John Knoll

Personal Info

Known For Visual Effects

Known Credits 40

Gender Male

Birthday October 6, 1962 (62 years old)

Place of Birth Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

Also Known As

  • -

Content Score 

100

Yes! Looking good!

Looks like we're missing the following data in en-US or en-US...

Login to report an issue

Biography

John Knoll (born October 6, 1962) is an American visual effects supervisor and chief creative officer (CCO) at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). One of the original creators of Adobe Photoshop (along with his brother, Thomas Knoll), he has also worked as a visual effects supervisor on the Star Wars prequels and the 1997 special editions of the original trilogy. He also served as ILM's visual effects supervisor for Star Trek Generations and Star Trek: First Contact, as well as the Pirates of the Caribbean series. Along with Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson, and Allen Hall, Knoll and the trio's work on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest earned them the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.

Knoll has been praised by directors James Cameron, Gore Verbinski, Guillermo del Toro, and Brad Bird. Del Toro, who worked with Knoll for the first time on Pacific Rim, stated, "He basically has the heart of a kid and the mind of a scientist, and that's a great combination."

Knoll is also the inventor of Knoll Light Factory, a lens flare-generating software inspired by his work at Industrial Light and Magic. He was the Computer Graphics Project Designer on The Abyss, an achievement that earned ILM its tenth Oscar, and worked on two Star Trek episodes: Star Trek: The Next Generation's pilot episode ("Encounter at Farpoint") and the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Explorers."

Knoll had a cameo appearance in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace as a fighter pilot and helped pitch the story of Rogue One, a feature film set in the Star Wars series, for which he also worked as a writer and executive producer.

John Knoll reflected on his work with George Lucas on the Star Wars prequel trilogy: "I still feel like I owe George a lot to have been given that opportunity. On those three films, I feel like I got a whole career’s worth of experience packed into eight years. George never constrained his thinking to what he knew for sure the tools were capable of; his attitude was, “Yeah, well, I’m writing what I want to see, so you guys will figure it out.” I loved that he would constantly throw those challenges out with the confidence [that] you guys would figure it out. That was great."

In 2016, John Knoll and his brother Thomas were inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum.

At the 2019 Oscars, John and his brother Thomas were awarded a Scientific and Engineering Award for the original architecture, design, and development of Photoshop.

Description above from the Wikipedia article John Knoll, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

John Knoll (born October 6, 1962) is an American visual effects supervisor and chief creative officer (CCO) at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). One of the original creators of Adobe Photoshop (along with his brother, Thomas Knoll), he has also worked as a visual effects supervisor on the Star Wars prequels and the 1997 special editions of the original trilogy. He also served as ILM's visual effects supervisor for Star Trek Generations and Star Trek: First Contact, as well as the Pirates of the Caribbean series. Along with Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson, and Allen Hall, Knoll and the trio's work on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest earned them the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.

Knoll has been praised by directors James Cameron, Gore Verbinski, Guillermo del Toro, and Brad Bird. Del Toro, who worked with Knoll for the first time on Pacific Rim, stated, "He basically has the heart of a kid and the mind of a scientist, and that's a great combination."

Knoll is also the inventor of Knoll Light Factory, a lens flare-generating software inspired by his work at Industrial Light and Magic. He was the Computer Graphics Project Designer on The Abyss, an achievement that earned ILM its tenth Oscar, and worked on two Star Trek episodes: Star Trek: The Next Generation's pilot episode ("Encounter at Farpoint") and the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Explorers."

Knoll had a cameo appearance in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace as a fighter pilot and helped pitch the story of Rogue One, a feature film set in the Star Wars series, for which he also worked as a writer and executive producer.

John Knoll reflected on his work with George Lucas on the Star Wars prequel trilogy: "I still feel like I owe George a lot to have been given that opportunity. On those three films, I feel like I got a whole career’s worth of experience packed into eight years. George never constrained his thinking to what he knew for sure the tools were capable of; his attitude was, “Yeah, well, I’m writing what I want to see, so you guys will figure it out.” I loved that he would constantly throw those challenges out with the confidence [that] you guys would figure it out. That was great."

In 2016, John Knoll and his brother Thomas were inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum.

At the 2019 Oscars, John and his brother Thomas were awarded a Scientific and Engineering Award for the original architecture, design, and development of Photoshop.

Description above from the Wikipedia article John Knoll, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Visual Effects

2024
2021
2018
2016
2013
2011
2011
2011
2011
2009
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2003
2002
2000
1999
1999
1996
1996
1994
1991
1991
1990
1990

Acting

2020
2020
2018
2017
2013
2012
2010
2005
2005
2003
2003
2002
2002
1999
1999
1996

Production

2016

Writing

2016

Can't find a movie or TV show? Login to create it.

Global

s focus the search bar
p open profile menu
esc close an open window
? open keyboard shortcut window

On media pages

b go back (or to parent when applicable)
e go to edit page

On TV season pages

(right arrow) go to next season
(left arrow) go to previous season

On TV episode pages

(right arrow) go to next episode
(left arrow) go to previous episode

On all image pages

a open add image window

On all edit pages

t open translation selector
ctrl+ s submit form

On discussion pages

n create new discussion
w toggle watching status
p toggle public/private
c toggle close/open
a open activity
r reply to discussion
l go to last reply
ctrl+ enter submit your message
(right arrow) next page
(left arrow) previous page

Settings

Want to rate or add this item to a list?

Login

You need to be logged in to continue. Click here to login or here to sign up.