Cynthia de la Rosa – Hair, wigs & makeup designer

Cynthia was born in the Dominican Republic and moved to the United States, and as a young girl she loved dressing up her Barbie dolls and recording mix tapes in her room. After studying at Florida State University, she was all set for a career in Costume Design, but her curiosity was diverted on a summer work experience at Santa Fe Opera, where she realised that wigs, hair and make-up was where her real passion lay.  Learning that London was the place to be, after her first UK internship, she was bold enough to march up to the Stage Door at English National Opera and call the head of department down to meet her and make her case – and a few days later a position came up. Instead of staying 6 months, Cynthia stayed at ENO for nearly a decade and made London her home, before she moved on to design wigs, hair and makeup in theatre on the West End, and on to film and television, where she has worked on The Crown and Killing Eve among many, many other shows.  Realising a serious gap in the knowledge and a lack of training in the industry, she took an afro and textured hair course to make sure her skills were up to scratch with industry practice, and she recently co-founded Levelling Up, a not-for-profit company tackling hair discrimination in the performing arts, working to create Equality & Diversity in Hair & Makeup for working professionals. View Cynthia’s imdb profile here Follow Cynthia on Instagram here Follow Levelling Up on Instagram here