Kenneth Ralston (born 1954) is an American visual effects artist, currently the Visual Effect Supervisor and Creative Head at Sony Pictures Imageworks. Ralston began his career at the commercial animation and visual effects company, Cascade Pictures in Hollywood, where he worked on over 150 advertising campaigns in the early 1970s. In 1976, he was hired 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 ...

by Dennis Muren to help

George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker. Lucas is best known for creating the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founding Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairm ...

create the effects for ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

''. He remained at ILM for 20 years before joining Sony Pictures Imageworks as president. Ralston is best known for his work in the films of

Robert Zemeckis Robert Lee Zemeckis (born May 14, 1952) is an American filmmaker. He first came to public attention as the director of the action-adventure romantic comedy ''Romancing the Stone'' (1984), the science-fiction comedy ''Back to the Future'' film tr ...

. Ralston has won five

Academy Award for Best Visual Effects The Academy Award for Best Visual Effects is an Academy Award given for the best achievement in visual effects. History of the award The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences first recognized the technical contributions of special effects ...

, including a Special Achievement Oscar for the visual effects in '' Return of the Jedi'' (1983), and regular awards for his work on '' Cocoon'' (1985), '' Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' (1988), '' Death Becomes Her'' (1992) and ''

Forrest Gump ''Forrest Gump'' is a 1994 American comedy-drama film directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Eric Roth. It is based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom and stars Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson and ...

'' (1994). He was nominated three more times for '' Dragonslayer'' (1981), '' Back to the Future Part II'' (1989) and ''

Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatur ...

'' (2010). Ken has contributed to several DVD commentaries: *'' King Kong'' (1933) - with visual effects creator Ray Harryhausen *'' Mighty Joe Young'' (1949) - with visual effects creator Ray Harryhausen and actress Terry Moore *'' Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' (1988) - with director

, producer Frank Marshall, associate producer Steve Starkey, screenwriters

Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman Jeffrey Lawrence Price (born December 18, 1949) and Peter Stewart Seaman (born October 26, 1951) are an American screenwriting and producing duo whose notable works include ''Trenchcoat'' (1983), ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' (1988), ''Doc Hollyw ...

*'' Contact'' (1997) - with visual effects supervisor Stephen Rosenbaum *'' Cast Away'' (2000) - with cinematographer Don Burgess, visual effects supervisor Carey Villegas, sound designer Randy Thom

Filmography

* ''

'' (1977) (assistant cameraman: miniature and optical effects unit) * '' The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980) (effects cameraman: miniature and optical effects unit) * '' Dragonslayer'' (1981) (dragon supervisor: ILM) * '' Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan'' (1982) (special visual effects supervisor: ILM) * '' Return of the Jedi'' (1983) (visual effects) * '' Star Trek III: The Search for Spock'' (1984) (visual effects supervisor) * '' Cocoon'' (1985) (visual effects supervisor) * '' Back to the Future'' (1985) (visual effects supervisor: Bafta) * '' Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home'' (1986) (effects supervisor) * '' The Golden Child'' (1986) (visual effects supervisor) * '' Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' (1988) (visual effects supervisor) * '' Back to the Future Part II'' (1989) (visual effects supervisor) * '' Dreams'' (1990) (visual effects supervisor) * ''

Back to the Future Part III ''Back to the Future Part III'' is a 1990 American science fiction Western film and the final installment of the ''Back to the Future'' trilogy. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis, and stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Mary Stee ...

'' (1990) (visual effects supervisor) * '' The Rocketeer'' (1991) (visual effects supervisor, second unit director) * '' Death Becomes Her'' (1992) (visual effects supervisor, second unit director) * ''

'' (1994) (visual effects supervisor) * '' The Mask'' (1994) (visual effects consultant) * '' The American President'' (1995) (visual effects supervisor) * '' Jumanji'' (1995) (visual effects supervisor) * '' Phenomenon'' (1996) (visual effects supervisor: SPI) * '' Michael'' (1996) (visual effects supervisor: SPI) * '' Contact'' (1997) (visual effects supervisor) * '' Patch Adams'' (1998) (visual effects guru) * '' Cast Away'' (2000) (visual effects supervisor) * '' America's Sweethearts'' (2001) (visual effects consultant) * '' Men in Black II'' (2002) (visual effects supervisor: SPI) * '' The Forgotten'' (2004) (visual effects consultant) * '' The Polar Express'' (2004) (visual effects supervisor) * ''

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The ...

'' (2007) (visual effects design consultant, special effects) * ''

'' (2010) (senior visual effects supervisor) * '' Men in Black 3'' (2012) (visual effects supervisor) * '' Alice Through the Looking Glass'' (2016) (visual effects supervisor)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ralston, Ken 1954 births Living people Special effects people Visual effects supervisors Best Visual Effects Academy Award winners Best Visual Effects BAFTA Award winners Special Achievement Academy Award winners American stop motion animators Industrial Light & Magic people