She has styled Angelina Jolie's locks umpteen times and has an exhaustive list of Hollywood films to her credit. Adruitha Lee, nominated in the make-up and hairstyling category of the 86th Academy Awards for "Dallas Buyers Club", wonders what changes can an Oscar victory bring in one's life.
The Academy Awards ceremony is due to take place in Los Angeles Sunday. Lee is pinning her hopes to clinch the golden statuette with her first Oscar nomination.
"I am just so excited even being nominated! Of course it'd be wonderful to win an Oscar, but if it would change anything, I don't know. I don't think it'll change me, I enjoy what I do and I can't imagine it changing me, but will it change the way people approach me for both work or otherwise? I don't know," Lee told IANS in an email interview from Los Angeles.
"I really don't know and that remains to be seen. I am hopeful because I would love to win an Oscar, but I am just a lot more excited to be nominated too," said the creative talent, who considers "Dallas Buyers Club" difficult because "we had no money and we had no time".
With an experience of over 20 years in showbiz, Lee has such titles as "The Good Shepherd", "A Mighty Heart", "Hannah Montana: The Movie", "Salt", "The Artist" and "12 Years A Slave" in her filmography.
For period drama "Dallas Buyers Club", which released in India Friday, Lee shares her nomination with make-up artist Robin Mathews. She truly believes in the importance of coordination between the hairstyling and make-up departments for a film.
"It's so important because a lot of times you don't have a lot of time and both hair and make-up (departments) have to work on the actor at the same time, simultaneously, and it's just important that you be able to do that. Just do your work, do it well and yet allow somebody to work on it at the same time; make-up and hair need to work seamlessly together because you are so close and one thing compliments the other," she said.
Also, while hair may be a miniscule part of a person's overall look, the right hairstyling goes a long way in creating a "complete" character.
"Hairstyling can finish off a character or help make the character. You know it is so important to get the right thing and for the actor to feel right. If they are comfortable and they like what they see, that helps them deliver a better performance. It completes the character as it's the frame for the face," Lee explained.
Being a celebrity hairstylist comes with its share of issues - but like in most other jobs, " you've got to give it everything you've got" and be patient, suggests Lee.
"(As a celebrity hairstylist) You know you have the time constraint because you've got to finish your work in a certain amount of time, you have to please the director, you got to to see the live situation, make sure everything looks good in the lighting, and of course you have to please your actor.
"There are so many people that need to be happy with what you've done, you just have to do a good job, you've got to give it everything you've got, you got to know how to be the best at what you can be, because there are so many things you need to be aware of. Yeah, it's tough."
(Radhika Bhirani can be contacted at radhika.b@ians.in)
