Charmaine Chan

Biography

Charmaine Chan is a visual effects supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), based in London. She joined ILM in 2007 and progressed through a wide range of technical and creative roles, developing deep expertise in compositing, real-time workflows, and on-set virtual production. Chan earned a BA in Studio Art with an emphasis in Photography and Video from the University of California, Irvine, where she also minored in Digital Arts. Chan's early career at ILM included work as a Digital Resource Assistant and Assistant Technical Director, supporting visual effects production on films such as Transformers (2007), Lions for Lambs (2007), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009), Iron Man 2 (2010), Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011) and Pacific Rim (2013). During this period, she combined junior compositing shot work with pipeline development, third-party vendor integration, and on-set data capture, including digital double photography and reference acquisition. From 2015 onward, Chan became a key creative and technical contributor within ILM's compositing department, serving as Digital Compositor and Area Technical Lead in San Francisco. Her compositing credits include Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi (2017), Black Panther (2018), Warcraft (2016), Captain America: Civil War (2016), and immersive and themed entertainment projects such as Soarin' Around the World (2016) and Jurassic World: Blue (2018). As Area Tech Lead, she helped streamline compositing workflows across ILM's global facilities. She played a central role in developing and enforcing the studio's Nuke-based compositing standards. Chan later moved into senior leadership roles in London, becoming Senior Compositor, then Lead Compositor, and finally Virtual Production Technical Director. She led teams and supervised virtual production pipelines on high-profile television projects, including The Mandalorian (2019), The Boys (2019), and The Stand (2020). Her virtual production work also contributed to The Batman (2022), where she supported ILM StageCraft workflows, integrating real-time rendered environments with live-action cinematography. In 2021, Chan was promoted to Compositing and Virtual Production Supervisor, overseeing ILM's work on Andor (2022) and The Marvels (2023). She then served as Associate Visual Effects Supervisor on Echo (2023) and A Quiet Place: Day One (2024), before advancing to the role of Visual Effects Supervisor. In this role, she supervised ILM's visual effects on The Creator (2023), The Acolyte (2024), A Quiet Place: Day One (2024), and Jurassic World: Rebirth (2025). Beyond production work, Chan is the founder and creator of Women in Visual Effects, an ongoing interview series launched in 2016 that highlights and advocates for women working across the global VFX industry. The project has featured interviews with professionals from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Singapore. It is widely recognised as a community-driven platform for visibility and mentorship.