Mitch Ely has been intrigued by makeup and hair from age six, and his passion has stayed with him ever since.  Mitch has worked in just about every arena of makeup and hair artistry. He has been asked to lend his artistic hand to community theater, college theater, summer stock, regional theater, Broadway, major motion pictures, Network television, print media, web media, commercials, fashion runway shows, and special events.

He received a BFA from Ohio University in Theater Design, with an emphasis in makeup and wigs. In the summer of his junior and senior year, he worked at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. Recognized for his talent, he was recruited by Arena Stage in Washington, DC.  In 1995, he got his “big break.” Mitch got a call from the Broadway show, How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. His career took off. Six months later, he went from being the third artist on How to Succeed…to being the Supervisor on a show called Indiscretions, starring Kathleen Turner, Roger Rees, Cynthia Nixon, Jude Law, and Dana Ivey. At the age of 26, Mitch designed his first Broadway production, Present Laughter, starring Frank Langella and Allison Janney.  To date, Mitch has worked on over 20 Broadway productions, supervising 11 of them, and Designing 4.  Broadway has afforded Mitch the opportunity of working with many stars, including Marissa Tomei, Edie Falco, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Ashley, Andrew McCarthy, Christian Slater, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, John C Reilly, Quentin Tarrantino, and Lauren Bacall, just to name a few. 

In between his prestigious Broadway productions, Mitch began working on independent films, TV shows, and runway shows. He has worked on the Late Show with David Letterman, Saturday Night Live, The Today Show, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, The Dr. Keith Ablow Show, The Sopranos, Ed, and the “Gay” episode of the BBC hit, Absolutely Fabulous.  

Major motion pictures Mitch has worked on include Primary Colors, Kate and Leopold, Pollock, Spiderman 2, The Producers, and Old Dogs (Disney, 2008 release). 

Mitch has worked both New York Fashion Week and London Fashion Week. He has contributed to the look of shows for Halston, Sass and Bide, Helen Yarmouth, Rock and Republic, and many other major labels. 

Mitch has become one of Last Looks’ most popular teachers. Like our other instructors, he has the ability to share his vast makeup and hair knowledge with patience, caring and clarity. His ‘hand-on’ teaching style has contributed to a fun, comfortable learning environment for all his students.  Mitch likes teaching because it gives him the ability to train the next generation of aspiring artists, and give them the confidence and tools to tackle any makeup situation.