Olivia Holm

Actress. Legendary Makeup Artist.

Olivia Holm became part of the Master Mystery Productions family back in September 2018 when she designed and executed the special effects makeup–everything from bruises to facial hair to aging to burn scars–for What Happens at Sundown, our 1960’s Hollywood mystery. Her critically-acclaimed and landmark work on the production earned her the Skeleton Key Award for Service Above and Beyond, her first accolade with the company. Since then, Olivia has continued to excel in her work as an actress and a makeup legend, pushing her own boundaries to design signature looks for Master Mystery Productions that help define it as a theatrical powerhouse.

Upon graduating from high school in Summer 2019, Olivia immediately worked with Master Mystery Productions by performing in Monica Dwyer’s sold-out production Close Encounters of the Hairy Kind in the role of Honey Boudin, her sweet-yet-sassy portrayal earning her the Diamond Mask Award for the Excellence in Performance. Her work as a makeup artist was called on once again as she designed and perfected the Bigfoot makeup for the show.

Lenore Nevermore in October 2019 gave Olivia her most artistically challenging and gratifying makeup design yet as she designed and implemented the Pallas Athena body paint, turning the actress into living white marble. An amazing feat, Olivia oversaw a team of four artists, including herself, to accomplish this masterpiece, which has gone on to become the most legendary individual makeup look in MMP history. In addition to that, Olivia worked on costuming and performed in the Ensemble of the show, her tireless dedication and willingness to help her castmates however she could earning her a Special Commendation from Master Mystery Productions.

Returning to MMP for her fourth show in Woman in the Walls, Olivia resumed the mantle of makeup mistress extraordinaire with her designs for the show, in particular her decayed ghost and bite scar makeup. She did all that while also playing nervous but quietly determined and Gifted Eliza, her cast and crew mates voting her to receive her second Diamond Mask Award for the role.

During the pandemic, Olivia filmed the role of Fatal_Femme for the upcoming digital show #MurderoftheMonth and recorded two episodes as a guest voice artist for Regions Beyond —  “The Dead Pilot” and “The Girl in the Tub.”

She returned with us to live performing in November 2021 in the role of Mercedes van Chrysler in our slapstick costume party caper, Who’s Who?, which performed in Red Rock Books. She also worked as co-Makeup Designer and Fight Choreographer on the production, designing everything from glittery camouflage war paint to Marie Antoinette’s wig flying off her head in a struggle. Her hilarious antics onstage as Mercedes won her a much-deserved third Diamond Mask Award.

In 2022, she opened her season in one of our most ambitious and technical productions ever, the 1980’s murder mystery Closer to Heaven, in the role of Hallie Sheppard and as the Makeup Designer where she conceptualized and executed some of her most extravagant makeups from neon 80’s glamor to a realistic half-moon scar to a full zombie makeup for one actor. It was her biggest makeup designs yet. And her stellar performance as the aerobics guru Hallie won her her fourth Diamond Mask Award, becoming the first woman to win the award four times.

With her stellar work across many productions, producing visual magic with character and a makeup brush that helped to define us as theatrical magicians, Olivia was honored as an inductee into the Master Mystery Productions Hall of Fame. She has gone above and beyond to create masterpieces that have become legendary in our communities, and we are forever grateful for her genius, creativity, and passion. Congratulations, Olivia!