- Josh Sundquist, a motivational speaker and Paralympic athlete, creates costumes that celebrate his physical difference as an amputee.
- Every Halloween, his elaborate costumes go viral.
- This year, he dressed as the Pixar lamp with a functional light bulb and flexible foam exoskeleton.
- He hopes his costumes both make people laugh and help them celebrate what makes them different.
- Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Josh Sundquist outdoes himself every year.
After losing his leg to bone cancer as a child, Sundquist went on to become a Paralympic athlete as well as a motivational speaker, performer, bestselling author, and YouTuber. A self-proclaimed Halloween enthusiast, Sundquist is also known for creating “unique Halloween costumes that celebrate the way my body is shaped,” he told Insider.
Every Halloween, he dreams up clever one-legged costumes, each more elaborate than the last.
This year, he dressed as the squeaky lamp from the opening sequence of Pixar movies, complete with a working light bulb and flexible foam exoskeleton that allows him to hop around and stomp on the letter “I.”
Sundquist enlisted the help of Steven Meissner, lead designer, prop maker and artist at Solo Roboto Industries in East Hollywood. The costume took months to create.
"It is a very long process," he said. "I feel like I work on Halloween year-round."
For Sundquist, the amusement and inspiration the costumes provide is worth the effort.
"Ultimately the message of the costumes is humor and delight, but if people want to think deeper about them, hopefully there's a story there about embracing what makes you unique and even what makes you different," he said. "If you were to show younger me the costumes that I make now, he probably would not believe that I would be calling attention to how I look different. Perhaps if there was someone like me out there at that time, and I'd been able to see those photos, maybe it would have helped me become a little more confident in the way I looked a little bit sooner in my journey."
Take a look at Sundquist's history of absolutely crushing Halloween.
Josh Sundquist is a 35-year-old motivational speaker, performer, and bestselling author.
He's written two memoirs, "Just Don't Fall: A hilariously true story of childhood cancer, amputation, romantic yearning, truth, and Olympic greatness" and "We Should Hang Out Sometime: Embarrassingly, a true story," and a novel called "Love and First Sight."
He also performs a comedic one-man show at the Santa Monica Playhouse called "We Should Hang Out Sometime."
Through his work, he shares his journey from losing his leg to bone cancer as a child to eventually becoming a Paralympic athlete, as well as his past dating misadventures.
Sundquist was a member of the US Paralympic Ski Team for the 2006 Paralympics in Turin, Italy, and currently plays for the US Amputee Soccer Team.
His creative one-legged Halloween costumes have become an annual tradition, starting with the half-eaten gingerbread man from "Shrek" in 2010.
"After the gingerbread man, that was the last time and the only time that I personally had enough skill to make one of these costumes on my own," he said. "It was a normal 'Shrek' gingerbread costume from Amazon that I literally just cut the left leg off in the shape of a bite mark. Everything after that I've needed people's help who are far better craftspeople than I am."
In 2012, he dressed up as the leg lamp from "A Christmas Story."
Complete with a black high-heeled shoe and fishnet stockings, the lamp actually worked with a functional light bulb.
The next year, he dressed up as a flamingo.
The head of the flamingo is Sundquist's foot.
In 2014, Sundquist incorporated his US Amputee Soccer Team uniform into his foosball player costume.
He covered his crutches with metallic tubes to make them look like foosball table handles.
He hopped around as an IHOP sign in 2015.
His wife, Ashley, accompanied him dressed as a stack of pancakes.
For Halloween in 2016, he dressed as the candlestick Lumiere from "Beauty and the Beast."
He wore a gold bodysuit with candles for hands.
In 2017, he took on the role of Tigger from "Winnie the Pooh."
Sundquist's leg is hidden in the tail, creating the illusion that he is springing around on it just like the excitable character.
Sundquist's Genie from "Aladdin" emerged from a golden lamp in 2018.
Ashley played the part of Aladdin.
This year's Pixar lamp was his most complex costume to date.
Sundquist first contacted Steven Meissner, who made the costume, back in May. Several months and fittings later, it's ready to go.
Here it is in action.
Sundquist said he plans to spend Halloween trick-or-treating at Disneyland - the ultimate Disney-Pixar collaboration.
-
- Read more:
- A couple already won Halloween with their 'It' couples costume - and the photos will give you nightmares
- A woman created a Cinderella costume with a glass prosthetic arm to celebrate her physical difference, and the photos are going viral
- 24 photos that show the shocking amount of sugar in popular Halloween candies