Joe Letteri

Joe Letteri has pioneered and developed many of the digital techniques that have become the standard in bringing photographic quality to high-end visual effects. As an artist, he has specialized in the creation of highly realistic imagery, from the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park to Gollum in The Lord of the Rings.

Joe Letteri is the winner of two Academy Awards for the Visual Effects of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers in 2002, and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in 2003. He is also the recipient of the Academy’s Technical Achievement Award for co-developing the subsurface scattering technique that was used to bring Gollum to life.

Joe Letteri joined Weta Digital in 2001 as Visual Effects Supervisor on The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Return of the King. Previously, he had been at Industrial Light & Magic since 1991, and became a Visual Effects Supervisor on Mission: Impossible in 1995.

Joe Letteri’s awards include:

• 2003 Academy Award for Visual Effects of The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
• 2003 BAFTA for Visual Effects of The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
• 2003 Visual Effects Society Best Visual Effects for The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
• 2003 Academy Technical Achievement Award for Subsurface Scattering
• 2002 Academy Award for Visual Effects of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
• 2002 BAFTA for Visual Effects of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
• 2002 Visual Effects Society Best Visual Effects for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
• 2002 MTV Movie Award for Gollum