SEAS Alumnus Bill Westenhofer Wins an Oscar

SEAS alumnus Bill Westenhofer (pictured far left) won an Oscar at the 80th Annual Academy Awards ceremony on February 24th. Westenhofer, the visual effects supervisor for Rhythm & Hues, led the studios' team on The Golden Compass, the film for which his team won the Oscar. He was among three teams that the Academy nominated this year for Achievement in Visual Effects.

Westenhofer led a crew of 500 on two continents over a period of 18 months to produce nearly 400 shots featured in the movie, which stars Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, and Dakota Blue Richards.

This is the second nomination for Westenhofer for an Oscar. He was previously nominated by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in 2005 in the same category for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He was also nominated for The Golden Compass in the Special Visual Effects category by the Orange BAFTA Awards, and The Golden Compass is one of the Visual Effects’ Society’s nominees for Best Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Motion Picture Category.

In April of last year, Westenhofer returned to campus to deliver a lecture entitled “How Do I Become a Special Effects Expert?” More than 75 students, alumni and friends showed up to hear Westenhofer talk about his experiences.

More information on Westenhofer is available in a recent article in the GW publication, ByGeorge!.