Tyler Green Makes Life Out of Silicone

Walking into Tyler Green’s Winsted, Connecticut special effects and makeup studio, he’s clearly the most detail oriented person you’ll ever meet. You’re immediately greeted by almost a hundred paints perfectly placed an inch apart on the facing wall, spotless stainless steel tables to the right, and silicone heads displayed with such intricate paint and shape that they look freshly decapitated.

“I’ve always been fascinated by characters,” Tyler said, gesturing to fully realized universes of characters organized throughout the studio. “I grew up obsessed with Jim Henson’s work, like The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. I thought those things were real.” It’s why, when flipping through the pages of the horror movie magazine Fangoria, he was gobsmacked when he saw an ad for Tom Savini’s Special Makeup Effects Program. He didn’t know it was possible to learn how to make the life-like monsters he loved. He knew then that he would dedicate his life to special effects - and that’s what he did.

After graduating, Tyler didn’t take the traditional Hollywood route. Instead, he found himself in the medical field, creating hyper-realistic prosthetic limbs and teeth. “I loved the meticulousness of it,” he says, “but it felt too repetitive. I needed to push my creativity further.” So, he took a leap into the entertainment industry, trying out for the SyFy show Face Off, a competition show that challenges special effects artists to create fully realized characters in just a few hours.

His journey to Face Off wasn’t straightforward. “I auditioned three times,” he laughs. “They flew me out to L.A., and I remember thinking, ‘I’m a country boy from Litchfield—what am I doing here?’” Despite feeling out of place, Green stayed focused. "It was crazy, making stuff that should take three months in just three days."

Tyler didn’t stay in Hollywood after his season ended. Instead, he returned to Connecticut, where he now balances work in both film, education, and medical prosthetics. His creativity has evolved into new ways to help people explore what is possible for both everyday life and theater. Tyler is committed to sharing his craft with others, teaching makeup classes at his studio and traveling to places like the Connecticut Science Center. “I love showing people that this art form is accessible to everyone. I want them to realize that, with enough focus, they can create life out of nothing.” Sometimes this feels impossible, staring back at a prosthetic torso Tyler made that looks so realistic you can see faintly painted veins on the skin, but his commitment and detail shows that with enough granular focus, people can reach new heights of the absurd.

A recent absurd moment was when Chappell Roan wore a pig nose he designed on the front cover of her recent single, Good Luck, Babe. Tyler sculpted a pig-inspired nose prosthetic for DYAD Pro, a prosthetics company founded by his former Face Off colleagues, Cat Paschen and Niko Gonzalez. Initially, Tyler created the prosthetic to be used in a variety of cases, not knowing where it would eventually end up.

Then, earlier this year, Tyler's fiancé nudged him to check social media. Chappell Roan had released her album cover, featuring the same pig nose Tyler had sculpted. He had never met Roan in person, but the prosthetic, applied by artist Sasha Glasser from Face Off, fit perfectly. Fans online drew comparisons of the nose to Christina Ricci's role in Penelope, a reference Tyler had in mind during its design. "I wanted to create a nose that was very androgynous. I literally looked at male and female pigs, and their noses have differences. I looked at wild boars, Hampshire pigs, and I really wanted to come up with something that is a mix between the two.

From pigs to monsters to medical marvels, Tyler Green’s work is about more than just special effects—it's about showing people the magic that can happen when passion and meticulous care come together. “I’m doing what I love,” he says. "Every day, I get to create characters, teach, and push the boundaries of what’s possible. That’s the dream."

Learn more about Tyler at tylergreenfx.com