Alec Gillis is a special effects. He co-owns Amalgamated Dynamics alongside his longtime partner and friend Tom Woodruff, Jr.
Alien franchise credits[]
Other credits[]
- The Monster Squad (1987)
- Alien Nation (1988)
- Leviathan (1989)
- Tremors (1990)
- Death Becomes Her (1992)
- Demolition Man (1993)
- Skyline (2010)
- The Thing (2011)
Biographical information[]
Early life[]
Gillis was born in 1959 in Phoenix, Arizona, and a short time later moved to Orange County, California. By age ten, he was an avid fan of fantasy and science fiction movies. Influenced by films such as Planet of the Apes, King Kong and Jason and the Argonauts, Alec began making his own amateur movies, and by age thirteen had decided that creating creatures for Hollywood was to be his career.
Career life[]
Alec's first professional job was on Roger Corman's low budget space-epic, Battle Beyond the Stars. There he worked with many other talented industry newcomers, most notably director James Cameron. Gillis spent the next eight years first attending UCLA's film school, then working for some of the industry's top names in make-up effects, most notably Stan Winston. It was during his years with Winston that Alec met his future business partner, Tom Woodruff, Jr. In 1988 Alec and Tom left Stan Winston Studio and formed Amalgamated Dynamics.
In 1993 Gillis and Woodruff won the Best Visual Effects Oscar for their work on Death Becomes Her.