Greek of the Week Features George Frangadakis

The Greek-American creator produces high-end silicon masks for leading Hollywood productions. As Frangadakis states, "We basically make monsters for the film and haunted attraction industries". When establishing Immortal FX and Immortal Masks, the founders wanted to apply their cumulative experience in the film world to an emerging industry. Frangadakis comments, "From the beginning, we weren't joining the silicone mask industry, we were changing it!" With a lot of hard work and perseverance, they now sit as the industry leader.

The creative Greek-American's parents hail from Samos and Crete, while Frangadakis grew up in the Bay Area's picturesque suburb of Saratoga, California. A self describe mythology buff, his favorite places in the homeland are Knossos in Crete and his mother's hometown of Kokkari in Samos. Frangadakis describes, "Kokkari literally calms my soul. It's so hard to explain, but this is the place where I feel my deepest connection to my heritage".

After completing film school in San Francisco, the talented designer made the leap to Los Angeles. As Frangadakis explains, "Realizing that if I wanted to achieve any of the goals I had set for myself, I needed to make that jump. Everything happened fairly quickly from that point on. I think I had been in LA only three weeks before I was at my first Emmy Awards . That same year I attended my first Academy Awards. This all happened through connections to the Greek community, by the way. From there I was off and running. I had been introduced to an FX studio owner and was fortunate to be brought on as his studio supervisor. This began my career in the Makeup FX world".

Frangadakis, who coins himself as a work in progress, is extremely proud of his mask company and the creativity that flows from each project he works on. He feels extremely fortunate in his line of work and loves what he does day in and day out. Immortal FX and Immortal Masks has produced more than 65 characters, and has now secured deals that will bring the band KISS and various video game properties to the silicone mask world.

George Frangadakis attributes his success to his parents. When questioning any situation, he asks himself: "What would my father do?" As he lovingly declares, "My father and mother are both my daily inspirations on how to 'be' as a person. They are loving parents and grandparents who have always supported me, no matter what... Even if that 'what' is making somebody's head explode in a movie or creating a monster that would make young children cry. When I'm gone, I'd like to think I did it half as good as they did".