ORLANDO — Twenty-one-year old Alexandra Torres is passionate about makeup. The talented beauty and special effects makeup artist does Ana Claudia Solorzano’s makeup before her Telemundo show “Entre Nos,” which airs at 6 p.m. on Sundays.

Torres also does makeup for weddings and other events, and hopes to continue to build her clientele in the TV and film industries.

Torres was born in Puerto Rico and moved to Lake Mary, where she currently lives, when she was six years old.

Because she was interested in becoming a cosmetic surgeon Torres attended the Academy for Health Care Careers at Seminole High School. After graduating in 2005, she started Seminole Community College and took science classes in preparation for a career in medicine. She finished her general A.A. degree at SCC in 2007.

“I wanted to help people look their best, but when I got to college I was really bad at science,” Torres said. “With a career in medicine out, I began to look at other options.”

When she learned about the Joe Blasco Makeup Center East in Orlando, she was immediately interested in attending the school.

“It’s not cosmetic surgery, but if you think about it, there’s the same goal,” she said.

Blasco created “Halloween Horror Nights” in Universal Studios and is a veteran of film and TV. In addition to the Orlando school, he has one in Hollywood and plans to open one in New York.

“Every teacher that has worked for him has worked in the film or television industry for years and has great knowledge to teach their students,” Torres said.

She attended Blasco’s school in 2007, taking courses in beauty, special effects, and advanced prosthetics. She received high praise from her instructor David Langford, who has worked with “Desperate Housewives,” The Disney Channel and Univision among others. She wowed him by creating a fat look for her special project.

“He said that he had never had a student as talented” and was willing to recommend her, Torres said.

She also scored in her advanced prosthetics course with her instructor Michael McCracken Jr., who worked on “Untraceable,” “Knocked Up,” “Deep Blue Sea” and “Epic Movie.” She chose to create a bloody monster for one of her projects.“He said that there was honestly nothing he would want to change about my piece. That was such a compliment coming form some one who has worked in the industry for over 25 years,” Torres said. She recently got a plum Telemundo assignment, which could help further her career as a professional beauty and special effects makeup artist for films and TV.

Her cousin was working as an intern on the local Spanish-language “Entre Nos” interview show and suggested they give Alexandra a chance to demonstrate what she could do to bring out Ana Claudia Solorzano’s best.

“At first they were a little doubtful, but then when they saw my work, they got excited and wanted me to come back,” she said.

Solorzano is effusive in her praise of the makeup artist.

“Alexandra is a young lady with a lot of talent. She does my makeup as well as the other reporters and we all think that she makes us look awesome! Once her artistic hands touch our faces its like magic because she really make us look flawless,” Solorzano said.

In addition to her work at Telemundo, Torres also does makeup for weddings, birthday parties and other events. However, she doesn’t work on Saturday because she’s a Seventh-Day Adventist. Because of her expertise in special effects she is busy around Halloween creating scary looks.

“I love horror movies,” Torres said and laughed.

She was introduced to the showbiz world early as her father often booked Puerto Rican comedians and hosted events in the Central Florida area while she was growing up.

“My Dad has been a great mentor as far as teaching me about running my own business,” she said. “It’s ironic, but one time when I was young, he mentioned that the name ‘Alexandra’ would be a beautiful name for a makeup line.”

Interestingly enough, she does hope one day to create her own makeup line.

For fun she shows off her makeup magic in the parody videos she and her sister, Annette, make and post on Youtube. To see Alexandra and her sister’s parody videos on, visit www. youtube.com/annetteproductions.

For more information on Alexandra Torres and to see more of her beauty and special effects work, visit her Web site at www.mudbyalexandra.com

 

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