Stephan Dupuis was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. As a young boy Stephan was fascinated by the fantasy films that were readily available to him and he found himself determined to be involved in some aspect of the entertainment industry. Having had pencil in hand and sketching since he was five years old, he first desired to go into animation and honed his skills in caricature and life drawing. Stephan then began sculpting and his attention was drawn to classic characters like Phantom of the Opera and The Creature from the Black Lagoon. He then started using his friends as guinea pigs, working out of his parent's basement, Stephan applied makeup of his own creation. There were no schools for prosthetic makeup, so he developed his own techniques for application and coloration.

At the age of 20, Stephan was given the opportunity to work on the feature film "City on Fire", shot in Montreal. Stephan's responsibilities included applying burn makeups to forty extra performers for several weeks of shooting. The producer's were very pleased with Stephan's work on the film. Dick Smith learned of Stephan's abilities and asked him to assist on a film he was working on in Toronto. Stephan studied with Mr. Smith in New York, learning new techniques and continuing to develop his own approaches to special effects makeup. After work on "Quest For Fire" Stephan worked on "Scanners", his first film with David Cronnenberg. This film established a long running relationship with the director that includes "A History of Violence" and the recently released "Eastern Promises". His work with Cronenberg on "The Fly" earned him an academy award in 1986. Other notable films include "Cape Fear", "Robocop" and "Enemy Mine'.