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Apone's love of film began when he was nine years old. His family moved to Culver City, and the back lots of MGM and Desilu became his playgrounds. Career aspirations in film development in high school, where he and his friends made amateur movies. He worked as a production assistant on his first film soon after graduating. He continued working on independent projects, finally becoming a field producer with Bill Burrud Productions, which did travel logs for American Express. Later he became a purchasing agent in the hobby craft field with Western Trimming. From there he moved into his career in special effects and makeup.

A multi-award-nominated makeup artist. Apone, who also has excellent financial and organisational skills, co-produced three projects with actor Tom Berenger's production company, 1st Corps Endeavours, from 1994 to 1997. The projects included the award-winning miniseries Rough Riders, the TNT telefilm Avenging Angel, and the feature film An Occasional Hell.

He is president and CEO of Makeup & Effects Laboratories (MEL), a special effects makeup facility he opened in 1979 after an apprenticeship with Burman Studios as well as being mentored by Academy Award-winning special effects wizard, Stan Winston. MEL, Inc. has grown from 500 square feet to over 20,000 square feet, which has provided special effects elements on over 145 films and 25 television shows since its inception. Recent film projects include Westworld, Divergent, Django Unchained, The Last Thing He Wanted, Den of Thieves, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Killing Reagan, 22 Jump Street, and Suicide Squad. In 2012 he started Mel Products, a speciality makeup line that is used by the majority of film and television productions as well as makeup effects and Halloween hobbyists all over the world.

Apone has served as a makeup artist on over 170 films and 150 television episodes throughout his career. He has been the personal makeup artist for Samuel L. Jackson, Dustin Hoffman, Chris Evans, Gerard Butler, Tom Berringer, and Sir Ben Kingsley, to name a few. A member of Makeup and Hairstylist Local 706 for over 20 years, he has been nominated for his achievement in makeup by the Emmys in 1993, 1994, 1997, and 2018 for Westworld. He was nominated for the Hollywood Makeup Artists Guild for his work on Three Kings and Captain America: Winter Soldier.

Apone is a member of both the Television Academy as well as the Motion Picture Academy. He resides in Newhall, California, and has two children.

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