By Omran Wahidy

Brooks woman part of crew nominated for Emmy Award

Jul 19, 2023 | 4:22 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – A southern Alberta woman proudly represents her province on the big stage as the hair crew for the hit HBO series The Last of Us has been nominated for an Emmy Award.

Over the last year, the TV series shot in Calgary and southern Alberta has caught eyes globally. The series received 24 Emmy nominations, with one going to a hair crew with local ties. Penny Thompson of Brooks joins Chris Glimsdale and Courtney Ullrich in the nomination for outstanding contemporary hairstylist.

Thompson began her career as a hairstylist when she was 15 years old.

“I trained right here in Medicine Hat at Townhouse Beauty College,” she says. “I then worked in beauty salons for many, many years and I married a man that was in rodeo. Rodeo is a very big part of movie making and so many people in that business work in film, so I sort of got recruited that way.”

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Most know Alberta for the oil fields or blue-collar workers, but Thompson says Alberta is a hotbed for talent.

“It just goes to show just how much talent we have here in Alberta that people don’t know about. Coming from small town Brooks, the girl I work with (Chris Glimsdale) comes from small town Claresholm. We get together, we go to Calgary we do a job then we return to our home. I feel great about it. Anybody can do it if they have the willpower and the right teacher.”

This is Thompson’s sixth time being nominated for an Emmy. Although she is still looking to win her first one, the experience is well worth it.

“It was busy, and it was a year out of our life. There was a lot of cast, a lot of background people, lots of new experiences. The cast was simply amazing and that’s the one nice thing about doing a TV series like this. The cast changes every episode other than the main characters, so yeah, it was great.”

The team that started with four people grew as 35 Albertans were brought onto the team.

“Chris brought around 35 outside girls to train and teach how to do the prosthetics and infected people’s hair. I think all the girls really had a great experience.”

The Emmy Awards take place on Sept 18, but there is uncertainty about the event due to the current actors’ and writers’ strike.