Derrick Rutledge (born February 24, 1961) is an American celebrity stylist and makeup artist, singer and entrepreneur. He is most notably makeup artist to Oprah Winfrey and First Lady Michelle Obama. Derrick was born and raised in Washington, DC. His early education was at the prestigious Georgetown Day School in Washington. After which he received a music and academic scholarship to Webster University in St. Louis. Rutledge returned to Washington in 1984 and began working as a makeup artist. He began his rise to prominence as a celebrity makeup artist when under the recommendation of former Miss USA and Real Housewives of Atlanta, Kenya Moore, he became her makeup artist at BET while she guest hosted Video Soul.. While at BET, Derrick Rutledge worked with many legendary divas of Black music and Hollywood. Including Chaka Khan, Patti Labelle, Beyonce, Yolanda Adams and Cece Winans. His work has been featured on the covers of Essence Magazine, AARP, and Oprah Magazine. In September 2014, Mr. Rutledge was featured on Entertainment Tonight as part of the team creating a glamorous four cover shoot for the September issue of O! Magazine Derrick currently resides in his hometown of Washington, D.C.

Experience

He returned to D.C. and began working as a makeup artist. That’s when we met. I’m blessed to have known Derrick for almost as long as I’ve been in Washington, D.C. That’s just about my entire adult life. I am proud to call him a close friend. We’ve seen each other through a lot… and I can honestly say, no one deserves this great success more than he does. I’ve watched Derrick put in “that work!” For the past few years, makeup artist Derrick Rutledge has held the 1 spot on Oprah Winfrey's beauty speed dial. We can't blame her: Rutledge's brushes have graced the faces of some seriously famous clientele, from American first lady Michelle Obama to soul singer Patti Labelle. Most recently, Rutledge took on his greatest challenge yet, transforming Oprah's character in Lee Daniels' The Butler from a 30-year-old housewife in the mid-1950s to a 90-year-old grandmother in 2008. We sat down with Rutledge to get the deets on movie makeup magic, Oprah's behind-the-scenes personality and his very own hair, skin and makeup line, OOH Lifestyle. Plus, our darker skinned beauties will rejoice: Rutledge fills us in on the woes of ashy foundation and explains how to achieve an all-over glow simply by looking in the mirror.worked with prosthetic expert Matthew Mungle to age Oprah. Matthew created a mould out of Oprah’s face to make a silicone prosthetic. Once he put the prosthetic on, I would have to use alcohol and water-based make-up as cover up because oil-based make-up would make the prosthetics disintegrate. Usually I use a brush for foundation, in this case, had to use a sponge to apply the make-up to avoid tugging on the prosthetics. Derrick Rutledge was a master artist and key developer for Dudley Cosmetics at the start of his career. He stepped into the celebrity makeup spotlight when he took on former Miss USA and Real Housewives of Atlanta star, Kenya Moore. Working with Kenya on BET’s “Video Soul,” the doors opened, giving Derrick the opportunity to work with the divas of music, including Chaka Khan, Patti Labelle, Beyoncé and Gospel legend, Yolanda Adams. Today he serves as the premier makeup artist to mogul Oprah Winfrey and the first lady, Michelle Obama. His work has been featured in publications and on the covers of Essence Magazine, The Oprah Magazine, Glamour, in Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Harper’s BAZAAR, Vogue and more. His work was also seen on the silver screen with Oprah in Lee Daniels’ ‘The Butler.’