Cynthia De La Rosa | Hair & Make Up Designer

Cynthia De La Rosa | Hair & Make Up Designer

(She/Her)

It’s not often that opera and sitcom are mentioned in the same breath, but that’s exactly the pairing you get with the story of hair and make-up designer Cynthia De La Rosa. The Dominican born designer grew up in the US and received a BFA in costume design from Florida State University, before an internship with acclaimed Broadway hair designer Tom Watson drew her to the world of wigs, hair and make-up. Following an internship with the V&A in London she moved to the UK permanently in 2006, landing a job with the English National Opera.

A decade, and over 100 shows later, Cynthia was first introduced to the world of film production while designing for the West End, when a friend needed help fixing wigs on set. Slowly more screen work started to come her way, much of it uncredited, including the likes of The Windsors (2016-2020), The Great (2019), Stath Lets Flats (2021) and We Are Lady Parts (2023). More recently, she’s taken on more senior roles, designing hair and make-up for sitcom Everyone Else Burns and BAFTA award winning comedy-drama Dreaming Whilst Black (both 2022). Alongside her stage and screen work, Cynthia is a co-founder of Levelling Up, a non-profit tackling textured hair discrimination in the performing arts and a mother of four.

In their own words...

“The ENO was a wonderful place to learn. I got to dress lots of different periods, with lots of people of different ages, and it really set me up well to move into film and television.”

“[BAFTA Breakthrough] is a ‘pinch me’ moment, because hair and make up is rarely acknowledged in things like this. I feel I’m at a point in my career where I’ve been making more projects that have been acknowledged in the industry, and I just need that extra door to open to help me move to the next level. I’ve been doing a lot of TV and I’d like to move into film as well.”

Cynthia is currently designing a soon-to-be-announced Netflix project and her Olivier Award winning show Standing at the Sky’s Edge is transferring to London’s West End in 2024. 

Cynthia’s breakthrough credit is the television series Everyone Else Burns

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