The biography of Sergio López-Rivera (Seville, 56 years old) has many and varied roots.
Born in Andalusia and raised from the age of three in Cantabria, he moved to the United States as soon as he came of age to study.
And he has stayed in that country ever since.
Although his life is becoming more and more nomadic because of a woman: actress Viola Davis.
Television allowed him to develop his childhood vocation: that of a makeup artist.
He did it with cathodic characters as different as Felicity and Larry David, until the all-powerful producer Shonda Rhimes signed him for her company Shondaland.
López-Rivera chained several projects in the Rhimes factory:
Grey's Anatomy
, his
spinoff Without Appointment
and
Scandal
.
“Until I joined the series
How to Defend a Murderer
and there I met Viola in person,” he recalls.
The meeting with EL PAÍS took place in the middle of last February, on the
set
of the Prime Video film
G20
, located in Cape Town.
The makeup artist follows Viola Davis literally to the end of the world, as he has done now to the South African city.
Before finding himself in the recording of that series, López-Rivera was already hypnotized by the actress.
“The first time I saw her on a screen was in
Doubt
and I became a fan of her immediately.
I thought: who is this woman who is stealing plans from Meryl Streep?
More information
Viola Davis, the girl who grew up in a rat-infested hell to later succeed in Hollywood
The crush between the two was immediate, to the point of abandoning Shonda Rhimes to become the interpreter's go-to makeup artist.
Since then they have traveled together, being her constant company on filming and helping the American with her makeup to compose her characters or to show off on the red carpets.
Assisting Davis in her portrayal of Ma Rainey, an American musical legend, earned López-Rivera an Oscar in 2021, in the category of best makeup and hairstyling, for
her biopic The Mother of the Blues.
Sergio López-Rivera doing makeup on actress Viola Davis for 'The Mother of the Blues' (2020), in an image provided by the makeup artist.
He still remembers the moment he found out he was going to work with Viola Davis.
“I was already hired for the series, but we didn't have a leading actress.
They were thinking of actresses like Jennifer Connelly or Diane Lane.
When I found out it was her, I loved the idea.
It was a completely different series than if another woman had played it.
In fact, many of the conflicts of her character were proposed by Viola,” recalls the Spaniard.
From left to right, Mia Neal, Jamika Wilson and Sergio López-Rivera with their Oscar for best makeup and hairstyling for 'The Mother of the Blues', at the 2021 awards.Handout (AMPAS via Getty Images)
How to Get Away with a Murderer
, in addition to being a ratings success—it began airing in 2014 and ran for six seasons—helped Davis build that image of a pioneer in the Hollywood industry.
Annalize Keating, her character, was “a 49-year-old dark-skinned African-American woman, sexualized and complicated,” the actress celebrated on her day.
López-Rivera was involved in the series' most iconic scene, which occurred in the first season.
He showed something practically taboo on screen: a black woman's relationship with her hair.
Davis's character, so ferocious outwardly, would arrive at her house and take off her wig and remove her makeup in the mirror to face her husband.
“The director of the episode, Laura Innes [who was one of the actresses in
ER
], told me how we could simulate that she removed her makeup without having to appear on screen without makeup.
I told her that Viola doesn't have the vanity of the Hollywood star that she really is and that she wouldn't make any problems.
So it was.
She was gorgeous.
She took off her wig like no one else, as if she were the helmet of a superhero,” she says with admiration.
“I have been in this business for almost 35 years and I assure you that no Hollywood star would have allowed me to do the things I have done with her.
Only one Spanish actress has such a level of commitment to her profession that she goes over her image: Aitana Sánchez-Gijón.
“They both belong to the same caste of actresses,” defends her, who has also helped Davis become the former American first lady Michelle Obama in another of her television projects.
Because being a makeup artist in Hollywood doesn't only involve issues related to beauty or vanity.
Another of Davis' milestones is starring in action films at the age of 50.
Already in South Africa he filmed one of his latest projects,
The King Woman
.
It is a historical epic inspired by real events that happened in the Kingdom of Dahomey, one of the most powerful states in Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries.
“In action scenes, wounds and bruises don't have to look aesthetic, they have to look real,” says López-Rivera.
“In these types of films, usually, the female character starts with glowing makeup and well… it gradually fades as the plot progresses.”
In genres such as drama,
thriller
or action “makeup is really important, because it gradually reflects the suffering that the characters face.
I call it emotional makeup, because it also helps the actors get into the role.”
Sergio López-Rivera doing Viola Davis' makeup in her role as Michelle Obama.