Harley Jessup (born 1954) is an American production designer and visual effects art director who has been nominated for two visual effects Academy Awards, and won once. Currently working at

Pixar Animation Studios Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californi ...

, Jessup has served as production designer for ''

Monsters, Inc. ''Monsters, Inc.'' (also known as ''Monsters, Incorporated'') is a 2001 American computer-animated Monster movie, monster comedy film produced by Pixar, Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. Featuring the voices of John Goodman, B ...

'' (with Bob Pauley), '' Ratatouille'', ''

Cars 2 ''Cars 2'' is a 2011 American computer-animated Spy film, spy comedy film produced by Pixar, Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is the sequel to ''Cars (film), Cars'' (2006), the second film in the Cars (franchise), ''Cars'' f ...

'', '' Presto'', ''

The Good Dinosaur ''The Good Dinosaur'' is a 2015 American computer-animated adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The film was directed by Peter Sohn (in his feature directorial debut) and p ...

'' and Pixar's animated feature, '' Coco''. Before coming to Pixar, Jessup was production designer on

Walt Disney Pictures Walt Disney Pictures is an American film production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. The studio is the flagship producer of live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Studios uni ...

' '' James and the Giant Peach''. Jessup was a visual effects art director at

Industrial Light & Magic Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is an American motion picture visual effects company that was founded on May 26, 1975 by George Lucas. It is a division of the film production company Lucasfilm, which Lucas founded, and was created when he began pro ...

from 1987 to 1994. From 1991 to 1994 he served as ILM art department creative director. Jessup's visual effects art direction credits include, ''

Innerspace ''Innerspace'' is a 1987 American science fiction comedy film directed by Joe Dante and produced by Michael Finnell. Steven Spielberg served as executive producer. It was inspired by the 1966 science fiction film ''Fantastic Voyage''. It sta ...

'' (for which he won an Academy Award), '' Hook'' (nominated for an Academy Award), ''

The Hunt for Red October ''The Hunt for Red October'' is the debut novel by American author Tom Clancy, first published on October 1, 1984, by the Naval Institute Press. It depicts Soviet submarine captain Marko Ramius as he seemingly goes rogue with his country's cutt ...

'' (with Steve Beck), ''

Ghostbusters II ''GhostbustersII'' is a 1989 American Supernatural fiction, supernatural comedy film directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. The film stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Ramis, Rick Moranis ...

'', ''

Joe Versus the Volcano ''Joe Versus the Volcano'' is a 1990 American romantic comedy film written and directed by John Patrick Shanley and starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Hanks plays a man who, after being told he is dying of a rare disease, accepts a financial offer ...

'' and ''

Fire in the Sky ''Fire in the Sky'' is a 1993 American biopic science fiction mystery film directed by Robert Lieberman and adapted by Tracy Tormé. It is based on Travis Walton's book ''The Walton Experience'', which describes an extraterrestrial abduction ...

''. In 1985, Jessup won an Emmy Award for best visual effects for ''

The Ewok Adventure ''The Ewok Adventure'' is a 1984 American fantasy adventure film based in the ''Star Wars'' universe. It takes place on the moon of Endor, and features the Ewoks, who help two young human siblings as they try to locate their parents. The film ...

'', produced by

Lucasfilm, Ltd. Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC is an American film and television production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is a business segment of The Walt Disney Company. The studio is best known for creating and producing the ''Star Wars'' and ' ...

for

ABC Television ABC Television most commonly refers to: *ABC Television Network of the American Broadcasting Company, United States, or *ABC Television (Australian TV network), a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia ABC Television or ABC ...

. Harley Jessup began his career at Korty Films designing animated short films for ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...

'', including ''The Adventures of Thelma Thumb''. He served as art director on

John Korty John Korty (June 22, 1936 – March 9, 2022) was an American film director and animator, best known for the television film '' The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman'' and the documentary '' Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen ...

's animated feature '' Twice Upon a Time''. Jessup has written and illustrated three children's books, ''What Alice Up to?'' and ''Grandma Summer'' for Viking Children's Books and ''Welcome to Monstropolis'' for Disney/Egmont. He studied graphic design at

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...

(BFA) and

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

(MFA).

Oscars

Both films were in the category of Best Visual Effects * 60th Academy Awards: ''

''. Award shared with Bill George, Dennis Muren and

Kenneth F. Smith Kenneth F. Smith is a special effects artist. He works at Industrial Light & Magic, ILM as well. He also won 2 Academy awards. Oscars Both films were in the category of Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, Best Visual Effects *55th Academy Awa ...

. Won. * 64th Academy Awards: Nominated for '' Hook'', nomination was shared with Eric Brevig,

Michael Lantieri Michael Lantieri (born August 13, 1954) is a special effects supervisor. Lantieri went to school in Los Angeles, California with actor-director Ron Howard with the ambition to work in films as a director, which he had been interested in from a yo ...

and Mark Sullivan. Lost to '' Terminator 2: Judgment Day''.

Selected filmography

*'' Twice Upon a Time'' (1983) art director *''

'' (1987) visual effects art director *''

'' (1989) visual effects art director *''

'' (1990) visual effects art director *'' Hook'' (1991) visual effects art director *'' A Bug's Life'' (1998) additional storyboard artist *'' Toy Story 2'' (1999) visual development *''

'' (2001) production designer *'' Ratatouille'' (2007) production designer *'' Up'' (2009) lighting art director *''

'' (2011) production designer *''

'' (2015) production designer *'' Coco'' (2017) production designer

References

External links

* 1954 births Annie Award winners Best Visual Effects Academy Award winners Emmy Award winners Living people People from Corvallis, Oregon Pixar people Special effects people {{Disney-stub