Tim Phoenix

Tim Phoenix grew up in Binghamton, New York, the same place that Rod Serling grew up and where Rick Baker was born. He has always been into horror since he can remember. "I hated the thought of someone telling me I was too young to watch horror. Nothing ever scared me! My father loved horror, and we would often go to the drive-in movie theater to see new releases. Where most little kids would be traumatized for the rest of their lives - like watching Texas Chainsaw Massacre - it only fascinated me to know what makes the monster under the bed tick."

Tim loved all the Universal classic monsters, but the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise was a huge inspiration. The monster Freddy was fascinating and all-powerful to him. "The special effects took it to the next level, and the twisted psychology intertwined with dreams had an effect on me. Freddy's makeup was so intriguing to me. It got me!"

At a young age, Tim started to play with clay, liquid latex, and a variety of colored makeup palettes. He incessantly kept trying different gags to scare family members and friends. He became fascinated with all things horror and started buying books and magazines to deep dive and learn as much as he could. Fangoria was excellent, as he enjoyed all of the behind-the-scenes content of his favorite horror movies. They also gave an introduction to all new things coming soon. Fangoria was his segue into action. He started making his own little movies with a big VHS video camera. "Those were the good old days. I was hooked! Blood and guts were my future!"

After Tim graduated from high school, he went to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. There, he met eclectic, like-minded, passionate people, each with their own specialty in just about every angle of art. Those were days of massive input, a conglomeration of learning across all the arts in every direction. Art school ended in 1997. "I knew where I was headed, and I said to my college roommate, I’m heading to LA. It’s the land of opportunity, man! You coming?” He agreed, and they followed each other toward the City of Angels.

Upon arriving in LA and having no contacts, Tim slept in his car, and his friend slept in his van in random areas. "I can’t recall how many times we got kicked out of parking lots by security! But we got lucky and eventually made ends meet with ordinary jobs and found a place to live." Tim worked as a phone psychic, a limo driver, and the list went on. He was pretty fit at the time, as he was a bodybuilder, so he used that to his advantage. "I landed modeling jobs for fitness magazines, and that also helped pay the bills!"

Later, Tim got a lucky break and jumped from shop to shop, doing all kinds of odd jobs. "I was a jack of all trades. But an interesting thing happened where I was referred by a friend, and my bodybuilding paid off." Make-up & Monsters Creative Director Brian Penikas, best known for Jeepers Creepers, needed someone muscular to play the dead prom king character, Kenny, one of the corpses hanging on the wall. Tim fit the type, and he was cast. "They made a full head and body cast of me with alginate and plaster bandages. Brian learned that I also had a background in effects, and he gave me the job of making my own dead corpse as the prom king. Kinda funny! I worked for Brian for quite some time after that."

Later, Tim worked with the legendary Henry Alvarez and Fernando Favilla, making wax figures for Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum. The education was invaluable and exquisite, creating likenesses of different famous people. "Those days were an incredible and priceless learning experience. Henry was artistically just on another higher level."

Tim made his rounds and worked for many of the greats: Steve Johnson’s Edge FX, Patrick Tatopoulos, Ironhead Studio, Spectral Motion, Autonomous FX, Quantum FX, Alterian FX, Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, Film Illusions, Dave Anderson's AFX, Onyx Forge, Captive Audience, and many more. During this time, Tim worked on films such as White Chicks, Underworld: Evolution, Lady in the Water, Tron: Legacy, X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Thor, The Avengers, Snow White and the Huntsman, Ender's Game, Men in Black³, The Maze Runner, Black Panther, Stranger Things, and Wonder Woman. 

Throughout this time, Tim worked on and off with Mark Viniello and Roland Blancaflor, running foam latex on many projects. "They are the masters that I’ve learned from and through them. Then, after years of drifting around as an all-around guy without a particular specialty in effects, I fell into the mastery of Foam Latex."

After working on countless movies, TV, and theater productions, Tim opened Sands Of The Phoenix Productions in 2018, specializing in high-quality foam latex. Since opening his own studio, he has been doing all the foam work for Universal Studios' Halloween Horror Nights, Grinchmas, and Fan Fest Nights. He has since worked on projects such as Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Evil, Bill & Ted Face the Music, Earth to Ned, The Mandalorian, Don Mancini's Chucky, V/H/S/Beyond, The Boys, and The Odyssey. Tim took part in Mike Marino’s Emmy Award-winning team that transformed Colin Farrell into the Penguin, and he also ran all the foam for Marino’s team for Heidi Klum’s annual Halloween Costumes.