Gregory Nicotero

Gregory Nicotero (born March 15, 1963) is an American special effects creator and actor. In 1988, along with Robert Kurtzman and Howard Berger, he formed KNB Efx Group, a special effects studio which has gone on to work on over 400 film and television projects. KNB has won numerous awards, including an Emmy Award in 2001 for their work on the 2000 Sci Fi Channel miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune[1] and they were awarded an Academy Award in 2006 for achievement in makeup for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.[2]

Nicotero claims he began taking an interest in special effects after viewing the film Jaws. He explains, "[...] I kept thinking "How the fuck did they do that? How’d they build a big giant shark that could eat people?!" So, between that movie, The Exorcist, Planet of the Apes, and of course all of the Universal horror movies [...] I think Jaws and then later Dawn of the Dead were pretty much the two movies that did it for me."[3] Nicotero began his career working in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, learning the trade of special effects from Tom Savini, an award-winning special effects and makeup artist,[4] and helping on films by director George A. Romero. While working on the 1985 Romero film Day of the Dead, he met Howard Berger, who would become one of his partners at KNB EFX Group. Nicotero relocated to Hollywood[5] and moved in with Berger and Bob Kurtzman.[6] He worked as FX artist on the 2010 film Predators[7] and created a classic predator figure for the film.[8] He worked on the special effects for the upcoming TV series The Walking Dead[9] and narrated the film on the San Diego Comic-Con International.