Thomas Schelesny is an Emmy Award-winning VFX supervisor, whose career spans in excess of two decades. During this time, he has worked for facilities and production companies on over 20 feature films, 12 television projects, and countless commercials.
It was Thomas’ passion for Star Wars that landed him his first major role in the creative industry. After studying animation at Vancouver Film School, Thomas sought out Star Wars visual effects luminary Phil Tippett. He joined Tippett Studio in 1996 as an animator and spent the next 14 years discovering the secrets of animation and film production alongside his idol ultimately taking on the role of visual effects supervisor at the studio.
Thomas became well-known for applying his animation expertise on-set, often choreographing complex performances that married actors, practical floor effects and CG elements. For example, Disney enlisted Thomas as Director for the Beverly Hills Chihuahua trailer, which featured a song-and-dance number involving dozens of live and CG animals.
Thomas has freelanced on a number of projects over the years, including Super 8 and Mirror Mirror. He also worked as a visual effects supervisor at Scanline VFX, during which time he worked on Pan and won an HPA Award, VES Award, and Emmy Award for his work on Game of Thrones season four.
In 2016, Thomas joined Image Engine as a VFX supervisor because he was attracted by the personal, artist-driven, and creative atmosphere at the studio. In his role, he leads projects from pre-production through to post and brings his multidisciplinary skillset to the table, from location plate photography expertise to animation, storyboarding, writing, editing, production planning, bidding, team-building, and management. His latest contributions at Image Engine include The Three-Body Problem, Marvel’s Moon Knight, Swan Song, Project Power, and Game of Thrones seasons 7 & 8.
Thomas has co-written several screenplays and directed the short film Last Exit. He is also a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.