Movie Cast & Crew: Avatar (2009)

James Francis Cameron was born on August 16, 1954 in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada. He moved to the United States in 1971. The son of an engineer, he majored in physics at California State University before switching to English, and eventually dropping out. He then drove a truck to support his screenwriting ambition. He landed his first professional film job as art director, miniature-set builder, and process-projection supervisor on Roger Corman's Battle Beyond the Stars (1980) and had his first experience as a director with a two week stint on Piranha II: The Spawning (1982) before being fired.

He then wrote and directed The Terminator (1984), a futuristic action-thriller starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn and Linda Hamilton. It was a low budget independent film, but Cameron's superb, dynamic direction made it a surprise mainstream success and it is now regarded as one of the most iconic pictures of the 1980s. After this came a string of successful, bigger budget science-fiction action films such as Aliens (1986), The Abyss (1989) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). In 1990, Cameron formed his own production company, Lightstorm Entertainment. In 1997, he wrote and directed Titanic (1997), a romance epic about two young lovers from different social classes who meet on board the famous ship. The movie went on to break all box office records and earned eleven Academy Awards. It became the highest grossing movie of all time until 12 years later, Avatar (2009), which invented and pioneered 3D film technology, and it went on to beat "Titanic", and became the first film to cost two billion dollars until 2019 when Marvel took the record.

James Cameron is now one of the most sought-after directors in Hollywood. He was formerly married to producer Gale Anne Hurd, who produced several of his films. In 2000, he married actress Suzy Amis, who appeared in Titanic, and they have three children.

Jon Landau was an American film producer from New York City who produced most of James Cameron's films since 1997's Titanic. He produced the 2009 hit film Avatar, Solaris, Alita: Battle Angel directed by Robert Rodriguez and co-produced Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and Dick Tracy. Titanic and Avatar are two of the highest-grossing films of all time. He won several awards for producing Titanic.

James Horner began studying piano at the age of five, and trained at the Royal College of Music in London, England, before moving to California in the 1970s. After receiving a bachelor's degree in music at USC, he would go on to earn his master's degree at UCLA and teach music theory there. He later completed his Ph.D. in Music Composition and Theory at UCLA. Horner began scoring student films for the American Film Institute in the late 1970s, which paved the way for scoring assignments on a number of small-scale films. His first large, high-profile project was composing music for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), which would lead to numerous other film offers and opportunities to work with world-class performers such as the London Symphony Orchestra. With over 75 projects to his name, and work with people such as George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Oliver Stone, and Ron Howard, Horner firmly established himself as a strong voice in the world of film scoring. In addition, Horner composed a classical concert piece in the 1980s, called "Spectral Shimmers", which was world premiered by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Horner passed away in a plane crash on June 22, 2015, two months short of his 62nd birthday.

Mauro Fiore was born on 15 November 1964 in Marzi, Calabria, Italy. He is a cinematographer, known for Avatar (2009), Training Day (2001) and The Island (2005). He has been married to Christine Vollmer since 2000. They have three children.

Stephen E. Rivkin is known for Avatar (2009), Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003).

John Refoua was born on 20 August 1960 in Tehran, Iran. He was an editor and producer, known for Avatar (2009), Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) and Geostorm (2017). He was married to Serena Bell Refoua. He died on 14 May 2023.

Richard Carter was born on 11 December 1953 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He was an actor, known for Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), The Great Gatsby (2013) and Rake (2010). He was married to Lindsey Carter. He died on 13 July 2019 in New South Wales, Australia.

Robert Stromberg is known for Avatar (2009), Maleficent (2014) and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003).

Christopher Boyes is known for Avatar (2009), King Kong (2005) and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003).

Gwendolyn Yates Whittle is a producer, known for Avatar: The Way of Water (2022), Fight Club (1999) and Tron: Legacy (2010).

Gary Summers has worked as a Motion Picture Re-recording Mixer for the past forty years. His career in sound began in 1979 when he was employed by Lucas Film Ltd. as a sound recordist to work on "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back". His abilities as a Re-recording Mixer were first used in 1983 on "Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi". Gary has received twelve (12) Academy Award nominations for "Best Achievement in Sound". He has won the award four times, in 1991 for his work on "Terminator 2: Judgment Day", in 1993 for "Jurassic Park", in 1997 for "Titanic" and in 1998 for "Saving Private Ryan". Gary has also been nominated for the British Academy Award nine (9) times; he captured the award in 1991 for "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" and in 1998 for "Saving Private Ryan". The Cinema Audio Society, the Motion Picture Sound Editors Association, and the TEC Awards have all recognized him for his work. Gary has also received two Emmy Award nominations, winning in 1992 for his work on "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" television series. Additional film credits include," Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", "Backdraft", "Toy Story I & II", "Monster's Inc." "Jurassic Park: The Lost World"," A Bug's Life" and "K-19: The Widow Maker". Gary has worked in the large screen motion picture formats, (IMAX) with twenty-one credits to his name. His talents have also been used in eight Theme Park Attractions for The Walt Disney Company including "Star Tours", "Honey I Shrunk the Audience" and "Muppetvision 3D". In 2003 he formed Summers Sound Services Inc. and has pursued an independent mixing career working on such films as "Finding Nemo, Cars, Warrior, The Bourne Ultimatum, The Bourne Legacy, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Dark of the Moon, Avatar, Monsters University", 13 Hours", "The Accountant", Avatar-The Way of Water". He has also mixed many of the "Cinematics" for Blizzard Entertainment.

Andy Nelson is known for Avatar (2009), La La Land (2016) and The Batman (2022).

Tony Johnson was born on 10 February 1918 in San Diego, California, USA. She was an actress, known for The Screaming Skull (1958) and Crime & Punishment, USA (1959). She was married to Lamont Johnson. She died on 21 April 2009 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Joe Letteri's pioneering work in visual effects has earned him four Academy® Awards for Best Visual Effects - for Avatar, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, and King Kong. He has a long-standing interest in creating compelling, realistic creatures - from Jurassic Park's dinosaurs, to Gollum, the Na'vi in Avatar, and Caesar from the Planet of the Apes franchise. He has developed many techniques that have become industry standards for creating photorealistic digital effects. This includes co-developing the subsurface scattering technique that brought Gollum to life (winning an Academy® Technical Achievement Award), and pushing the development of large-scale virtual production.

Under creative Joe's leadership, Weta Digital has continued to expand and improve these techniques through films like The Hobbit trilogy, The Adventures of Tintin, and The BFG. Joe is currently working with James Cameron on the Avatar sequels.

Stephen Rosenbaum was born in Tacoma, Washington, USA. Stephen is an assistant director, known for Avatar (2009), Contact (1997) and Forrest Gump (1994).

Richard Baneham, two-time Academy Award winning Visual Effects Supervisor, Executive Producer and 2nd Unit Director on the Avatar sequels. Richie hails from a traditional Animation background. He made the transition to cg while working on "The Iron Giant". From there he embarked into the world of cg where he has also won awards for his work as an Animation Supervisor on "Lord of the Rings"; "The Two Towers" and "The Return of the King". His other credits include "Alita: Battle Angel" and "The Chronicles of Narnia"; "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe". Richard also had the opportunity to dive into the world of theme parks where he helped design and co-direct the "The Flight of Passage" and "The Na'vi River Ride Journey" at Disney's Animal Kingdom in Florida.

Andrew R. Jones is known for Avatar (2009), The Jungle Book (2016) and I, Robot (2004).

Addison Teague is known for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), Avatar (2009) and Tron: Legacy (2010).

Mayes C. Rubeo is a costume Designer known for her work on Apocalypto (2006), Avatar (2009), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Warcraft: The Beginning (2016), World War Z (2013) and John Carter (2012). She was born in Mexico City and went on to train in Fashion and Costume at the Los Angeles Trade-Tech College (LATTC) and UCLA. In a design career spanning two decades, she has collaborated with visionary directors such as Mel Gibson and Zhang Yimou, leading studios such as Legendary and Marvel and screen stars including Cate Blanchett, Ruth Negga, Brad Pitt and Andy Lau. Her early collaborations laid the foundations for a career that has demanded enormous versatility: Mayes began work as an Assistant Costume Designer and Costume Supervisor, gaining experience with Designers Shay Cunliffe, Erica Edell Phillips, Ellen Mirojnick and Enrico Sabbatini, the latter becoming her career mentor. After assisting Shay Cunliffe on Lone Star (1996), Mayes continued to work with the same independent Director-Producer team John Sayles and Maggie Renzi, designing costumes for three of their films: Angeli Armati/Men with Guns (1997), Sunshine State (2002), and Casa de los Babys (2003). Though budgets were lean, costumes and characters had to feel convincing. These cherished collaborations strengthened Mayes resourcefulness. For Hallmark's movie saga Fidel (2002), Mayes met the challenge of costuming characters from many walks of life and times, to tell a history spanning seven decades. It was Mayes' collaboration with Mel Gibson on Apocalypto (2006), which delivered a powerful image of the lost Mayan civilization, that set her on the path of creating costumes for the epic and otherworldly. Since then she has been known for creating the visual identities of the "Na'vi" people in James Cameron's Avatar (2009), Edgar Rice Burroughs's 100-year-old vision of civilized Mars in Andrew Stanton's John Carter (2012), and for transforming some of the world's most popular video game and comic book worlds into reality on-screen for Duncan Jones' Warcraft (2016) and Taika Waititi's Thor: Ragnarok (2017). Marc Forster's World War Z (2013), for which thousands of people (living and un-dead) were costumed, instead demanded contemporary realism, though still on a global and epic scale. Mayes continues to bring her costumes into new territories, turning technological and technical challenges into creative opportunities. Her characteristic passion and collaborative spirit have enabled her to successfully lead diverse teams across five continents, merging traditional craft skills with state-of-the-art technology. * Mayes' work has featured in international exhibitions, including the Deborah Nadoolman Landis curated exhibition Hollywood Costume (2012) at the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) in London. 3 FIDM Exhibitions: 18th Annual Art of Motion Picture Costume Design for the Film Apocalyptp 21st Annual Art of Motion Picture Costume Design for the Film John Carter 26th Annual Art of Motion Picture Costume Design for the Film Thor Ragnarok Member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, OSCARS. Member of The Costume Designers Guild of America. MemberThe Scenic Arts Guild and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Deborah L. Scott was born in 1954. She is known for Titanic (1997), Minority Report (2002) and Avatar (2009). She is married to Tim Suhrstedt.

Simon Franglen is a composer and producer of film, classical and contemporary music.

Current projects include writing the score to James Cameron's Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025) and the subsequent Avatar Sequels. Franglen's credits include three of the four top grossing films of all time and six of the top selling albums (Wikipedia). He also has a Golden Globe nomination for work on Avatar (2009) and "Record of the Year" Grammy as a producer on 'My Heart Will Go On' for Titanic (1997) among other awards. ASCAP Award winner for the top score of 2023, winner at the World Soundtrack Awards award in 2023, nominated for the Ivor Novello award in 2023, winner of the International Film Music Critics awards for Best Composition in 2023, following on from his award for Best Drama score in 2022. He's recently finished scores to independent films, such as Going for Two, The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu A musical nomad, he's collaborated with singers and musicians from across the world, from the South Pacific Islands to Mongolia.

Franglen is also known for his cutting-edge work in immersive audio, and is a consultant to several multi-national companies on the intersection of music and immersive audio. He has major art and commercial installations running around the world, including a permanent installation for "The Highest Art Space In The World" (CNN) at the top of the Shanghai Tower, a third of a mile high. As an educator, in the past year he has given master classes across the world.

Franglen was a top line producer and session musician in Los Angeles for several years, with dozens of multi-platinum albums and singles. Franglen's music credits range from The Weeknd, Celine Dion and Toni Braxton to producing UK grime acts. Well-known for his long time collaboration with with his friend, James Horner, he was the arranger and producer on films such as 'The Amazing Spider-man', 'Avatar', 'Titanic' and others. His work in films as an arranger and musician also included multiple films with Alan Silvestri, Thomas Newman, Howard Shore and his first mentor, John Barry. He created the gritty electronica for David Fincher's Se7en (1995) and David Cronenberg's Crash (1996) and produced the vocals for Moulin Rouge! (2001). Alongside film scores, upcoming work includes a multi-year immersive and installation project in the USA, and a new orchestral and choral work to be premiered in late 2025.

Kuk Harrell is known for Avatar (2009), Doctor Strange (2016) and The Karate Kid (2010).

Leona Lewis was born on 3 April 1985 in Islington, London, England, UK. She is a music artist and actress, known for Avatar (2009), No Strings Attached (2011) and Sex and the City 2 (2010). She has been married to Dennis Jauch since 27 July 2019. They have one child.

Jim Henrikson is known for Apocalypto (2006), Avatar (2009) and Titanic (1997). He was previously married to Nancy Fogarty.

Dick Bernstein is known for Apocalypto (2006), Avatar (2009) and Avatar: The Way of Water (2022).