An Intimate Look Behind the Scenes on Oscars Day With Jamie Lee Curtis' Hairstylist Sean James
The Oscars (also known as the Academy Awards) are the most prestigious awards in the entertainment industry. Every year Hollywood’s biggest stars get glammed up and hit the red carpet to celebrate the industry’s top cinematic achievements from Best Actor and Actress to Best Makeup and Hairstyling and more.
Behind every celebrity is an incredible dream team of hairstylists, makeup artists, fashion stylists and others who come together to help them look their best for a special night that will be remembered for the years to come. One of the big winners at the 2023 Oscars was Jamie Lee Curtis, who received the Best Supporting Actress award for her role in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” The film picked up seven awards that evening including Best Supporting Actor (Ke Huy Quan), Best Actress (Michelle Yeoh), Best Picture, Best Director (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), Best Original Screenplay, and Best Editing.
Look We Love: Jamie Lee Curtis at the 2022 Oscars
Sean James is one of Hollywood’s top celebrity hairstylists who is constantly in demand and has longtime clients that include Curtis, Dylan and Cole Sprouse, Chris Hardwick, Weird Al Yankovic and Eugene Levy, among others. He sees clients out of Matthew Preece Salon in Santa Monica and is also the founder of Beach Blvd, a line of luxurious haircare products and hand sanitizers that are inspired by beaches around the world.
Over the years, James has prepped and styled Curtis’ hair for many movies, press premieres, red carpets and awards shows including the Oscars. This year was extra special for him because he got to see his longtime client and friend take home an Oscar while being part of the excitement leading up to the star-studded show.
Tastemakers and Trendsetters: Sean James
“The great thing about this year’s Oscars was that Jamie was nominated for an award,” James says. “In past years, Jamie presented awards to other people and we usually prepared her look and got her ready at her home. This year we went to L’Ermitage Beverly Hills where we had a suite. It was really calm and nice to have no distractions. We also received such a beautiful welcome by the hotel and there was a special sense of connection in the room. Between all of us, we had been on this journey for the last year, and to see it come to fruition, and for all of us to be together prepping Jamie for the red carpet was a sense of accomplishment, but also a closing and the final book end to the journey.”
James offered us a detailed behind-the-scenes look at what Oscars day was like for him and the other members of Curtis’ beauty team:
4:30 A.M. I get up to take a shower, put on my gym clothes and head to the gym.
5 A.M. I arrive at Gold’s Gym, turn on Sling TV and watch my friend Michelle Valles on the desk at NBC Los Angeles news. She’s my favorite anchor and I also do her hair so I love to see how she styles it in the morning on the weekends. I work on an incline for 45 minutes to an hour, then do half an hour of weights.
7 A.M. I head home and stop off at Rockenwagner Bakery in Los Angeles, which is owned by Hans and Patti Rockenwagner, to pick up some treats for Jamie. Hans and Patty are two of her favorite people and I want to make sure that they are represented in the room.
7:30 A.M. I arrive home to watch the rest of the news and a little bit of Chuck Todd on “Meet the Press” just to catch up on what’s going on in the world. I spend some time with my husband Isauro and we eat breakfast sandwiches from Rockenwagner Bakery—he gets a bacon pretzel roll and I get the egg white and cheese pretzel roll. A nice treat for the weekend!
9 A.M. My kit and everything that I need is already in my car, which I prepared the day before. I shower, get ready, and put on my my lucky Vivienne Westwood outfit that I wear whenever I have something special. I always wear Vivienne Westwood from head to toe, it’s my good luck charm.
10 A.M. I jump in my car and head to L’Ermitage Beverly Hills. While I’m driving I listen to a random selection of music from my Apple Music just to calm me down—I’m so excited on this journey.
10:30 A.M. I arrive at L’ Ermitage hotel, where they have provided an incredible room and perfect set-up for us to get Jamie ready. I arrange my tools from FHI Heat and my shampoo and conditioner products from Obliphica.
Celebrity Hairstylist Sean James on Working With Dylan and Cole Sprouse
11 A.M. Jamie’s makeup artist Grace Ahn and longtime stylist Jane Ross arrive. Jane lays out an incredible hand-beaded dress from Dolce & Gabbana while Grace sets up her makeup from Anastasia of Beverly Hills and FaceGym tools.
11:30 A.M. I’m taking pictures of all of our set-ups and I’ve brought my camera to document the journey.
11:45 A.M. Jamie arrives. We are all so excited and share a group hug.
12 P.M. We get started on Jamie’s makeup and the stories of the day, of the dress and what has happened in the last 48 hours. The dress was hand-beaded and altered to fit Jamie’s perfect body.
12:30 P.M. I start on Jamie’s hair during my step-by-step. We are telling stories, having fun, and really connecting with each other during this perfect moment in our lives.
1 P.M. We sit together and talk about the moment and the journey we’ve been on in the last year. Jamie asks me to read the lyrics from “This Is a Life,” the movie soundtrack song that is nominated for an Oscar and performed by David Byrne.
1:05 P.M. We are all in tears as we hug.
1:10 P.M. We all regain our composure and Grace touches up Jamie’s makeup.
1:30 P.M. Jamie is out the door in true Jamie fashion and heads downstairs to meet her husband Christopher Guest, who is waiting in the lobby. We are also excited to see him looking so handsome. I pre-cut his hair two days before and I’m loving the way that he has styled my haircut. I take a quick photo of the two of them together and Grace runs upstairs to get the cake that she has bought Jamie and the Rockenwagner treats that didn’t get eaten so that she has something after the show to nibble on. I also put the chocolate Oscar from the room in Jamie’s bag. Her driver Cal picks her up.
2 P.M. Grace, Jane and I go back up to the room, take a deep breath, sit down and regain our composure. We talk about how incredible Jamie looks and how it has been so cool to get to do this with her.
2:30 P.M. There is a knock on the door from the hotel to kick us out because out they need the room.
3 P.M. I head home and have a bunch of work to do, sending all of my breakdowns to the different product companies that I have worked with and magazines that are interested in how to get Jamie’s look. That takes a couple of hours by the time I’m ready.
3:30 P.M. While I’m writing out my breakdowns on the day, I’m watching the red carpet on TV and see Jamie come on. I have flipped through all the different channels, watching her kill the red carpet—even better than the recent SNL skit.
5 P.M. The Oscars begin. I was supposed to watch the Oscars with my friend Rufus Wainwright, his husband Jorn and their daughter Viva, but I was so overwhelmed that I just wanted to be at home with my husband. I knew that it was going to be an incredibly emotional evening no matter which way it went, but if you have a look at my Instagram stories, you will see that I was an absolute wreck.
9 P.M. I am exhausted and have to go to sleep. The show has been overwhelming and it was the most phenomenal day. How could anything be better than this? And like David Byrne says in his song, “This is a life, this is our life.”
For more information, visit seanjameshair.com and follow him on Instagram: @seanjameshair
[Photos courtesy of Sean James]
Kamala Kirk is a University of Southern California graduate and has been an editor/writer for more than a decade. She has written for E! Online, Total Beauty, TravelAge West, Malibu Times Magazine, and many more. She resides in Los Angeles and is a proud pug mom. Follow her on Instagram: @kamalakirk