Ken McGaugh

Throughout his career, Ken has been involved in developing revolutionary technologies. He has received two Academy® Technical Achievement Awards; first for his work developing a new method for rendering translucent skin, and second for creating new techniques using ambient occlusion in rendering.

He also received a VES award in 2003 for his work on Gollum in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. 

Ken first came to Wētā FX in 2002 to work on The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. After a ten-year stint at Double Negative working on projects including Batman Begins, Avengers: The Age of Ultron, and Godzilla, he returned to Wētā FX in 2015 as a Visual Effects Supervisor on Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip, The BFG and Peter Jackson’s Mortal Engines.

Ken is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He recently finished working as a Visual Effects Supervisor on Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and Avatar: The Way of Water.

Ken was also nominated for an Emmy award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for his work on Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.