Hairstory Pro Spotlight
Elvira Gonzalez
Hairstory Pro | Brooklyn, NY | @littlemaniac
Born in Mexico and raised in L.A., Elvira Gonzalez has always experimented with her own hair. Growing up, she lusted after the hairstyles she saw in films from the 1920s through the 1970’s. Those raw, artful sculpted forms led her to a lifetime of manipulating, cutting and styling hair, beginning in the early 2000s. In 2012, she joined Coz Salon in Brooklyn, eventually ending up in the hair departments of TV and film productions. She’s all about expressive character development–from enhancing personality traits or emphasizing an intense backstory through every single strand. “A person’s hair tells a story that’s subtle and important—even if they’re bald,” she says. “Understanding this distinction is what separates a good hairstyle from a masterpiece that’s truly classic and unforgettable” Keep reading to learn her Hairstory.
PRO SPOTLIGHT: Elvira Gonzalez
Tell us, what got you into hair?
Elvira: I originally started out as a makeup artist in L.A. back in the 1990s, and I worked for many years assisting different people in that field. I assisted Lisa Story, who was both a hairstylist and makeup artist, and I was inspired to go to hair school when I moved to New York in 2010.
How would your family and friends describe your personality?
Elvira: Outgoing, quirky, funny. Very serious.
How did you end up working in film?
Elvira: I was in a band back in the early aughts, and the singer of the band was attending film school, and all of his fellow student friends were shooting their student films. Somehow I ended up as the resident hair and makeup stylist for all the student films. That was the beginning of what would become a long career in film and TV.
PRO SPOTLIGHT: Elvira Gonzalez
“If you're interested in film and TV, definitely hit up all the different film schools and ask if any students need any help with any of their projects, and then also local theaters because they have vast resources in terms of different periods, different ways of setting hair, different ways of setting wigs and all this stuff really is hard to learn on set once you already started working in film and TV. ”
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PRO SPOTLIGHT: Elvira Gonzalez
How does your day start when you’re on set?
Elvira: Hair and makeup are generally the first department in and the last department out because the day starts with us basically showing up, plugging in our tools, setting up our stations and waiting for people to sit, and then we start to set them.
What is your most favorite project you have worked on and why?
Elvira: My favorite project was keying for Marcel Dagenais on Poker Face, Season One, partly due to the many different actors that we got to work with during that particular show. There was a new cast every episode, so during a six month period, there were a lot of different people.
If you could work on any film or any set, what would it be and why?
Elvira: If I could go back in time, I would work on anything made from the 1920s through the 1970s. I just love classic movies. That's exactly how I became interested in working and working in film and TV, which when I was a kid, I was watching I Love Lucy, and then that led to investigating Hedy Lamarr, and then that led to learning about Louise Brooks. Over time, I just expanded my scope to include different decades.