Entertainment hairstylist
On a whim in 2010, Amber Jasmine Marrow moved to New York City where she rented a small room in Inwood where her roommate happened to be a wig designer. To get a break on her rent, she began assisting him on shows. He taught her how to ventilate wigs, a strategy often used in theater and film. Later that year she went on her first Broadway tour as hair, makeup and wig supervisor for Monty Python’s Spamalot.
She’s since toured with The Color Purple and Rock of Ages, and she has worked on Les Misérables. She’s currently a television hairstylist working most recently for CBS’s ‘The Bull.’Flexibility is a perk of this career path, says Marrow, since she can freelance for various shows; demand can increase when networks are shooting large scenes or if a full-time staffer is on vacation. Marrow said, ‘The beauty of my job is there is no average day. Sometimes I wake up at 3:30 a.m. to be on set at 5 a.m, and work until 7 p.m. Some days I’m waking up in a hotel to start prepping wigs for a live theatrical show.
Other days I work from home making wigs for clients, doing custom extensions, or doing a quick up do for an awards show.Another plus to the job is working so closely with a diverse range of creative people with interesting stories. Not to mention, the gig offers solid compensation. In New York, Marrow’s base wage for Broadway, film, and television is guaranteed through the Makeup Artists and Hairstylist’s Guild. In the film industry in New York, the range for a full-time show employee is $114,000 not including over time. And in film, there always seems to be over time.
Salary: There is a huge range depending on genre, skill level, job specifics, and location. According to the Houston Chronicle, hairstylists in the motion picture industry have an average rate of $33.55 per hour.Suggested skills: creativity, flexibility, grooming, fashion sensibility, good communicationWant to know what a hairstylist thinks? 38 secrets your hair stylist won’t tell you.
