John Knoll
John Knoll (born October 6, 1962) is an American visual effects supervisor and chief creative officer (CCO) at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM).
John Knoll

Star Wars · Seth Green John Knoll · CC BY 2.0
- Name
- John Knoll
- Born
- 6 October 1962
- Birthplace
- Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.
- Occupation
- Visual effects supervisor, chief creative officer (CCO)
- Spouse
- Jennifer Knoll
- Education
- USC School of Cinematic Arts
- Nationality
- United States.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
John Knoll (born October 6, 1962) is an American visual effects supervisor and chief creative officer (CCO) at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM).
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
John Knoll (born 1962) is a computer scientist, engineer and film editor, among other activities, of American nationality. The computer scientist was born in Ann Arbor.
John Knoll was educated at Huron High School, University of Southern California and USC School of Cinematic Arts. Activity centred on fantasy literature, film effect and film production.
Languages used include English. Honours include Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects and Satellite Award for Best Visual Effects, among others.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for John Knoll. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Evidence Panel
not yet certified
- Identity
- resolved
- Independent source families
- 0
- Admitted assertions
- 0
- Open conflicts
- 0
Authority files
wikidata · Q11313 · wikipedia · John Knoll
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — John Knoll • Born — 6 October 1962 • Birthplace — Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S. • Occupation — Visual effects supervisor, chief creative officer (CCO) • Spouse — Jennifer Knoll • Children — 4 • Relatives — Thomas Knoll (brother) • Education — USC School of Cinematic Arts
Career
Career
One of the original creators of Adobe Photoshop (along with his brother, Thomas Knoll), he has also worked as 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 which earned ILM its tenth Oscar, and worked on two Star Trek episodes: Star Trek: The Next Generations 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, helped pitch the story of Rogue One, a feature film set in the Star Wars series, for which he also worked as 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 constricted 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 will 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.
Television
Television
• Year — Title — Notes • 1987 — Star Trek: The Next Generation — Motion control camera operator • 2019-2023 — The Mandalorian — Additional visual effects supervisor • 2021-2022 — The Book of Boba Fett — Senior visual effects supervisor • 2024-2025 — Star Wars: Skeleton Crew — Visual effects supervisor
Identity
Identity
John Knoll is recorded with the occupation visual effects supervisor. Recorded with the occupation computer scientist. Recorded as visual effects supervisor, engineer, computer scientist and writer.

Academy Award-winning Visual Effects Supervisor John Knoll visits the 5-25-77 panel; Knoll serves as VFX Consultant for the film. Photo by Jenny Elwick. Read more at the Official Celebration IV blog.
Star Wars · John Knoll
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1962
John Knoll was born on 6 October 1962.
Books
• John Knoll, J. W. Rinzler: Creating the Worlds of Star Wars: 365 Days with CDROM; Book about the Making of the Star Wars Saga;
Film
• Illustration — John Knoll visits the 5-25-77 panel, 2007 • Year — Title — Notes • 1986 — Captain EO — Motion control camera operator • Jared: The Movie — Motion control camera operator • 1987 — Empire of the Sun — Motion control camera operator • Innerspace — Motion control camera operator • 1988 — Willow — Motion control camera operator • 1989 — The Abyss — CG supervisor • 1990 — Spaced Invaders — visual effects supervisor • The Hunt for Red October — visual effects supervisor • 1991 — Hook — visual effects supervisor • Hudson Hawk — visual effects supervisor • 1994 — Baby's Day Out — visual effects supervisor • Star Trek Generations — visual effects supervisor • 1996 — Mission: Impossible — visual effects supervisor • Star Trek: First Contact — Visual effects supervisor • 1999 — Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace — Visual effects supervisor, onscreen cameo • Deep Blue Sea — Visual effects supervisor • 2000 — Mission to Mars — visual effects supervisor • 2002 — Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones — Visual effects supervisor • 2003 — Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl — Visual effects supervisor • 2005 — Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith — Visual effects supervisor • 2006 — Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest — Visual effects supervisor • 2007 — Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End — Visual effects supervisor • 2008 — Speed Racer — Visual effects supervisor • 2009 — Confessions of a Shopaholic — Visual effects supervisor • Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince — Digital artist • 2009 — Avatar — Visual effects supervisor • 2011 — Super 8 — Digital artist • Rango — Visual effects supervisor • Hugo — Visual effects supervisor • Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol — Visual effects supervisor • 2013 — Pacific Rim — Visual effects supervisor • 2015 — Tomorrowland — Visual effects supervisor • 2016 — Rogue One: A Star Wars Story — Visual effects supervisor, executive producer, story • 2018 — Ready Player One — Visual effects production • The Other Side of the Wind — Visual effects supervisor • Aquaman — Production and technical support • 2019 — 6 Underground — Additional visual effects supervisor • 2021 — Jungle Cruise — Visual effects supervisor • 2022 — The Batman — Visual effects production • 2023 — Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny — Additional visual effects supervisor • 2026 — The Mandalorian and Grogu — Visual effects supervisor
Recognition and collections
Where the work is held
Recognition and collections
John Knoll received Saturn Awards, Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Visual Effects in an Effects Driven Feature Motion Picture, Satellite Award for Best Visual Effects, BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects and Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.
Documents and archives
Primary material
Documents and archives
Institutional database
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q11313: John Knoll
Scholarly · Wikimedia Foundation
reference work
- “John Knoll”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Awards
• Year — Organisation — Work — Category/award — Co-nominees — Result — Ref. • 2019 — 91st Academy Awards — Photoshop — Scientific and Engineering — Thomas Knoll and Mark Hamburg • 2017 — 89th Academy Awards — Rogue One — Visual Effects — Mohen Leo, Hal Hickel and Neil Corbould • 2008 — 80th Academy Awards — Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End — Visual Effects — Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and John Frazier • 2007 — 79th Academy Awards — Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest — Visual Effects — Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and Allen Hall • 2004 — 76th Academy Awards — Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl — Visual Effects — Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and Terry Frazee • 2003 — 75th Academy Awards — Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones — Visual Effects — Rob Coleman, Pablo Helman and Ben Snow • 2000 — 72nd Academy Awards — Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace — Visual Effects — Dennis Muren, Scott Squires and Rob Coleman
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Cohen, David. Industrial Light & Magic Ups John Knoll to Chief Creative Officer (EXCLUSIVE). Variety. May 23, 2013.
- 2.79th Academy Awards#Awards
- 3.Cohen, David. John Knoll Hailed By Helmers Bird, Verbinski, del Toro and Cameron. Variety. May 28, 2013.
- 4.Red Giant - Products - Knoll Light Factory 3.0 - More Info. Red Giant Software.
- 5.Barry, Nathan. Some Good Things About The Phantom Menace. Wired. 10 February 2012.
- 6.Frei, Vincent. ROGUE ONE – A STAR WARS STORY: John Knoll – Overall VFX Supervisor & Chief Creative Officer – Industrial Light & Magic. Art of VFX. January 9, 2017.
- 7.Brooks, Dan. "All Films Are Personal": An Oral History of Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace. Star Wars. May 24, 2019.
- 8.John Knoll. International Photography Hall of Fame.
- 9.Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Scientific & Technical Awards 2019. Oscars. February 9, 2019.
- 10.Scientific & Technical Awards 2019. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. February 9, 2019.
- 11.The 89th Academy Awards - 2017. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. February 26, 2017.
- 12.The 80th Academy Awards - 2008. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. February 24, 2008.
- 13.The 79th Academy Awards - 2007. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. February 25, 2007.
- 14.The 76th Academy Awards - 2004. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. February 29, 2004.
- 15.The 75th Academy Awards - 2003. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. March 23, 2003.
- 16.The 72nd Academy Awards - 2000. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. March 26, 2000.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
Institutional database
Wikidata, structured authority record Q11313: John KnollWikimedia Foundation
Verifiedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
38,960 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- John KesselAuthor
- John KilianAuthor
- John King FairbankAuthor
- John KladasAuthor
- John KnoxAuthor
- John La RoseAuthor
- John Lancaster SpaldingAuthor
- John LaneAuthor
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by John Knoll?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.