LSU Alumni Spotlight: Lee Romaire

A Secret Weapon in Entertainment 

Known as one of the secret weapons of the entertainment industry, Lee Romaire (1989 BACH MCOMM), CEO of his eponymous studio, continuously stuns audiences with his 25 years of experience. From making set designs for movies and TV shows to designing theme park exhibits, Romaire is a jack of all trades.

Early Fascination with Realism

Romaire has always been fascinated by realism, lifelike experiences that feel real, even if they weren’t. As a kid in Louisiana, he grew up surrounded by taxidermy. He mounted his first crawfish at age eight and has been in love with realism ever since. He studied anatomy and realism independently before coming to LSU.

“I had one teacher in particular who took an interest in my creativity, and that was Dr. Fletcher,” Romaire said. “I became really interested in advertising because it allowed me to be creative.”

Early Career in Advertising 

He interned at Diane Allen and Associates in Baton Rouge and worked at advertising firms in New Orleans for a decade before switching into a more creative field.

“I just started thinking about what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, and it kind of popped up one day — I want to be a special effects makeup artist.” Romaire said. “Everybody thought I was crazy, but I got out of the advertising world and started sculpting Mardi Gras props.”

Breakthrough in Special Effects 

While flipping through a makeup artist magazine, Romaire saw an advertisement for a special effects trade show in Pasadena, Cal., and attended. There, he met Dick Smith, “the godfather of makeup” according to Romaire, because he did Marlon Brando’s makeup in The Godfather and Linda Blair’s demon makeup as Regan MacNeil in The Exorcist.

Founding Romaire Studios & Early Success 

After receiving his certificate of advanced make-up artistry from Smith, he started Romaire Studios in 2000.

“When I first started Romaire Studios, it was basically [just] film, TV, and movies,” Romaire said.

It wouldn’t take too long for him to get his first accolade, an Emmy for Outstanding Makeup in a series for his work on Six Feet Under, an HBO show, in 2002.

Expanding Work in Film, TV, and Entertainment 

He has also created props for Elton John’s Red Piano Tour, Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds, The Dictator (2012), Disney XD’s Walk the Prank, Stephen King’s Nightmares & Dreamscapes, Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, and created the animatronic for the San Diego Zoo’s “KOALAFORNIA” campaign.

One of Romaire’s biggest projects was in 2008 when he received a call from Disney to modernize their Abraham Lincoln animatronic at Disneyland’s Great Moment’s with Mr. Lincoln, the first audio animatronic Disney built.

One of his more recent projects with Disney was with the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, an immersive hotel experience in Disney World in Orlando. It included elements of live-action role play and choose-your-own-adventure that had a limited run from March 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023. Romaire won a Thea award from the Themed Entertainment Association for his work.

Universal Studios & Thea Award Recognition 

Universal Studios hired Romaire’s studio to work on The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash! for their Orlando theme park. Romaire made creature skins and other props for the dark ride, and the experience was so successful that it earned an Outstanding Achievement Thea award in 2022.

While Romaire Studios mostly works on theme park designs now, it still occasionally creates sets for movies and TV shows, such as Netflix’s Frankenstein (2025) by director Guillermo del Toro.

“It took a team of about eight to 10 people several months to build everything.” Romaire said. “We used a lot of foam, fake fur, and sheepskin rugs we got off eBay.”

Romaire worked with Del Toro on other movies such as The Shape of Water.

“Guillermo likes to work with practical [effects] as opposed to digital,” Romaire said. “I’m the dead animal king of Hollywood, apparently.”

Attention to Detail in Film Design

Romaire mentioned the sheep and sled dogs had to be 19th-century accurate for cohesion with the story of the movie, but there was room for creativity. One of the sled dogs had their head bashed in, based directly off a sketch from Del Toro.

“One of the dogs had its head completely twisted around, an homage to Regan in The Exorcist when she turned her head around.”

Community Impact & Hometown Legacy 

Examples of Romaire’s artistry can be seen in his hometown of Morgan City, La., where he donated a Christmas display for the town.

“My friend was mayor at the time and so I called him up,” Romaire said. “I said ‘Well let’s do this, but instead of regular Santa Claus, let's do a Cajun version of it. So, I came up with these white alligators with little crabs on their heads for antlers… and we developed some characters for the boat. Santa Claus has a muskrat fur hat and shrimp coat and boots. It went viral.”