Renowned makeup artist Waldemar Pokromski may be the Polish professional who has worked on the largest number of Oscar-nominated productions in history — possibly second only to Janusz Kamiński, Steven Spielberg’s regular cinematographer. The two actually collaborated on the set of Schindler’s List, which won numerous Academy Awards in 1994.

Pokromski also worked as a makeup artist on Roman Polański’s The Ninth Gate and The Pianist, Michael Haneke’s La Pianiste and The White Ribbon, Tom Tykwer’s Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, and Stefan Ruzowitzky’s The Counterfeiters — which beat Andrzej Wajda’s Katyń to win the Best Foreign Language Film Award in 2008. Interestingly, Pokromski’s name also appears in the credits of Katyń.

More recently, he has collaborated with Oliver Stone (Snowden), Anthony and Joe Russo (Captain America), Terrence Malick (Radegund), Duncan Jones (Mute), Marie Noëlle (Marie Curie), and Małgorzata Szumowska (Mug).

He has received a German Film Award (Lola Award) for his work on The White Ribbon, the Best Makeup Award for Reverse at the 34th Polish Film Festival in Gdynia, and Kryolan’s Golden Mask. At the 22nd Polish Film Festival in Chicago, he was honored with the Wings Award “for achievements in the art of film beyond Poland.”

Pokromski has also been nominated for numerous prestigious film awards, including the BAFTA (Schindler’s List) and the Prix d’Excellence (The Baader Meinhof Complex). After almost forty years in the industry, he shows no signs of slowing down. In 2022, he won the Orzeł (Eagle) Polish Film Award for Best Makeup for Magnezja.