McKenzie Westmore is More than Just a Pretty Face Off Host

As the daughter of award-winning Star Trek: The Next Generation makeup artist Michael Westmore, soap vet McKenzie Westmore makes for the perfect host of Syfy's eye-popping competition, Face Off, which kicks off round 2 tonight at 10/9c. Because she didn't just grow up in the biz, she also got to play around in it!

TV Guide Magazine: OK, the opener is so good!
Westmore: I know, right? I am dying to see more footage. I am chomping at the bit with [production], like please throw me a bone!

TV Guide Magazine: The talent these makeup artists exhibit in the premiere's Wizard of Oz challenge is dazzling.
Westmore: I didn't know the background on many of them, so to see the finished products? I was blown away by the equality of talent among them. This season's gonna be tough because it's impossible to pick a front-runner.

TV Guide Magazine: And unlike some reality shows, the judges are legit, too.
Westmore: And they're current! Glenn Hetrick has worked with Lady Gaga, Ve Neill just finished The Hunger Games and Patrick Tatopolous is coming off [the remake of] Total Recall and is directing something this summer. The right to judge is there.

TV Guide Magazine: Did your dad use you as a model when you were a kid?
Westmore: Oh God, did he! [Laughs] I can't tell you how many times I was his experimentation. It's a part of what my family is. I was not only the model, I got to be hands-on. The Cardassians on Star Trek: TNG? I was instrumental in helping design those. That's something nobody knows.

TV Guide Magazine: So hosting a show like this is right in your wheelhouse.
Westmore: I always had such respect for my family, but it wasn't until this show came along that I realized this is where I need to be. It's my legacy and I want to see it continue on.

TV Guide Magazine: You must have been at home with the crazy effects when you were on Passions.
Westmore: I had so much respect for what they had to do and the time crunches. Because we were the only soap that did have prosthetic work...and they knew they could throw me in to that. When they turned my character into a man on the show, I was like, "This is awesome!"

TV Guide Magazine: Do you have a favorite artist from this season so far?
Westmore: It is really such a game of "who's next?" The talent pool is so fantastic.

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