Edwin (Ed) Catmull

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Most Recent Affiliation(s):


  • Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Visual Effects Society, Lucasfilm

Other / Past Affiliation(s):


  • New York Institute of Technology (NYIT)
  • Pixar Animation Studios
  • Walt Disney Animation Studios

Location:


  • Old Westbury, New York, United States of America

Bio:

  • SIGGRAPH 2021

    Dr. Ed Catmull is a co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios and served as president of Pixar for 33 years, while also serving as president of Walt Disney Animation Studios for 13 of those 33 years. Catmull’s New York Times best-selling book “Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration” published in 2014. Catmull is an ACM Turing Award Laureate, and he has been honored with five Academy Awards, including two Oscars and a Lifetime Achievement Award. Catmull founded three of the leading centers of computer graphics research — including the computer division of Lucasfilm Ltd. and Pixar Animation Studios. Catmull has been a dedicated ACM SIGGRAPH participant for nearly 40 years. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Visual Effects Society. Catmull earned B.S. degrees in physics and computer science and a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Utah. In addition, he has received honorary doctorates from the University of Utah and Johns Hopkins University. In 2019, he retired as president of Pixar and Disney Animation and is active in writing and speaking.

    SIGGRAPH 2009

    Since the late 1970s, Ed Catmull, a pioneer in the entertainment and film industry and co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios, has played a major role in the invention of some of the most fundamental computer graphics practices used throughout the motion picture industry.

    Ed Catmull is one of the original architects of the RenderMan rendering software system, which has been used in 44 of the last 47 films nominated for an Academy Award in the Visual Effects category.

    He has founded three of the world’s most renowned computer graphics research centers, including the computer graphics laboratory at the New York Institute of Technology and the computer division of both Lucasfilm, Ltd. and Pixar Animation Studios. He has been honored with four Academy Awards, including a Technical Achievement Award from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, from whom he previously won two Scientific and Engineering Awards, and one Academy Award of Merit for his work. He also received the ACM SIGGRAPH Steven A. Coons Award for his lifetime contributions in the computer graphics field.

    SIGGRAPH 1997

    Computer Graphics Lab, New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury, New York, 11568

    SIGGRAPH 1982

    Ed Catmull received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Utah. He is Director of Research and Development with Lucasfilm Ltd., San Anselmo, California, where he is involved in introducing high technology into the film industry. Dr. Catmull was Director of the Computer Graphics Laboratory at New York Institute of Technology, where he specialized in computer animation.

Additional Profile Photos:

    © © ©

Photos by John Fujii

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