A make-up artist from Sussex who designed all the make-up on Netflix's Wednesday series has won an Emmy.

Tara McDonald was honoured with the award for Outstanding Contemporary Makeup for her work on the Tim Burton show inspired by the Addams Family.

The series stars Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams, Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia Addams and Luis Guzmán as Gomes Addams.

Tara and her team picked up the award at a ceremony in Los Angeles last week ahead of the awards show this evening.

Tara, who lives in Hove, said: “It’s something I didn’t expect, there were so many great productions.

“It was fantastic to receive an Emmy for it. We were trying to bring the Addams Family into the modern day and make them more current."

Tara designed all the make-up for the series which premiered last year.


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Her work included helping to bring director Tim Burton’s vision to life while working on set in Romania.

She said that her favourite make-up to do on the show was the design for Gwendoline Christie’s character who was inspired by the works of Alfred Hitchcock.

Tara first moved to Saltdean in her teens before moving back to Hove from London ten years ago.

She first started working on news and TV productions in the 1990s before moving into short films in the early noughties.

The Argus: Tara taking home her EmmyTara taking home her Emmy (Image: Tara McDonald)

Her make-up work also includes working with household names such as Judi Dench and Emma Thompson as well as on the most recent series of Black Mirror.

While working on film and TV sets across the world Tara said she would “love to work” on a production in Brighton in the future.

Tara was honoured at an Emmy ceremony in Los Angeles last week alongside her team, Nirvana Jalalvanda, Freda Ellis and Tamara Meade.

Wednesday was a smash hit and the second most viewed series of all time on the streaming platform behind Squid Game.

Wednesday is nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series at tonight’s Primetime Emmy Awards with Jenna Ortega also in the running for best lead actress.