Glenn Hetrick

Glenn Hetrick returns as a judge on SYFY's Face Off: Battle Royale.

Raised in Hellertown, PA, Hetrick's proclivity for horror films (particularly those of the Universal and Hammer Studios variety) and sci-fi/fantasy imbued him with a ravenous appetite for all things genre-related. This passion compelled him to work on various theater projects as both actor and fledgling make-up artist throughout high school. As an undergrad at York College of Pa., he landed his first acting role in an independent feature, which happened to be a horror film. He moved quickly to secure the Special Effects Make-up Artist position as well and began creating the multitudinous gags on his first films with a shoestring budget.

Soon, Hetrick was working on an array of indie projects and collaborating with world-renowned musical acts such as Type-O-Negative and horror punk icons the Misfits. That same year saw him make the move from the East Coast to Los Angeles in order to facilitate the progression of his acting, writing and make-up effects career. Upon
arriving in Hollywood, he found his first foothold at Optic Nerve as a lab technician, fabricator, painter and eventually sculptor and designer - working tirelessly for years on several seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and The X-Files among others. The path of his career led him to opportunities at other studios as well, working with Ve Neil
on Pitch Black: Chronicles of Riddick and Bioshock.  He continued auditioning and performing as well, landing multiple guest star roles as a character actor on The Shield, Committed, Charmed, Scrubs and Heroes, as well as various other projects including the first Pirates of The Caribbean film.

Hetrick then returned to the very first shop he had worked at, Optic Nerve, this time as CEO. Reinventing both the business and artistic perspectives of the studio from the ground up, his new competitive studio model was built for the modern marketplace. Its focus was now honed on cross training core crew so that they could behave as a modular problem solving machine, moving comfortably from one department to another and adapting easily to the constant flux of multiple production schedules. After more than a decade of amazing shows, he partnered with longtime friend and collaborator Neville Page, evolving the shop even further into the newly renamed Alchemy Studios. Expanded services include seamless integration with CGI visual effects, 3D conceptual design and cutting-edge 3D printing techniques.

As the CEO, he personally supervises every effect for his studio's many projects, including hundreds of forensically accurate make-ups and corpses for Crossing Jordan, Hugh Jackman's body replicas for The Prestige, all of the make-up illusions and prosthetics that propelled Heroes and CSI:NY, and the surreal effects in Sony's Legion. Hetrick's resume includes special effects for "The Event," custom wardrobe and instruments for Lady Gaga, prosthetic effects and props for Disney's Journey 2: Mysterious Island, Lionsgate's The Hunger Games, films The Dictator, The Host, Mad Men, Marvel's Agents of SH.I.E.L.D., Steven Spielberg's Extant and, most recently, Star Trek Discovery. Simultaneous to his work as an effects artist, he continues his development work as Producer on both Necroscope and his own television series based on the classic horror comic franchise Eerie. Future plans include franchising his own brand of live horror entertainment in the form of escape games and an immersive cinematically inspired haunt experience for Halloween.

You can follow Glenn on Twitter. @glenn_hetrick