Hao Li | Innovators Under 35

Smarter animation bridges the gap between the physical and digital worlds.

Hao Li remembers watching Jurassic Park as a kid: That moment of seeing something that didnt exist in reality, but it looked so realthat was definitely the one that made me think about doing this, he says. Li tells me the story one afternoon while we dine at the cafeteria of Industrial Light & Magic, the famed San Francisco visual-effects studio where he has been working on a way to digitally capture actors facial expressions for the upcoming Star Wars movies. When Jurassic Park came out, Li was 12 years old and living in what he calls the boonie town of Saarbrcken, Germany, where his Taiwanese parents had moved while his father completed a PhD in chemistry. Now, 20 years later, if all goes to plan, Lis innovation will radically alter how effects-laden movies are made, blurring the line between human and digital actors.