Private reference page — not linked in site navigation. Everything needed to pursue restoring Crist’s Wikipedia article, in one place, ready to copy-paste.
What actually happened
Crist’s Wikipedia article existed from at least 2015 until it was soft-deleted on July 7, 2022, following an Articles for Deletion (AfD) discussion. Checked Wikipedia’s own deletion log and the AfD discussion directly (not just Wikidata, which just shows an empty sitelink for any deleted article and proves nothing either way).
The AfD was nominated by editor Clarityfiend, purely over sourcing — specifically that the “Emmy Award” and “Peabody Award” claims couldn’t be verified in the national Primetime/Daytime Emmy databases or Peabody’s winner list. Participation was minimal (essentially just the nominator). It closed as a soft delete — the mildest deletion category, explicitly reversible via a simple undeletion request once better sourcing is supplied. There is nothing in the public record connecting the deletion to any conduct dispute.
Original AfD discussion: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Crist Ballas
Original reference verification
Pulled the actual citation URLs out of the archived article’s HTML and checked each one:
| # | Reference | URL | Status (2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | “Emmy® Recipients” | midwestemmys.org/20110924/2011emmyrecipients/ | Live link dead (404), but content recovered via Wayback Machine — see below, claim is VERIFIED |
| 2 | “Crist Ballas Movopia” | movopia.com/names/crist-ballas-273716/ | Dead — domain repurposed as an ad-parking page, not salvageable |
| 3 | Fletcher, “It’s Alive,” Minnesota Monthly (2000) | Print only, no URL | Not a web citation to check; strongest source for notability if a copy/scan can be found |
| 4 | “MetaMakeUp Crist Biography” | metamakeup.com | Domain resolves but is a parked placeholder, no real content |
| 5 | “Crist Ballas IMDB” | imdb.com/name/nm0050698/ | Confirmed correct by user, 2026-08-21 — not usable as an inline Wikipedia citation (WP:RS/IMDB) but fine as an external link |
| 6 | “Crist Ballas Linkedin” | linkedin.com/in/cristballas | Confirmed correct by user, 2026-08-21 |
| 7 | “Crist Ballas TV.com” | tv.com/crist-ballas/person/64667/biography.html | Dead — no response, TV.com barely exists in this form anymore |
The Emmy finding
The AfD nominator checked the national Primetime and Daytime Emmy databases and found nothing. But the citation was always for a regional/chapter Emmy — the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ Upper Midwest chapter — a different, smaller-scope program the nominator never checked. The chapter’s own 2020 archived snapshot of their 2011 recipients page lists, under “Commercial – Single Spot,” the winning entry “Hair” (Periscope agency), crediting “Crist Ballas, Make-Up Artist.” This is a real, citable, verifiable Emmy credit.
Archived proof: web.archive.org/web/20200926060850/https://midwestemmys.org/20110924/2011emmyrecipients/
The Peabody Award (1993) claim, by contrast, could not be verified anywhere and should not be resubmitted without independent confirmation.
Step-by-step restoration process
- Create a Wikipedia account (or use an existing one) at en.wikipedia.org — no real-name requirement.
- Go to Wikipedia:Requests for undeletion (search “WP:REFUND”), find the “Requests for undeletion” section, and start a new request.
- Paste the REFUND request text below, replacing the page’s own edit box content — a new section with heading
=== Crist Ballas ===. - Wait for an admin response (usually a few days). It will likely be restored to draft/userspace for improvement, since it was a soft delete.
- Once restored, replace the draft content with the cleaned-up article text below (Emmy claim added with citation, Peabody claim omitted, IMDb link filled in).
- If it lands in draft space, submit via Articles for Creation for review before it goes back to article space.
REFUND request text (copy-paste)
=== Crist Ballas === The article "Crist Ballas" was soft-deleted on 7 July 2022 following [[Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Crist Ballas]]. The AfD had minimal participation and the nominator's concern was specifically that the Emmy/Peabody award claims couldn't be verified in official databases — not a broader notability or conduct issue. I'd like the article restored to draft space (or my userspace) so I can remove the unverified Peabody claim, properly source the Emmy claim (it refers to a regional NATAS Upper Midwest chapter award, verifiable via an archived copy of the chapter's own 2011 recipients page — the original AfD nominator only checked the national Primetime/Daytime Emmy databases), and add two independent secondary sources that were not part of the original article: * Fletcher, Jacquelyn B. "It's Alive." ''Minnesota Monthly'', October 2000. * Scheller, David. "Crist Ballas, The Mad Scientist of St. Paul." ''The Growler'', February 24, 2020. Requesting restoration to draft/userspace for improvement given this was a soft delete. Thank you. ~~~~
Cleaned-up article text (copy-paste once restored)
'''Crist Ballas''' (born August 11, 1965) is an American make-up artist based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, known for his work in natural, beauty, and prosthetic character makeup for film and television. He owns and operates Metamorphosis Make-Up Artistry.
== Early life ==
Ballas traces his interest in makeup to seeing the original 1931 ''Frankenstein'', starring Boris Karloff, at age six. After his mother explained the effects were not real, she took him to the library, where he discovered Richard Corson's ''Stage Makeup'' and books on Lon Chaney, beginning a self-directed study of the craft.<ref name="growler">{{cite magazine |last=Scheller |first=David |title=Crist Ballas, The Mad Scientist of St. Paul |magazine=The Growler |date=February 24, 2020 |url=https://www.growlermag.com/crist-ballas-the-mad-scientist-of-st-paul/ |access-date=2026-08-21}}</ref>
== Career ==
Ballas began working professionally in makeup in 1981.<ref name="mnmonthly">{{cite magazine |last=Fletcher |first=Jacquelyn B. |title=It's Alive |magazine=Minnesota Monthly |publisher=Greenspring Media Group |date=October 2000}}</ref> He spent several years as a make-up artist on the television series ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' and worked on the 1996 feature film spin-off of that show.<ref name="growler" />
He worked on five films starring Arnold Schwarzenegger: ''Jingle All the Way'', ''Batman & Robin'', ''End of Days'', ''The 6th Day'', and ''Collateral Damage''. In 2009 he was part of the make-up effects team on J. J. Abrams' ''Star Trek''.<ref name="growler" /> His other film and television credits include ''The Straight Story'', ''A Simple Plan'', ''Sweet Land'', ''Double Jeopardy'', ''Reindeer Games'', ''Drop Dead Gorgeous'', ''Mallrats'', and ''The Love Guru''.<ref name="mnmonthly" />
== Teaching and research ==
Ballas has taught as an adjunct instructor in the University of Minnesota's BFA program. As a project through the university's medical simulation department, he developed an anatomically accurate prosthetic used to train doctors and patients to identify cancerous tissue by feel.<ref name="growler" />
== Awards ==
Ballas received a 2011 Upper Midwest Emmy Award from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Upper Midwest chapter, in the Commercial – Single Spot category, for his make-up work on the Periscope-produced spot "Hair."<ref name="emmy2011">{{cite web |title=2011 Upper Midwest Emmy® Recipients |website=Midwest Emmys (National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Upper Midwest Chapter) |url=https://midwestemmys.org/20110924/2011emmyrecipients/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200926060850/https://midwestemmys.org/20110924/2011emmyrecipients/ |archive-date=2020-09-26 |access-date=2026-08-21 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
== References ==
{{reflist}}
== External links ==
* [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0050698/ Crist Ballas] at IMDb
[[Category:1965 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American make-up artists]]
[[Category:People from Saint Paul, Minnesota]]
Sourcing note: this draft rests on two solid independent secondary sources (Minnesota Monthly 2000, The Growler 2020) plus the now-verified Emmy citation. That’s a modest base by Wikipedia’s usual notability bar for a person — if it stalls at a second look, more press (festival programs, IATSE publications, any other coverage) would help before a full return to article space.