bryant, Brad Look, David Quashnick, Karen Westerfield, and Earl Ellis
- 2002 for the episode "Broken Bow", shared with Michael Westmore, Art Anthony, Belinda Bryant, David DeLeon, Suzanne Diaz, Earl Ellis, Jeff Lewis, Brad Look, Karen Westerfield, June Westmore, and Natalie Wood
- 2003 for the episode "Canamar", shared with Michael Westmore, Suzanne Diaz, Brad Look, Jeff Lewis, Earl Ellis, Michael Burnett, Todd McIntosh, Barry R. Koper, Art Anthony, Robert Maverick, Steven E. Anderson, Debbie Zoller, Roxy D'Alonzo, Ruth Haney, and Judith Silverman
Podnar's first credited work was as animatronics assistant and location crew member for the company Mechanical and Makeup Imagieries Inc. on The Garbage Pail Kids Movie (1987) on which he worked with Camille Calvet and Karin Hanson. He then worked as scenic artist for Cellar Dweller (1988) and in the special effects department for To Die For (1988, with Wayne Toth) and Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988, with Karin Hanson, Richard Snell, Martin Becker, and Joe Lombardi). Beside his work as an actor on the horror film The Jitters (1989) and in the make-up department for the horror comedy The Sleeping Car (1989, along with Richard Snell and Wayne Toth) and Watchers II (1990, with Dean Jones), he worked in the special make-up effects department for the company Magical Media Industries, Inc. on A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988, with Martin Becker, Camille Calvet, Roger Borelli, Mark Garbarino, Leonard MacDonald, Wayne Toth, Bart Mixon, Scott Wheeler, and Brian Wade), Bride of Re-Animator (1990, with Ron Althoff, Jim Davidson, Tony Doublin, Alan McFarland, Robert Stromberg, Wayne Toth, and Brian Wade), and Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991, with Dayne Johnson, Wayne Toth, and Marlene Stoller).
Further credits as make-up artist and special effects make-up artist include the drama Inside Out (1991), F/X2 (1991, with Donna Cicatelli-Lewis), the comedy Kung Fu Rascals (1992), the drama Inside Out II (1992), Danger Island (1992, with Earl Ellis and Bart Mixon), Oblivion (1994), Leapin' Leprechauns (1995), Screamers (1995, with Jim Bandsuh and Ken Niederbaumer), Sometimes They Come Back... Again (1996, with Earl Ellis and Bart Mixon), Oblivion 2: Backlash (1996), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000, with Karen Asano-Myers, Terry Baliel, Barney Burman, Zoltan Elek, Earl Ellis, Jane Galli, Kevin Haney, Joel Harlow, Karen Iverson, Jamie Kelman, Michael Key, Heather Koontz, Toby Lamm, Mark Landon, Steve LaPorte, Margie Latinopoulos, Norma Lee, Patricia Miller, Bart Mixon, Geneva Nash Morgan, Gilbert A. Mosko, Kenny Myers, Ve Neill, Greg Nelson, Alex Proctor, Bernd Rantscheff, Craig Reardon, Jill Rockow, Sandra Rowden, Kim Santantonio, Elaina P. Schulman, Mark Shostrom, Robin Slater, Mike Smithson, Richard Snell, Justin Stafford, Rick Stratton, Thomas E. Surprenant, Brian A. Tunstall, Karen Westerfield, June Westmore, Monty Westmore, Art Anthony, and Adam Brandy), the horror film Dead Above Ground (2002, with Michael Westmore and Natalie Wood), Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), Venom (2005, with Ed French, Brad Look, and Bob Smithson), The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), and The Midnight Meat Train (2008, with Ed French, Ruth Haney, Margie Latinopoulos, Bart Mixon, Christopher Payne, and Clinton Wayne).
Star Trek credits[]
(This list is currently incomplete.)
- Star Trek films
- Star Trek: First Contact – special makeup effects artist
- Star Trek: Insurrection – special makeup effects artist
- Star Trek Nemesis – special makeup effects artist
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – make-up artist
- Star Trek: Voyager – make-up artist
- Star Trek: Enterprise – make-up artist
- "Broken Bow" (Season 1)
- "Canamar" (Season 2)