Michael P Reitz is a film and TV hair stylist. He currently occupies the position of department head hair stylist at Star Request Film and Television, where he has worked on a number of high-profile productions.
He was nominated for five consecutive years (2001–2006) to receive an Emmy Award in recognition of his groundbreaking hair design, hair extension design and lacefront wig work on the hit TV series Alias, which ran on ABC for over five years. Reitz was reported to have a collection of wigs in all shades and variations crafted specially for the Sydney Bristow character. This fabulous wig wardrobe is reported to contain over 75 wigs.[1]
In addition to this Reitz has worked with series star Jennifer Garner on several features, including Elektra, where he took Jennifer Garner from beautiful girl-next-door to sexy assassin.[2] Reitz was also recognized by his peers in 2003, when won a Hollywood Makeup Artists And Hair Stylists Guild Award for his work in Alias.
More recently Reitz has worked with Jennifer Love Hewitt on the CBS show Ghost Whisperer for the last three years.[3]
Other notable celebrity clients have included Claudia Schiffer, John Travolta, Robert Downey Jr., Catherine Zeta-Jones, Sarah Winter and Kylie Minogue.
Reitz's work has appeared on several magazine features, including:
"What isn’t done digitally or with body doubles can be done with costumes and makeup. For those of you who aren’t familiar with her, Jennifer Garner is the star of the show Alias, in which she plays a female James Bond. I think Garner is incredibly beautiful and one of the proofs of that for me has been that she can wear every style and color of wig imaginable and still look drop-dead gorgeous. Who can pull that off, except someone who’s naturally really beautiful? I recently watched an episode from the first season, which is out on DVD, and I listened to the audio commentary. Garner’s hair and wig designer, Michael Reitz, was mentioned several times; it turns out that he has to carefully cut and style every wig she wears so that it looks flattering on her, and sometimes the color makes her skin look so awful that they have to use specially-colored makeup in order to cover up her natural color. Reitz, it turns out, is so good at what he does that he’s been nominated for Emmys three years in a row and won a Hollywood Guild Award. Those that are in the industry can look at Garner’s costumes and identify a master working behind the scenes to create the illusion that she looks great in everything. Most of us are not quick to see the illusion, but we should cultivate the ability to do so."[14]
Make-up department: