(written from a Production point of view)
Samara Hagopian (28 November 1968 – 21 April 2012; age 43) was a puppeteer and prop maker and a member of the Screen Actors Guild. She worked as prop maker on J.J. Abrams' Star Trek though without a screen credit.
Hagopian was born in Concord, Massachusetts, USA and attended the Hopedale High School and graduated in 1990 with a BFA in industrial design from the Rhode Island School of Design. In 1983, her art work earned her a Boston Globe award and was placed on display in Boston. In 1990 she moved to Los Angeles, California, to work in the entertainment industry.
Hagopian started her career working for Rick Gamez company "Rick's Customer Props", a company which later produced props for Star Trek Generations. Hagopian contributed props to the comedy sequel Honey I Blew Up the Kid (1992), the comedy Wayne's World (1992), and the comic adaptation Batman Returns (1992). She also worked for Patrick Tatopoulos Designs on Stargate (1994), Independence Day (1996), Godzilla (1998), Stuart Little (1999), and Bird of Passage (2000), for Rick Lazzarini's "The Character Shop" on Hocus Pocus (1993), Operation Dumbo Drop (1995), Escape from L.A. (1996), and Mimic (1997), and for "Kevin Yagher Productions" on Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996), Bride of Chucky (1998), and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004).
In the more recent years, Hagopian worked as prop maker and mechanical effects crew member on films such as the drama Charlie Wilson's War (2007), James Cameron's science fiction blockbuster Avatar (2009), the mystery thriller Angels & Demons (2009), the science fiction film G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009), the science fiction film The Book of Eli (2010), the comic adaptation Thor (2011), the remake The Green Hornet (2011), the science fiction film I Am Number Four (2011), and the fantasy sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011).
During her latter years, Hagopian was also known as Samara Katz following her marriage to Stephen Katz. She passed away on 21 April 2012 at the age of 43. [1]
External links
- Template:IMDb-link
- Obituary at L.A.Times.com