Doug Drexler (born in New York City) is an Oscar winning visual effects artist, designer, sculptor, illustrator, and a makeup artist who has collaborated with such talents as Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, James Caan, Meryl Streep, and Warren Beatty. He began his career in the entertainment industry working for makeup artist Dick Smith on such films as The Hunger and Starman. He has also contributed to Three Men and a Little Lady, The Cotton Club, FX, Manhunter and Dick Tracy. Dick Tracy earned Drexler an Oscar, as well as The British Academy Award and the Saturn Award for his special makeup effects on characters such as Big Boy Caprice (played by Pacino) and Mumbles (played by Hoffman). Two Emmy nominations in the same field followed for three years working on Star Trek: The Next Generation, where he performed such tasks as aging Captain Picard for "The Inner Light". His final make-up job for the series was the Mark Twain makeup worn by Jerry Hardin in the two part episode "Times Arrow"
In 1992 Drexler moved over to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as designer, digital artist and effects artist. He continued in that capacity on the subsequent Star Trek films as well as Star Trek: Voyager. In April 2001 Drexler worked as senior Illustrator and CGI designer on the fifth Star Trek series, Enterprise. Following Enterprise, he was hired by Visual Effects Supervisor Gary Hutzel as CG Supervisor on Battlestar Galactica, "Caprica", "Blood and Chrome", and "Defiance". Doug won two Emmy Awards and a Visual Effects Society Award for Galactica.
Doug grew up on Long Island and attended Newfield High School.
As of 2015, he is also a member of the board of directors for the Hollywood Science Fiction Museum.
Credits in various fields
Prosthetic character makeup
1982 The Hunger
1983 The Cotton Club
1984 C.H.U.D. 1984 Starman 1985 Heartburn 1985 Manhunter 1986 F/X 1986 Making Mr. Right 1987 Fatal Attraction 1988 Liberace 1988 Poltergeist III 1990 Dick Tracy 1990 Three Men and a Little Lady 1990 True Identity 1991 For the Boys 1992 Shining Through 1990–1993 Star Trek: The Next Generation
Design
1993–1999 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
1994 Star Trek Generations
1996 Star Trek: First Contact
1998 Star Trek: Insurrection
1998 Buckaroo Banzai: Ancient Secrets and New Mysteries (unproduced TV series) 2001–2004 Star Trek: Enterprise 2021–2022 The Orville 2021–2022 Star Trek: Picard
Visual effects
1999 Starship Troopers
1999-00 Star Trek: Voyager
2000 Max Steel
2000 Star Trek: The Motion Picture -Director's Edition
2001 Dan Dare
2001–2004 Star Trek: Enterprise
2004–2006 Star Trek New Voyages
2004–2009 Battlestar Galactica
2006 Future by Design
2007 Area 57
2008 Zeitgeist Addendum
2009 Virtuality
2009 Caprica
2011 Drive Angry
2012 Blood and Chrome
2013 Defiance
2021–2022 The Orville
2021–2022 Star Trek: Picard
Books illustrated
The Star Trek Encyclopedia by Michael and Denise Okuda (). Simon & Schuster, publisher. Star Fleet Medical Reference Manual by Eileen Palestine and Geoffrey Mandel (). Ballantine Books, publisher (Online). Star Trek Science Logs by Andre Bormanis (). Simon & Schuster, publisher. Designing the Future by Jacque Fresco (). The Venus Project, Inc., publisher.
Books illustrated and co-authored
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual by Herman Zimmerman, Rick Sternbach, and Doug Drexler. Simon & Schuster, publisher. Star Trek Sticker Book by Michael and Denise Okuda, and Doug Drexler. Simon & Schuster, publisher. 2001–2011 Star Trek – Ships of the Line Calendar Editor and contributing artist. Simon & Schuster, publisher.
Interactive CD-ROMs
Star Trek: Captain's Chair, Simon & Schuster Interactive. The Star Trek Interactive Encyclopedia, Simon & Schuster Interactive.
On camera
Drexler has made a number of uncredited cameos in various projects during his career. Most notably in the film C.H.U.D as a police officer. He has appeared in numerous Star Trek episodes including The Next Generation as well as in the final episode of Enterprise. He also appears in the final episode of Battlestar Galactica. His other on-camera appearances have been in kitschy webseries and in a couple of Star Trek Fan Films. In May 2013 he played a holographic gunslinger in Pilgrim of Eternity, the first episode of the fan produced webseries Star Trek Continues.