Ordile is a makeup artist to the stars—the furry and four-legged kind. Just like their human counterparts, animal actors use stunt doubles. In the film Eight Below, the Siberian Husky lead actors had six stunt doubles each. “The dogs are not exactly alike,” she says. “That is where a colorist comes in. You can dye an animal’s fur to match the star or you can apply makeup to make each animal look alike.” (Samples of her work can be seen at Animal Colorist.)
Working with Animals
In addition to working on the set of Eight Below, Ordile has done work on South of the Border, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, Son of the Mask, Princess Diaries and other movies. “Ever since I was eight years old, I knew that I wanted to work with animals,” she says. “The only trouble was that I didn’t want to be a veterinarian or vet technician. I wanted to be an animal trainer for TV and films. I grew up watching Lassie, Petticoat Junction, and Green Acres. I told my high school guidance counselor that was what I wanted to be. He said those types of jobs didn’t exist. Growing up in New Jersey, we really didn’t know about other opportunities working with animals other than vet or vet tech.”
Since she didn’t know she could work in film and television with animals, she went for an associate’s degree as a veterinary technician, and also majored in art. While at school, someone suggested she study grooming. After graduating, she enrolled in a grooming school in Las Vegas. “There I learned about grooming and coloring techniques,” she says.
As a groomer, she learned a lot about hair color. She creates animal-safe dyes. In a film where a zebra befriends a small child, Ordile colored a white horse to look like a zebra. “Zebras are ornery,” she says. “They have bad tempers and don’t always cooperate.”
For this show, she dyed the horse’s white coat with black stripes. Voila! A zebra was created. “Animals lick their fur, so I only use my own dyes, which are animal-safe.”
From the Streets to Hollywood
Many animal actors began their lives as strays. Fang, the drooling Neapolitan Mastiff from the Harry Potter movies, was rescued from a junkyard and adopted by his trainer. Max and the six different dogs who played the same role in the film How the Grinch Stole Christmas also were shelter dogs.
Morris the spokescat for the pet food giant 9Lives was also a stray. When Ordile is not on movie sets applying makeup to animal actors, she works as Morris' handler. She, Morris, and Morris' double travel the country visiting animal shelters to teach people about pet care and the benefits of adopting stray dogs and cats.
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