Skills it runs on
The capabilities O*NET rates most important for this occupation — the human ground the work is built on.
See all skills →Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance
Occupation · SOC 39-5091.00
Apply makeup to performers to reflect period, setting, and situation of their role.
Also called: Hair and Makeup Designer · Makeup Artist (MUA) · Special Effects Makeup Artist (Special Effects MUA) · TV and Film Makeup Artist (Television and Film Makeup Artist) · Commercial Makeup Artist (Commercial MUA) · Prosthetic Makeup Designer · Special Makeup Effects Artist · Beauty Advisor · Beauty Specialist · Beauty Stylist · Beauty Therapist · Body Make-Up Artist (Body MUA)
Job family: Personal Care and Service Occupations
Take this to your AI
A source-stamped Markdown brief of this occupation — paste it into an agent, or fetch
/roles/role-39-5091-00/context.md directly.
AI work map
A fast read on where AI already shows up in this occupation, where it stays a copilot, where humans remain in the loop, and what the labor market is doing. Built from observed Claude.ai conversations mapped to O*NET tasks and from published research — measures of usage and exposure, not advice or predictions that the job is going away.
Market signal
Independent published positions, read together — not a forecast.
- Growing fast employment outlook (+8.1% by 2034)
- 1,100 openings/yr
- Moderate AI exposure
- Median pay $50,280/yr
- Can largely be done remotely (teleworkable)
42nd-percentile task overlap — yet about 1,100 openings a year (+8.1% projected, BLS) . What exposure means →
AI & job outlook
What today's research says about this occupation's exposure to AI, how AI is actually being used in it, and where employment is headed. These are positions within published studies — measures of exposure and usage, not predictions that this job will disappear.
Exposure to current AI
Each study uses its own scale, so the raw scores are not comparable across rows — the percentile (this job's rank among all U.S. occupations with data) is the comparable figure, and sizes the bars.
| Measure | Rank vs all occupations | Percentile | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.) Moderate | 36th | -0.5 | |
| LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou) Moderate | 52nd | 0.6 | |
| AI assistant applicability (Microsoft) Moderate | 43rd | 0.1 |
OpenAI's exposure study scores tasks three ways: with a language model alone (α 0.0), with simple added tooling (β 0.3), and including AI-powered software (γ 0.6). Higher means more of the job's tasks could be done at least twice as fast — not that they will be automated away.
Most of this job's tasks can be done remotely (Dingel–Neiman), which tends to track with higher digital and AI exposure.
Historical automation estimate (2013)
A pre-LLM (2013) estimate of how automatable this job is by computerization and robotics. Shown for historical context only — it is not part of any current AI ranking.
Frey–Osborne probability 0.0 · 7th percentile among occupations · Low
How AI is actually used in this job
Among measured AI assistant conversations mapped to this occupation (Anthropic Economic Index, 2026-01-15), these task types came up most. These are shares of observed AI conversations — not shares of the job, of worker time, or of what could be automated.
| Analyze a script, noting events that affect each character's appearance, so that plans can be made for each scene. | 1.3% | |
| Provide performers with makeup removal assistance after performances have been completed. | 0.5% | |
| Establish budgets, and work within budgetary limits. | 0.3% |
Job outlook
Independent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics employment projection for 2024–2034 — a labor-market forecast, not an AI-impact forecast.
| Outlook | Growing fast · +8.1% by 2034 |
| Projected annual openings | 1,100 |
| Employment 2024 → 2034 | 7,000 → 7,600 |
“Annual openings” counts new jobs plus replacements for workers who leave the occupation, so it can be large even when growth is modest.
Where this work sits on the global GenAI gradient
The ILO's 2025 global study scores generative-AI exposure on the international ISCO-08 occupation system, not US SOC. Bridged through the published (and approximate, many-to-many) IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 crosswalk, this US occupation corresponds to the international occupation below. Exposure here means how much of the work's tasks today's AI can attempt — task overlap, not automation, adoption, or jobs lost.
Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance sits at the 29th percentile of 427
occupations on the global GenAI task-exposure gradient
— exposure eased from 2023 to 2025. Each dot is one occupation; the
ringed one is this work. Exposure is task overlap, not automation or jobs lost.
18% mean task exposure (2025)
29th percentile of 427 placed occupations
−4 pts shift 2023 → 2025
| International occupation (ISCO-08) | Task exposure (2025) | Most tasks fall in |
|---|---|---|
| Beauticians and Related Workers · 5142 | 18% | Not exposed |
Read the whole six-band gradient on the GenAI exposure gradient page. The crosswalk is approximate: a US occupation can map to several international ones, and the ILO scores describe the international occupation, not this exact US role.
Tasks
All 21 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, ordered by importance. Each links to its own page with AI-exposure and observed-use detail.
- Duplicate work precisely to replicate characters' appearances on a daily basis. Core · importance 4.9
- Apply makeup to enhance or alter the appearance of people appearing in productions such as movies. Core · importance 4.9
- Analyze a script, noting events that affect each character's appearance, so that plans can be made for each scene. Core · importance 4.8
- Alter or maintain makeup during productions as necessary to compensate for lighting changes or to achieve continuity of effect. Core · importance 4.8
- Confer with stage or motion picture officials and performers to determine desired effects. Core · importance 4.7
- Requisition or acquire needed materials for special effects, including wigs, beards, and special cosmetics. Core · importance 4.7
- Study production information, such as character descriptions, period settings, and situations, to determine makeup requirements. Core · importance 4.6
- Establish budgets, and work within budgetary limits. Core · importance 4.6
- Select desired makeup shades from stock, or mix oil, grease, and coloring to achieve specific color effects. Core · importance 4.5
- Write makeup sheets and take photos to document specific looks and the products used to achieve the looks. Core · importance 4.5
- Assess performers' skin type to ensure that makeup will not cause break-outs or skin irritations. Core · importance 4.5
- Attach prostheses to performers and apply makeup to create special features or effects, such as scars, aging, or illness. Core · importance 4.3
- Examine sketches, photographs, and plaster models to obtain desired character image depiction. Core · importance 4.3
- Cleanse and tone the skin to prepare it for makeup application. Core · importance 4.2
- Evaluate environmental characteristics, such as venue size and lighting plans, to determine makeup requirements. Core · importance 4.1
- Provide performers with makeup removal assistance after performances have been completed. Core · importance 4.0
- Design rubber or plastic prostheses that can be used to change performers' appearances. Core · importance 3.9
- Create character drawings or models, based upon independent research, to augment period production files. Core · importance 3.7
- Demonstrate products to clients, and provide instruction in makeup application. Core · importance 3.3
- Advise hairdressers on the hairstyles required for character parts. Core · importance 3.2
- Wash and reset wigs. Supplemental · importance 3.0
Emerging tasks
Newer responsibilities O*NET has flagged as growing for this occupation.
- Clean and sanitize supplies, such as makeup brushes.
Work activities
- Collaborate with others to determine production details.
- Apply makeup to alter or enhance appearance.
- Manage budgets for personal services operations.
- Apply cleansing or conditioning agents to client hair, scalp, or skin.
- Assess skin or hair conditions.
- Review production information to determine costume or makeup requirements.
- Order materials, supplies, or equipment.
- Prepare operational reports or records.
- Design costumes or cosmetic effects for characters.
- Groom wigs or hairpieces.
- Demonstrate activity techniques or equipment use.
- Teach health or hygiene practices.
- Clean equipment or supplies.
- Clean tools or equipment.
Knowledge, skills & abilities
O*NET importance rating, from 1 (not important) to 5 (extremely important).
Knowledge
| Customer and Personal Service | 4.4 | |
| English Language | 4.1 | |
| Fine Arts | 3.7 | |
| Design | 3.5 | |
| Communications and Media | 3.5 | |
| Administration and Management | 2.9 | |
| Psychology | 2.9 |
Abilities
| Near Vision | 4.1 | |
| Oral Comprehension | 4.0 | |
| Oral Expression | 3.9 | |
| Arm-Hand Steadiness | 3.9 | |
| Visual Color Discrimination | 3.9 | |
| Finger Dexterity | 3.8 | |
| Visualization | 3.6 | |
| Manual Dexterity | 3.6 | |
| Written Comprehension | 3.5 | |
| Fluency of Ideas | 3.5 | |
| Originality | 3.5 | |
| Problem Sensitivity | 3.4 | |
| Information Ordering | 3.4 | |
| Selective Attention | 3.4 | |
| Speech Recognition | 3.4 | |
| Deductive Reasoning | 3.3 | |
| Category Flexibility | 3.3 | |
| Written Expression | 3.1 | |
| Far Vision | 3.1 | |
| Speech Clarity | 3.1 | |
| Inductive Reasoning | 3.0 |
Essential skills
| Speaking | 3.8 | |
| Reading Comprehension | 3.6 | |
| Active Listening | 3.5 | |
| Critical Thinking | 3.3 | |
| Active Learning | 3.1 | |
| Monitoring | 3.1 |
Transferable skills
| Judgment and Decision Making | 3.3 | |
| Coordination | 3.1 | |
| Social Perceptiveness | 3.0 | |
| Service Orientation | 3.0 | |
| Complex Problem Solving | 3.0 | |
| Time Management | 3.0 |
Skills in demand
Skills employers ask for in job postings for this occupation (Lightcast), with whether each is a common or specialized skill.
Tools & technology
Work context
How characteristic each condition is of the job, on O*NET's 1–5 context scale (higher = more present in day-to-day work). Each condition links to how it varies across all occupations.
How to get in
- Job zone
- Zone 3 — Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
- Education
- Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
- Typical entry-level education
- Postsecondary nondegree award · BLS, the typical path — not a requirement
- Related experience
- Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.
- Preparation level
- SVP (6.0 to < 7.0) — total schooling plus on-the-job experience.
What to study: Culinary, Entertainment, and Personal Services . Fields of study crosswalked to this occupation (NCES CIP–SOC), not a requirement.
Education of current workers
Share of people in this occupation at each level of education.
| High School Diploma | 33.3% | |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 28.6% | |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 9.5% | |
| Some College Courses | 9.5% | |
| Bachelor's Degree | 9.5% | |
| Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) | 4.8% | |
| First Professional Degree | 4.8% |
Interests & work styles
The interests and personal qualities O*NET associates with people who do this work.
Career interests (Holland / RIASEC)
| Artistic | 6.7 | |
| Realistic | 4.3 | |
| Enterprising | 3.1 | |
| Conventional | 3.0 | |
| Social | 3.0 |
Interest areas
| Applied Arts and Design | 6.3 | |
| Visual Arts | 5.9 | |
| Performing Arts | 5.7 | |
| Media | 5.2 | |
| Personal Service | 2.7 | |
| Humanities | 2.4 | |
| Physical/Manual Labor | 2.1 |
Work styles
| Dependability | 3.0 | |
| Attention to Detail | 2.7 | |
| Innovation | 2.3 | |
| Social Orientation | 2.0 |
Wages & employment
U.S. · annual wages (BLS OEWS)
| 10th percentile | $22,010 |
| 25th percentile | $28,850 |
| Median (50th) | $50,280 |
| 75th percentile | $132,530 |
| 90th percentile | $157,090 |
| People employed | 3,320 |
Industries that employ this occupation
Where these workers are employed, by number of jobs (national, BLS OEWS). Pay shown is the occupation's national median, not industry-specific.
| Industry | Workers | National median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Information · Sector | 1,260 | $132,850 |
| Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation · Sector | 350 | $43,020 |
| Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services · Sector | 160 | $119,820 |
| Temporary Help Services · National industry | 140 | $119,790 |
| Theater Companies and Dinner Theaters · National industry | 60 | $52,050 |
| Television Broadcasting Stations · National industry | 50 | $50,650 |
| Educational Services · Sector | 50 | $34,470 |
| Other Services (except Public Administration) · Sector | — | $23,480 |
Where this work is most concentrated
Industries where this occupation is far more common than in the economy as a whole. The location quotient is how many times more concentrated it is here (a value of 5 means five times its economy-wide share).
| Industry | Concentration | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Information · Sector | 20.12× | 1,260 |
| Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation · Sector | 6.15× | 350 |
| Temporary Help Services · National industry | 2.45× | 140 |
| Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services · Sector | 0.82× | 160 |
Related occupations
Part of the Healthcare & Human Services career cluster.
- Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists · 39-5012.00 Compare →
- Skincare Specialists · 39-5094.00 Compare →
- Costume Attendants · 39-3092.00 Compare →
- Manicurists and Pedicurists · 39-5092.00 Compare →
- Painting, Coating, and Decorating Workers · 51-9123.00 Compare →
- Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators · 27-1013.00 Compare →
- Shampooers · 39-5093.00 Compare →
- Barbers · 39-5011.00 Compare →
- Craft Artists · 27-1012.00 Compare →
- Fashion Designers · 27-1022.00 Compare →
- Special Effects Artists and Animators · 27-1014.00 Compare →
- Models · 41-9012.00 Compare →
Side-by-side comparisons place two occupations’ pay, preparation, skills, and AI exposure on the same page — same data, same scale, no forecast.
What you can do with this
Options the data surfaces for Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance — not advice or a forecast. Each is a real cross-link you can follow into the evidence.
Skills that travel
Capabilities this work builds that are used across many other occupations.
Adjacent roles
Occupations O*NET rates as related — the nearby moves on the map.
Paths in
How people typically prepare for this work.
- Postsecondary nondegree award · typical entry level
- Job zone 3 — Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed · preparation tier
- Culinary, Entertainment, and Personal Services · field of study
Zoom out
On the global GenAI exposure gradient this work sits around the 29th percentile of 427 international occupations.
Write a report on thisheadline · factoids · citation
Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance show 42nd-percentile AI task overlap — and about 1,100 annual U.S. openings
- Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance rank in the 42nd percentile (Moderate band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated.Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE
- The occupation is projected to see about 1,100 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
- BLS projects employment to be growing fast (+8.1%) from 2024 to 2034.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
- Median annual pay is $50,280, across about 3,320 U.S. workers.BLS OEWS (May 2024)
Copy the whole kit
Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance show 42nd-percentile AI task overlap — and about 1,100 annual U.S. openings • Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance rank in the 42nd percentile (Moderate band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated. (Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE) • The occupation is projected to see about 1,100 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34) • BLS projects employment to be growing fast (+8.1%) from 2024 to 2034. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34) • Median annual pay is $50,280, across about 3,320 U.S. workers. (BLS OEWS (May 2024)) Source: Singulariki — "Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance". https://singulariki.com/roles/role-39-5091-00 Note: AI task overlap measures what today's AI can attempt, not automation, job loss, or a forecast.
AssetsShare imageMethodology & sourcesPress & newsroomThe newsroom
Every line is built only from figures this page already shows and cites. AI task overlap means what today's AI can attempt — not automation, job loss, or a forecast.
Sources for this page
Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.
- O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27) Anthropic
- Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai Microsoft Research
- “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic
- AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans academic
- ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025 International Labour Organization
- IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022 Institute for Structural Research (IBS)
- Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation academic
- Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome academic
Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.
Cite this page
Plain
Singulariki. "Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-39-5091-00
APA
Singulariki. (2026). Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/roles/role-39-5091-00
BibTeX
@misc{singulariki-role-39-5091-00,
title = {Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance},
author = {{Singulariki}},
year = {2026},
note = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
url = {https://singulariki.com/roles/role-39-5091-00}
} Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.