Robert Legato (born 1956) is an American visual effects supervisor, second unit director, and second unit director of photography. Raised in

Asbury Park, New Jersey Asbury Park () is a beachfront city located on the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 15,188

, Legato graduated from

Ocean Township High School Ocean Township High School (OTHS) is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in the Oakhurst section of Ocean Township, in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary school in the Ocean Townsh ...

.Staff. "Shore's Robert Legato is special-effects wizard behind 'Hugo'", ''

Asbury Park Press The ''Asbury Park Press'' is a daily newspaper in Monmouth and Ocean counties of New Jersey and has the third largest circulation in the state. It has been owned by Gannett since 1997. Its reporting staff has been awarded numerous national hono ...

'', February 26, 2012. "Many decades later, after growing up in Asbury Park, graduating from Ocean Township High School and studying film in Santa Barbara, Calif., Legato has become the magician."

Career

He directed the 2016 film '' Eloise''. He has been nominated for five

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

and has won three. His first win was for his visual effects work on ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, Unite ...

'', his second was for his work on '' Hugo'' and his third for

The Jungle Book ''The Jungle Book'' (1894) is a collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, w ...

. In 1996, he won the BAFTA award for Best Achievement in Special Effects for ''

Apollo 13 Apollo 13 (April 1117, 1970) was the seventh crewed mission in the Apollo space program and the third meant to land on the Moon. The craft was launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 1970, but the lunar landing was aborted af ...

'', for which he also garnered his first Academy Award nomination. He won Academy Awards in Visual effects for '' Hugo'' and ''

''. In 2020, he received his fifth Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects for ''

The Lion King ''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 32nd Disney animated feature film and the fifth produced during the Disney Renaissance, ...

''. Prior to his work in film, he was a Visual Effects Supervisor for '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' from 1987 to 1992, and ''

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' (abbreviated as ''DS9'') is an American science fiction television series created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller. The fourth series in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise, it originally aired in syndication from ...

'' in 1993. His work on the ''Star Trek'' franchise earned him three Emmy nominations and two wins, as well as an in-front-of-the-camera appearance on ''

Reading Rainbow ''Reading Rainbow'' is an American educational children's television series that originally aired on PBS and afterwards PBS Kids and PBS Kids Go! from July 11, 1983 to November 10, 2006, with reruns continuing to air until August 28, 2009. 155 ...

'' for an episode devoted to a behind-the-scenes look at TNG. Legato is a member of the

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Directors Guild in 1936, the group merg ...

(DGA),

American Society of Cinematographers The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC), founded in Hollywood in 1919, is a cultural, educational, and professional organization that is neither a labor union nor a guild. The society was organized to advance the science and art of cine ...

(ASC) and the Visual Effects Society (VES).

Filmography

Television

References

External links

* * ** * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Legato, Robert 1956 births Living people Visual effects supervisors Best Visual Effects Academy Award winners Best Visual Effects BAFTA Award winners Place of birth missing (living people) Ocean Township High School alumni People from Asbury Park, New Jersey