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 pr ...

Dennis Muren Dennis Muren, A.S.C (born November 1, 1946) is an American film visual effects artist and supervisor. He has worked on the films of George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and James Cameron, among others, and has won nine Oscars in total: eight for Be ...

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 c ...

create the effects for ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has been expanded into various film ...

''. 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 ...

. 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 ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' is a 1988 American Live-action animated film, live-action/animated comedy film, comedy mystery film directed by Robert Zemeckis, produced by Frank Marshall (filmmaker), Frank Marshall and Robert Watts, and loosely ad ...

'' (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 ...

'' (1994). He was nominated three more times for ''

Dragonslayer A dragonslayer is a person or being that slays dragons. Dragonslayers and the creatures they hunt have been popular in traditional stories from around the world: they are a type of story classified as type 300 in the Aarne–Thompson classific ...

'' (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 King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...

'' (1933) - with visual effects creator

Ray Harryhausen Raymond Frederick Harryhausen (June 29, 1920 – May 7, 2013) was an American-British animator and special effects creator who created a form of stop motion model animation known as "Dynamation". His works include the animation for '' Mi ...

*'' Mighty Joe Young'' (1949) - with visual effects creator

and actress Terry Moore *''

'' (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 Holly ...

*''

Contact Contact may refer to: Interaction Physical interaction * Contact (geology), a common geological feature * Contact lens or contact, a lens placed on the eye * Contact sport, a sport in which players make contact with other players or objects * C ...

'' (1997) - with visual effects supervisor Stephen Rosenbaum *''

Cast Away ''Cast Away'' is a 2000 American survival drama film directed and produced by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt, and Nick Searcy. Hanks plays a FedEx troubleshooter stranded on an uninhabited island after his plane crashes in ...

'' (2000) - with cinematographer Don Burgess, visual effects supervisor Carey Villegas, sound designer

Randy Thom David Randall Thom (born August 21, 1951) is an American sound designer and the current director of sound design at Skywalker Sound. Career Randy Thom began working at FM radio station WYSO at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio as a volunte ...

Filmography

* ''

'' (1977) (assistant cameraman: miniature and optical effects unit) * ''

The Empire Strikes Back ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back'') is a 1980 American epic space opera film directed by Irvin Kershner from a screenplay by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan, based on a stor ...

'' (1980) (effects cameraman: miniature and optical effects unit) * ''

'' (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) * ''

'' (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 Ste ...

'' (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 The Mask may refer to: Books and comics * ''The Mask'' (comics), a comic book series by publisher Dark Horse Comics * Mask (DC Comics), an opponent of Wonder Woman * ''The Mask'' (novel), a 1981 novel written by Dean Koontz under the pseudonym ...

'' (1994) (visual effects consultant) * ''

The American President ''The American President'' is a 1995 American romantic comedy-drama film directed and produced by Rob Reiner and written by Aaron Sorkin. The film stars Michael Douglas, Annette Bening, Martin Sheen, Michael J. Fox, and Richard Dreyfuss. In t ...

'' (1995) (visual effects supervisor) * ''

Jumanji ''Jumanji'' is a 1995 American fantasy adventure film directed by Joe Johnston from a screenplay by Jonathan Hensleigh, Greg Taylor, and Jim Strain. Loosely based on Chris Van Allsburg's picture book of the same name, the film is the first ...

'' (1995) (visual effects supervisor) * ''

Phenomenon A phenomenon ( : phenomena) is an observable event. The term came into its modern philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon, which ''cannot'' be directly observed. Kant was heavily influenced by Gottfrie ...

'' (1996) (visual effects supervisor: SPI) * ''

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...

'' (1996) (visual effects supervisor: SPI) * ''

'' (1997) (visual effects supervisor) * ''

Patch Adams Hunter Doherty "Patch" Adams (born May 28, 1945) is an American physician, comedian, social activist, clown, and author. He founded the Gesundheit! Institute in 1971. Each year he also organizes volunteers from around the world to travel to va ...

'' (1998) (visual effects guru) * ''

'' (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. ...

'' (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 Stop motion animators Industrial Light & Magic people