John Dykstra
| John Dykstra | |
|---|---|
| Born |
John Charles Dykstra June 3, 1947 Long Beach, California, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | California State University, Long Beach |
| Occupation | Special effects artist |
| Years active | 1971–present |
| Spouse(s) | Cass McCune (1996–) |
| Children | Chloe Dykstra |
John Charles Dykstra, A.S.C. (born June 3, 1947 in Long Beach, California, United States) is an American special effects artist, pioneer in the development of the use of computers in filmmaking and recipient of three Academy Awards, among many other awards and prizes. He was one of the original founders of Industrial Light & Magic, the special effects and computer graphics division of Lucasfilm. He is well known as the special effects lead on the original Star Wars, helping bring the original visuals for lightsabers, space battles between X-wings and TIE fighters, and Force powers to the screen. He also led special effects on many other movies, including Batman Forever, Batman and Robin, Stuart Little, X-Men: First Class, Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2.
After studying industrial design at California State University, Long Beach (where he was a member of Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity), in 1971 Dykstra landed a job working with Douglas Trumbull on Silent Running filming model effects, when Trumbull hired recent college graduates due to the film's low budget.
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