AN EVENING WITH... REBEKAH BORA BAK

Rebekah, leading the makeup department on "Supergirl" for 20 episodes is a technical marathon. How do you design a workflow that maintains the visual consistency of a superheroine under the harsh conditions of an action set, ensuring that the design is replicable by your entire team?

- Rebekah: To be honest, Season 6 was great because everything was so dialed in. The scheduling- times for cast to be processed and a lot of the looks were already established from previous seasons. In terms of continuity, my team was great with keeping notes and photos up to date, ensuring everything matched, and of course we would go over everything together before filming.

In the "Detective Knight" saga, you became the department head in an intense action thriller environment. How does your creative approach change when you have to manage makeup fatigue on high-pressure shoots with such tight schedules?

- Rebekah: Its important to have experience with script and character breakdowns, and then communicating/sharing that with your team. It can be different for everyone but I always have the schedules posted up in the trailer and we go over everything together daily- Ensuring we’re all on the same page.

You were First and Second Assistant on massive productions like "The Flash", "iZombie" and "Altered Carbon". For aspiring makeup artists: Why is it crucial to understand the assistant role before stepping up to designer, and what logistical skills did you learn on those sets that you now apply as a department head?

- Rebekah: You have to know how to be a team player. Be professional. Don’t gossip. And you need to be fast. Fast at setting up your station, fast with makeups, fast at travelling to set. Basically everything. 

As a Makeup Artist, you spend many hours in the chair with talent. Beyond technical application, how do you manage the energy and space of the trailer to make it a place for mental preparation for the actor, and how important do you consider that "invisible work" of the makeup artist for the success of the production?

- Rebekah: A lot of the times we are starting work at 4..5..am. It’s still dark out and everyone’s still half asleep. I like to have calm music playing in the trailer and some essential oil humidifiers going. But everyone’s different. It depends on your cast. You have to have the ability to read people in this industry and cater towards what their “vibe” 

"Supergirl" Dean Cain, Chyler Leigh and Melissa Benoist / ©The CW Network

In "Moonfall," how do you ensure that your work is indistinguishable from the footage previously shot by the main unit?

- Rebekah: We were actually shooting some inserts, and so my work wasn’t necessarily something that had to be “indistinguishable”

Your training in Korea brings a unique cleanliness to skin. How do you transfer that "perfect skin" standard to action characters, where makeup must look flawless but completely integrated into a raw and realistic narrative for large format cameras?

- Rebekah: Different skin care, sometimes treatments. Depends on what’s going on. But also good lightening can save the day. 

You've gone through all the roles: Key, Assistant, Head. When hiring your own team for projects like "Supergirl" today, what "red flags" do you try to avoid in a technician, and what professional quality—beyond talent—makes an assistant an indispensable asset in your trailer?

- Rebekah: Typically if a person has worked in the union for a while, people will know their work ethic and you’ll hear about it. If someone is known for being difficult to work with or not a team player, I’ll avoid hiring them. If there are enough people saying it, it’s most likely true.  Referrals are a great way to go if you don’t know anyone directly, or no one is available. Anyone who is loyal, has a good attitude, never late, doesn’t complain, and is reliable- that to me is more important sometimes than actual skill. Because you can teach someone if they aren’t very familiar with a certain makeup. But you can’t “teach” someone to be nice, or a hard, dedicated worker etc. 

In projects with such distinct aesthetics as "A Series of Unfortunate Events" or "Charmed," how do you filter the creative demands of the studio so that the team can execute them quickly without compromising the actors' skin health during grueling workdays?

- Rebekah: Usually at the end of the work day, the actors get a hot towel and they cleanse everything before leaving work. If we were shooting long days with prosthetics or the actor was not able to drink enough water and their skin is dehydrated, I will send them for facials over the weekend.

 Listening to Rebekah Bora Bak is like attending a masterclass on the reality and rigor of the craft. Her career teaches us that success in film makeup is not a fluke, but a daily construction based on leadership skills and absolute respect for the set's hierarchy. Rebekah represents the figure of the modern professional: someone who masters the universal language of the studio industry without losing the artisanal detail.

Thank you, Rebekah, for your transparency and for being a guide for new generations seeking their place in this complex visual universe.

Your journey from assistant to department head is proof that technical discipline is the key that opens the doors of the biggest studios in 2026.

We invite you to continue exploring Rebekah's impeccable work on her projects through her social media channels Instagram and IMDb.
See you on the next shoot, Makeup Artist. 

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