BIO

Christian Gruaz was born on January 8, 1967 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

He is a Special Make-Up Effects, Sculptor, Creature Designer and FX Artist.

Since 1989 to the present day, he has been the owner and director of ELCARIMAT FX.

He graduated from the following art schools: Manuel Belgrano and Prilidiano Pueyrredón National School of Fine Arts (Escuelas Nacionales de Bellas Artes Manuel Belgrano y Prilidiano Pueyrredón).

He started in the film industry as part of the local FX team on the film “Highlander 2” (which was filmed in part in Argentina), under the direction of professionals such as John Richardson, Chris Corbould, Nick Finlayson, Geoff Portass and Guillermo Smith(h).

Between 1988 and 1990, he wrote, directed and produced the short film “De Ogros, Duendes y Alquimia” .

For the realization of puppets/animatronics and makeup effects, he developed a production workshop that would later become ELCARIMAT FX.

“De Ogros, Duendes y Alquimia” won the Production and Creativity Award at the SAVI (Sociedad Argentina de Videastas Independientes) Festival, where it also received an Honorable Mention from the Public Critics. At the UNCiPar Festival, it won the Art Direction Award, and it was exhibited at the Biennale for Young Art, among other awards.

In advertising, as director of ELCARIMAT FX, he has developed Animatronics, Prosthetic Makeup, Puppets and FX for brands such as Toyota, Fiat, Telecom, OLX, Alicorp, BankUnited, Rexona, Lynx, Unilever, Dermomenz, Fiat, Ecusa, Tigo, Telefónica, BCP, Arcor, DirectTV, Coca Cola, Sprite, Banco Estado de Chile, Cerveza Cristal, Pepsico, Nescafé, Nestlé, Wrigley, Mcdonald's, Subway, Indofood, Brahma, Skoll.

Working under directors such as Lucho Bender, Brian Welsh, Eddie Flehner, Daniel Böhm, Marcelo Epstein, Daniel Brigante, Toti Gil, Armando Bo, Pablo Fisherman, Claudio Prestía, Luciano Podcaminsky, Henry Meziat, Olivier Hourton, Felipe Mansur, Emre Sahin, Minto Singh, Nicolas Kasakoff, Mark Toia, Carlos y Matias Ameglio, Milovan Radovik, Diego Robino, Jorge Caterbona, Alvaro Quevedo, Jose Luis Garcia, Diego Kaplan, Andres Fogwill, Tito Köster, Javier Nir, Augusto Gimenez Zapiola, Jorge Carmona, Ricardo Maldonado, Claudio Duran, Rodrigo Labella and Maxi Contenti, among others.

He designed Makeup Effects in the movies: “El lado oscuro del corazón” (The Dark Side of the Heart), “Comodines” (Cops), “El día que me amen” (When Somebody Loves Me), “Fuego gris” (Grey Fire), and “El desvío” (Detour).

For the international film industry, he worked as Makeup FX Designer in “Jennifer's Shadow” (Argentina - USA. Faye Dunaway, Gina Phllips), “Legend of the Mountain Man” (USA. ASL Films), “AROG” a Sci-fi/Comedy (Germany - Turkey), “Now Add Honey” (Australia), “The Last Matinee” (Uruguay - Argentina), “Deus Irae”(Argentina - México), and “Pandora. Beneath the paradise” (Korea. K-Drama for tvN).

In Stage Musicals, he was in charge of Makeup & Prosthetics Area, in Andrew Lloyd Webber's “The Phantom of the Opera”, (Sao Paulo 2005, Buenos Aires 2009, São Paulo 2019), "Disney's Beauty and the Beast" (Buenos Aires 1998, Madrid 1999, São Paulo 2002, Seoul 2004, Cape Town 2008, Sao Paulo 2009, Buenos Aires 2010), "Les Misérables" (Buenos Aires 2000), and “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” (São Paulo 2012). He was part of creative teams supervised by Keith Batten, Dan Mojica, Robert Jess Roth, Sam Scalamoni, Jacqueline Dunnley-Wendt, Arthur Masella, Sam Fleming, Genevieve Petitpierre, Tracy Christensen, Suzy Strout, Moira Chapman, Mary Sue Bruce, Tania Nardini and Mariano Detry.

In local Theatrical Productions, he designed Effects, Character Makeup and Scenic Devices in both independent and commercial projects, working with Directors such as Lizardo Laphitz, Norma Aleandro, Lia Jelin, Alberto Ure, Renata Schussheim, Sergio Rower, Luis Rivera Lopez, Augusto Fernandes, Carlos Olivieri, Ariel Bonomi, and Roberto Antier.