Meet Courtney Bryant | Makeup Artist & Haunt Actor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Courtney Bryant and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Courtney, we’d love for you to start things off by telling us something about your industry that we and others not in the industry might be unaware of?
When it comes to the haunted attraction industry, I think a lot of outsiders do not realize how much goes into it. “Spooky season” to many only exists in the realm of October whereas there’s folks in our industry that exude that energy all year long and constantly prep for that beloved Halloween season.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I like to refer to myself as just a “dark artist” simply due to the fact that I am an artist of many forms but at the heart of everything I make there is the element of creepy, kooky, and a lil’ spooky to it haha! My training and initial upbringing was more in the traditional sense where I had always been drawing/painting as a kid all the way to college really. In college is where I began to delve into the world of haunted houses and this began my main focus. I am primarily known now for my hand in makeup artistry but I also am a haunt actor who creates a variety of densely detailed characters and creatures who go bump in the night. I have always been an imaginative individual that has taken pleasure in taking character concepts from something on paper to a thing in the flesh. However, I too dabble in a variety of other creative endeavors including scenic design, graphic design, dental artistry and more. If there’s an opportunity to expand my artistic horizons, best believe I’m game. I’m just happy that as I have shared my art with the world that I have found a lot of other spooky folks like me that enjoy what I have to offer. As I continue in my journey I definitely want the world to know there is beauty within the dark. After all, there is no light without the darkness.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Funnily enough, I live in a very small town called “Killen”, which does have a bit of dark humor to it in reference to what I do and am talking about in this interview. But anyways, I am a bit of an introverted homebody that doesn’t like a lot of high energetic stimulus. My idea of fun is places close to heart and home, like the Killen Time Adventure Park that is on the same property as Arx Mortis. There’s putt putt golf with live animals of varying types around to see as well as laser tag, gellyball, go karts and more. Plus one of my favorite places is to be around the haunted house itself. In town, my husband and I love taking friends to various restaurants like Hugo’s, Ichiban, and a quaint little coffee shop called Cafe de Frida. If we want to go further out, Huntsville has a lot of fun hot spots, one of the favorites is the Lowe Mill, which is a artistic hub of sorts with plenty of studios and interesting artists of many mediums. But to be true, when we have friends in town we really want to know what their input is as far as where to go and what to do because we are totally cool with sitting at a dinner table or in a living room just having great conversation with folks if that’s what is wanted too!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I have plenty of folks I am eternally grateful for. To start, my family has always encouraged me to be myself and forge my own path which has continuously pushed me forward in life and validated my artistry. For what I lovingly call my “haunt family” at Arx Mortis Haunted Attraction has also given me support and a loving community of friends who I don’t know what I would do without. Furthermore, stemming from that, Arx has made a gateway to connect out into the industry itself and I wouldn’t have met the friends I have in various states without it. My husband, Mark Bryant, is my rock and ride or die who believes in me more than I believe in myself at times haha! We make for a formidable team together when we tackle various creative endeavors. I could go on and on but believe me when I say I wouldn’t be where I am today without the support I have been blessed with.

Instagram: sacredmortis

Other: TikTok: @sacredmortis

Image Credits
For my personal photo: credits to Milly Baine (@therosereflective)
For haunted house photography the medical character of me with red lighting was taken by Vasyl McKee (@no_on3s_a1iv3)
Other professionally taken photographs by my husband, Mark Bryant (@midnightveilproductions)
Remaining photos of individuals taken by me.