Ben Grossmann (born c. 1977) is a visual effects supervisor in Los Angeles, California. He won an Oscar award for ''Hugo'' in 2012, and an Emmy award for ''The Triangle'' in 2006. He is the co-founder and CEO of Magnopus, a cross-reality experience company.

Career

Between 1994 and 2000, he worked as a photojournalist at the

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner The '' Fairbanks Daily News-Miner'' is a morning daily newspaper serving the city of Fairbanks, Alaska, the Fairbanks North Star Borough, the Denali Borough, and the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the farthest north ...

, as a weatherman at both

KFXF KFXF, virtual and VHF digital channel 7, was a Fox-affiliated television station licensed to Fairbanks, Alaska, United States. The station was owned by Tanana Valley Television Company. KFXF's transmitter was located north of Fairbanks and i ...

Fox 7, and KXDF-CD CBS13, and was a radio DJ at KSUA 91.5FM in

Fairbanks, Alaska Fairbanks is a home rule city and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska and the second largest in the state. The 2020 Census put the po ...

. From 2001 to 2013, he worked as a visual effects artist & technician on Hollywood films, music videos, and commercials under visual effects supervisors like

Rob Legato 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, Legato graduated from Ocean Township High School.Staff. "Shore's Robert Legato ...

, Volker Engel, & Marc Weigert for filmmakers like

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, incl ...

Roland Emmerich Roland Emmerich (; born 10 November 1955) is a German film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is widely known for his science fiction and disaster films and has been called a "master of disaster" within the industry. His films, most of wh ...

, J.J. Abrams,

Tim Burton Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and animator. He is known for his gothic fantasy and horror films such as ''Beetlejuice'' (1988), ''Edward Scissorhands'' (1990), ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993), ...

and

Jon Favreau Jonathan Kolia Favreau (; born October 19, 1966) is an American actor and filmmaker. As an actor, Favreau has appeared in films such as '' Rudy'' (1993), '' PCU'' (1994), '' Swingers'' (1996), '' Very Bad Things'' (1998), '' Deep Impact'' (1998 ...

. During this time, he worked on music videos for artists like Radiohead, Justin Timberlake,

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey (; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Referred to as the " Songbird Supreme", she is noted for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style and signature use of the ...

, and also directed television commercials. He worked as a designer on Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey an motion-based

dark ride A dark ride or ghost train is an indoor amusement ride on which passengers aboard guided vehicles travel through specially lit scenes that typically contain animation, sound, music and special effects. Appearing as early as the 19th century, su ...

in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. In 2013, with partners Alex Henning, and Rodrigo Teixeira, he formed MAGNOPUS, a visual development company with offices in downtown Los Angeles. and St. Albans, England. Between 2018 and 2022, he was director for the largest cross-reality geospatial

metaverse In science fiction, the "metaverse" is a hypothetical iteration of the Internet as a single, universal, and immersive virtual world that is facilitated by the use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) headsets. In colloquial usage, ...

to date at

Expo 2020 Expo 2020 ( ar, إكسبو 2020) was a World Expo hosted by Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, from 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022. Originally scheduled for 20 October 2020 to 10 April 2021, it was postponed due to the COVID-1 ...

Dubai. He also served as Narrative and Exhibition Designer for th
Mobility Pavilion
at Expo 2020 Dubai. He is a patented inventor in mixed reality. In 2022, his company's ''Connected Spaces'' platform was selected as one of Time's Best Inventions of 2022.

Early life

Benjamin Tyndale Grossmann was born on June 23, 1977, at

Walter Reed Army Medical Center The Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC)known as Walter Reed General Hospital (WRGH) until 1951was the U.S. Army's flagship medical center from 1909 to 2011. Located on in the District of Columbia, it served more than 150,000 active and ret ...

in Washington, D.C.. His father Bruce R. Grossmann, served in the US Army first as an enlisted Medic, and then as a Signal Officer, his mother, Dawn Elise Frazier(''

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth ...

'' Warren, later Grossmann) was a preschool teacher and weather observer in

Delta Junction, Alaska Delta Junction ( uk, Делта-Джанкшен, Delta Dzhankshen) is a city in the Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Alaska, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 958, up from 840 in 2000. The 2018 estimate was down to 931. T ...

. He has two sisters Brooke Grossmann, Annalise Grossmann and a brother Elias Grossmann. Though he traveled extensively throughout the United States as a child, he spent most of his childhood in

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S ...

before moving to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

Awards

In 2013, he was nominated for an

Academy Award 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 in ...

for the film '' Star Trek Into Darkness'' directed by J.J. Abrams. In 2012, he won an

Academy Award for Best Visual Effects The Academy Award for Best Visual Effects is an Academy Award given for the best achievement in visual effects. History of the award The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences first recognized the technical contributions of special effects ...

for the film '' Hugo''. directed by

.
Video
In 2006, he won an Emmy for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for the Scifi Miniseries ''The Triangle''. In 2011, he won a Satellite Award for Best Visual Effects. He has won two Visual Effects Society Awards: Outstanding Virtual Cinematography for

The Lion King (2019 film) ''The Lion King'' is a 2019 American Musical film, musical drama film directed and produced by Jon Favreau, written by Jeff Nathanson, and produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Fairview Entertainment. It is a photorealistic computer-animated r ...

in 2020, and Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture for Hugo (film) He has been nominated twice (in 2011 and 2013) for the

BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects This is a list of winners and nominees for the BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects for each year. This award is for special effects and visual effects and recognises achievement in both of these crafts. The British Academy of Film and Tele ...

Notable appearances

In 2023, he gave a presentation on Immersive Storytelling in the Metaverse in the "Building the Open Metaverse Podcast"
Video
In 2019, he discussed the development of virtual cinematography systems in the supplemental material for

Video
In 2017, he presented ''Mission:ISS'' developed with

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...

in virtual reality to

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

at ''Beyond the Cradle'', alongside filmmaker

Douglas Trumbull Douglas Hunt Trumbull (; April 8, 1942 – February 7, 2022) was an American film director and innovative visual effects supervisor. He pioneered methods in special effects and created scenes for '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'', ''Close Encounters ...

and author

Warren Ellis Warren Girard Ellis (born 16 February 1968) is a British comic book writer, novelist, and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-creator of several original comics series, including '' Transmetropolitan'' (1997–2002), '' Global Frequency'' ...

. In 2017, he gave a presentation ''The Importance of Communication & Other Skills Needed on Movie Sets''
Video
and ''Why Reliability is Better Than Talent''
Video
to the graduating students of

Full Sail University Full Sail University is a Private university, private For-profit higher education in the United States, for-profit university in Winter Park, Florida. It was formerly a recording studio in Ohio named Full Sail Productions and Full Sail Center ...

. In May 2015, he was the Commencement Speaker at the

University of Alaska Fairbanks The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF or Alaska) is a public land-grant research university in College, Alaska, a suburb of Fairbanks. It is the flagship campus of the University of Alaska system. UAF was established in 1917 and opened for ...

graduation ceremony
Video
. In 2012, he gave a Visual Effects Mini Masterclass in
Video
by the British Academy Film Awards

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grossmann, Ben 1970s births Best Visual Effects Academy Award winners Primetime Emmy Award winners Living people People from Fairbanks, Alaska People from Washington, D.C. Special effects coordinators University of Alaska Fairbanks alumni Year of birth missing (living people)