Barrie Gower is a five-time Emmy-winning prosthetics designer.
Gower grew up in the north of England, where his father managed a cinema. As he became a teenager, he became heavily involved in art—mostly drawings and sculpture.
Still, in those early days, his mission felt like more “of a pipe dream.” With the support of his mom, Gower applied for art programmes, stumbling upon one promising option at the London College of Fashion. He didn't get into the university in the first year, as he didn't have any evidence of doing any hairstyling or makeup (although he had a portfolio). His mother enrolled him in a hairdressing course, and the following year he was accepted at LCF, where he “managed to meet quite a lot of industry professionals.” Barrie began his career in the film industry in 1996 after graduating from the London College of Fashion with a HND in Specialist Make-up. His first role was at the BBC Visual Effects Department on projects including ‘Red Dwarf’ and ‘Silent Witness’. The following year, Barrie was employed on his first major feature film, Steven Spielberg's 'Saving Private Ryan'. Barrie has since worked for industry-leading companies and individuals such as Weta Workshop and multi-award winner Rick Baker. Barrie contributed to the Academy Award-winning prosthetics for 'The Wolfman' (2011) and 'The Iron Lady' (2012).
After 10 years working in the Harry Potter film world and then freelancing on other large-scale projects, Gower decided to start his own company, BGFX, with his wife, Sarah, also a prosthetics designer. They’d met working on a film in Budapest. At that time, she was part of the CGI visual effects department. BGFX began as an at-home studio but quickly launched into the big leagues when it received its first major opportunity: designing prosthetics for season four of HBO’s Game of Thrones. Thrones was the beginning of a fruitful relationship with HBO, one that has seen the couple spearheading designs for many more of the network’s biggest hits, among them House of the Dragon and The Last of Us. For the former, the job primarily centred around the ageing and decay of Paddy Considine’s character, the doomed king Viserys Targaryen.
Simultaneously, BGFX was handling The Last of Us, which Gower is quick to describe as “the biggest thing we’ve ever done.” For that series, the company was tasked with designing and executing a whole world consumed by a fungus, plus the resulting zombie-like creatures that are born out of those spores. They didn’t have to start from scratch, however, relying on the catalogue of work created for the original 2013 video game by developer Naughty Dog. Barrie Gower는 배우로, 왕좌의 게임: 라스트 워치, 기묘한 이야기 5 메이킹: 마지막 모험, Making of The Last of Us 등에 출연했다. 특히 2026년에는 기묘한 이야기 5 메이킹: 마지막 모험에도 참여해서 활동중이다. (오뜨랑에서 실시간으로 번역된 한글 프로필도 확인할 수 있어요) 2026년 스크루지: 크리스마스 캐럴 제작에 참여했다. 2026년 마스터즈 오브 유니버스 제작에 참여했다. 2026년 기묘한 이야기 5 메이킹: 마지막 모험에 출연했다.