| Neal Scanlan | |
|---|---|
 Scanlan at the 90th Academy Awards | |
| 5 Nominations / 1 Win | |
| Role | Visual Effects |
| Born | 1961 |
| USA | |
Neal Scanlan is an American visual effects artist. He began his career at the age of nineteen as a Stop Motion Designer for Cosgrove Hall, on their production of Wind in the Willows (1981). Three years later he moved to London and began his animatronics career on Walt Disney's Return to Oz (1984). He freelanced as the Chief Mechanical Designer on films such as Jim Henson's Labyrinth (1985) and Little Shop of Horrors (1986).
Neal became one of the founder members of the Jim Henson Creature Shop with whom he enjoyed a successful eight year relationship, first as an Animatronics Supervisor, then as Creative Supervisor. Some of the projects that Neal was directly involved with include, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1988 & 90) and Dinosaurs (1991). Neal's achievements and the success of Kennedy Miller's Babe (1993) resulted in Neal and his 'Henson Creature Shop' team, producing the animatronic effects for Walt Disney's 101 Dalmatians (1995), the Special Make-Up Effects for Anthony Minghella's Academy Award Winner, The English Patient (1994) and numerous television commercials. In 1996, Neal left the Jim Henson Organisation to form the Neal Scanlan Studio. The first major project was Babe: Pig in the City (1998), which was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Visual Effect. The studio went on to build a reputation for design and innovation and enjoyed 10 very successful years working on amazing feature films, tv shows and commercials. In 2011 Neal closed the studio in order to pursue a wider range of interests outside of the film industry but this all changed when Neal was asked to head up the creature and make up fx department for the new series of the Star Wars films.
Wins[]
- 68th Academy Awards, 1995
- Best Visual Effects — Babe (shared with Scott E. Anderson, Charles Gibson and John Cox)
Nominations[]
- 68th Academy Awards, 1995
- Best Visual Effects — Babe (shared with Scott E. Anderson, Charles Gibson and John Cox)
- 88th Academy Awards, 2015
- Best Visual Effects — Star Wars: The Force Awakens (shared with Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach and Chris Corbould)
- 90th Academy Awards, 2017
- Best Visual Effects — Star Wars: The Last Jedi (shared with Mike Mulholland, Ben Morris and Chris Corbould)
- 91st Academy Awards, 2018
- Best Visual Effects — Solo: A Star Wars Story (shared with Rob Bredow, Patrick Tubach, and Dominic Tuohy)
- 92nd Academy Awards, 2019
- Best Visual Effects — Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (shared with Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach and Dominic Tuohy)