
Person
Steve Aplin
Visual Effects
Biography
Steve Aplin is a British animation director at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). Educated at Bournemouth & Poole College of Art & Design, he began his professional career at ILM in 1996 as a modeller. His early work included digital modeling and model development on Men in Black, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Sleepy Hollow, The Mummy Returns, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, the 2002 Special Edition of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Aplin joined Double Negative in London in 2009 as an Animation Supervisor before becoming Creative Head of Animation in 2011. During his time at the studio, he supervised animation on John Carter (2012), Jupiter Ascending (2015), and Captain America: Civil War (2016). In 2016, Aplin returned to Industrial Light & Magic, joining the company's London studio as Animation Director. As part of the visual effects team for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, he was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects alongside Neal Scanlan, Chris Corbould, and Ben Morris. His work on ABBA Voyage earned him the Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project, shared with Ben Morris, Edward Randolph, and Ian Comley. For Jurassic World: Rebirth, he received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, the Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature, the Hawaii Film Critics Society Award for Best Visual Effects, and the Astra Creative Arts Award for Best Visual Effects.
Known for

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
Animation Supervisor

Jurassic World Rebirth
Animation Supervisor

Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Animation Supervisor

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Animation Supervisor

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Animation Supervisor

Sleepy Hollow
Modeling

John Carter
Animation Supervisor

Jupiter Ascending
Animation Supervisor

Lighting the Spark: Creating the Space Battle
Self

ABBA Voyage
Animation Supervisor
Filmography
- 2025Jurassic World RebirthAnimation Supervisor
- 2022The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of PowerAnimation Supervisor
- 2022ABBA VoyageAnimation Supervisor
- 2019Star Wars: The Rise of SkywalkerAnimation Supervisor
- 2018Jurassic World: Fallen KingdomAnimation Supervisor
- 2018Lighting the Spark: Creating the Space BattleSelf
- 2017Star Wars: The Last JediAnimation Supervisor
- 2015Jupiter AscendingAnimation Supervisor
- 2012John CarterAnimation Supervisor
- 1999Sleepy HollowModeling
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