Even before meeting Peter Tothpal , one senses that he will be effusive and buoyant — you don’t repeatedly work with as many A-listers as he did throughout his career as a hairstylist without bringing a certain ebulliency to set. “I’m just a happy camper,” he told IndieWire regarding his recently announced Lifetime Achievement honor from the MUAHs Guild Awards. “I’m always looking at the bright side, and it worked out for me.
I feel very lucky to be able to work with the people who I really like.” That attitude isn’t just the side effect of being feted for his career; Jennifer Garner singled it out as one of the main reasons she always requested Tothpal for her projects. “ It’s hard to talk about Peter without talking about his affable, easygoing, warm [personality],” she told IndieWire.
“He has an EQ of about a million. I’m distraught that he’s retiring. He kept threatening it for years, and I kept being like, ‘Come on, come back, I don’t work so much! I take really big breaks to be home, it’s just every now and then.
’ But no, he finally said, ‘OK, I really mean it. I’m really done now.'” Originally from Hungary, Tothpal’s career has taken him around the world and through a dizzying microcosm of the ebbs and flows of the film industry over the last 45 years.
He’s worked on everything from ’80s comedies (“Mannequin”) to period dramas (“Love in the Time of Cholera”) and superhero movies (“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. .