Australians in Hollywood : Biographical Notes

John Cox
John Cox (b. 1959), special effects designer, was inspired to seek a career in film after seeing King Kong at age 14. In 1979 he formed his own special effects company, “FX Associates”, and the following year worked as a props assistant on Mad Max 2. During the 80s Cox created props and creatures for various Australian and U.S. productions, including Bliss (1985) and Dead Calm (1989). In 1995, having founded “John Cox’s Creature Workshop,” he worked on George Miller’s Babe, constructing a menagerie of animatronic farm animals that would earn him an Academy Award for visual effects. He is pictured here with one of 11 aliens he constructed for the film Pitch Black (2000). Each creature was 3 metres high, with a wingspan of 4 metres. His recent projects have included Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles (2001), Scooby Doo (2002), Peter Pan (2003) and Racing Stripes (due in 2005).

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