Richard Baneham is an Irish

Irish people

The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...

 animator

Animator

An animator is an artist who creates multiple images that give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence; the images are called frames and key frames. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, video games, and the internet. Usually, an...

 and visual effects supervisor, who has worked on such films as the Lord of the Rings trilogy

The Lord of the Rings film trilogy

The Lord of the Rings is an epic film trilogy consisting of three fantasy adventure films based on the three-volume book of the same name by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. The films are The Fellowship of the Ring , The Two Towers and The Return of the King .The films were directed by Peter...

, the Chronicles of Narnia

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a 2005 epic fantasy adventure film directed by Andrew Adamson and based on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first published and second chronological novel in C. S. Lewis's children's epic fantasy series, The Chronicles of...

, and Avatar. Amongst other awards, Baneham has received a BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects

BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects

*2010 - Inception - Chris Corbould, Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb**Alice in Wonderland - Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Sean Phillips and Carey Villegas**Black Swan - Dan Schrecker...

 and an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.

Life and career

Baneham trained in Ballyfermot Art College - during which time he lived in Tallaght. In the 1990s, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue his career with his then girlfriend (and now wife) Ashling.

Upon moving to Los Angeles, Baneham worked as an animator on several films including The Iron Giant

The Iron Giant

The Iron Giant is a 1999 animated film produced by Warner Bros. Animation, based on the 1968 novel The Iron Man by Ted Hughes. Brad Bird directed the film, which stars a voice cast of Jennifer Aniston, Harry Connick, Jr., Vin Diesel, Eli Marienthal, Christopher McDonald and John Mahoney...

and as animation supervisor on Cats & Dogs

Cats & Dogs

Cats & Dogs is a 2001 American-Australian action-comedy film directed by Lawrence Guterman. The screenplay by John Requa and Glenn Ficarra centers on the relationships between cats and dogs. It was shot in Victoria and Vancouver. The film was released on July 4, 2001 by Warner Bros...

. He also worked with Rhythm and Hues on The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a 2005 epic fantasy adventure film directed by Andrew Adamson and based on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first published and second chronological novel in C. S. Lewis's children's epic fantasy series, The Chronicles of...

, and as animation supervisor (overseeing the animation of the character of Gollum) on The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is a 2003 epic fantasy-drama film directed by Peter Jackson that is based on the second and third volumes of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings...

.

His work also featured in the 2009 movie Avatar. For his work on Avatar, Richie, along with Joe Letteri

Joe Letteri

Joe Letteri is a senior visual effects artist, winner of 4 Academy award, 4 BAFTAs and 4 VES. He is the current Director of the Academy Award-winning Weta Digital, having joined the company in 2001. He has been the visual effects supervisor of several movies, his latest work being Avatar...

, Stephen Rosenbaum and Andrew R. Jones, won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects at the 82nd Academy Awards

82nd Academy Awards

The 82nd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , honored the best films of 2009 and took place March 7, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. The ceremony was scheduled well after...

 and the visual effects category at the 2010 BAFTAs.

Baneham reportedly signed-up to work on the planned Avatar sequels.

Filmography

• The Iron Giant (animator)
• Cats & Dogs (animator)
• The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (main animator)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (main animator)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (main animator)
• Avatar (Animation producer)

External links