Dawn Dininger

Short Biography

Dawn Dininger is known for her work on X-Men: First Class (2011), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) and 2012 (2009). Dawn Dininger moved around the country often in her youth. Born in Richmond, v*rginia she moved away young and lived first in Roseville, California and later in Newman, Georgia. As early as 15 years old Dawn knew what she wanted to do for a living. She was happiest in her art classes and going to horror films. So when she met makeup effects artist Chris Swift, she realized that a carreer in creature effects could combine the two things she loved the most.After graduating with a BFA from West Georgia College (now the University of West Georgia), Dawn moved to Mountain View, California (near San-Francisco). While living there she was mentored by special creature effects legend Devon Ryan who worked at Industrial Light and Magic assisting with creature design, aliens and special prosthetic character makeup effects from STAR WARS through RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. Though the ILM master lived an hour-and-a-half from Mountain View, she'd drive there every weekend to learn every aspect of special makeup effects from the master. A year later, she moved to Hollywood where she dedicated herself to applying what she'd learned and pursuing her dream.In Hollywood, Dawn worked at many shops and studios--The Character Shop, Edge/XFX, Amalgamated Dynamics, KNB, Quantum FX, Stan Winston Studio and Legacy Effects. The Stan Winston Studio provided her most consistent home on and off for over 10 years. Her most proud contribuitions to iconic character fabrication in recent films include the Pteranodon in JURASSIC PARK III, the Minoboar in CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE, The Blob from WOLVERINE and the Sam Flynn suit from TRON: LEGACY.She continues to specialize in fabrication and finishing work for Legacy Effects on countless commercial and feature characters.