Shaun Smith has over 18 years experience working on makeup, special makeup effects, puppets and props for both feature films and commercials.

Although adept in all facets of the makeup effects and prosthetics arena, he specializes in the supervision of crews of all sizes. Those crews have ranged in scale from just a few artists to teams made up of over eighty artists. In addition to his experience managing crews, Shaun also has vast experience budgeting, art directing, designing, and overseeing shop operations. This includes setting up shops and working in numerous places around the world, including Canada, Thailand, New Zealand, Panama, and Australia, with each of these location bringing its own set of unique challenges.

In 1989, Shaun began his career working as part of the creature effects crew on the film, Tremors . For the next five years, he honed his makeup and effects skills on various film and television projects. In 1995, he was hired to head up Kevin Yagher's makeup effects shop. During the next few years he would take the lead on high-profile projects such as John Woo's Face/Off and Paul Verhoven's Starship Troopers . In 1997, he left and began his freelance career as a project coordinator for various studios and makeup effects companies. In 2003, Shaun reunited with two-time makeup academy award winner, David Anderson, to assemble and supervise the makeup effects crew for director Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead . In 2004 and 2005, Shaun supervised several projects for Creature Effects, Inc., including Four Brothers and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Impressed by his work on Dawn of the Dead , director Zack Snyder turned to Shaun in 2005 when he began working on 300 , based on Frank Miller's classic graphic novel. Teaming up with a long-time associate Mark Rappaport, Shaun created his biggest artistic and managerial project to date. He set up shops in Los Angeles, Toronto, and Montreal to complete the impressive collection of special effects makeup, puppets and props for 300. In addition, Shaun supervised over 30 makeup artists and staff each day on the set.