# Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature

The Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature is one of the annual awards given by the Visual Effects Society starting from 2002. Since its inception, the award's title has gone through six different title changes, and one major category shift. First awarded in 2002, the award was titled "Outstanding Character Animation in a Live Action Motion Picture" and given to the best character animation in a live action film, with no specific character cited. This would change in 2004, when the category was re-titled "Outstanding Performance by an Animated Character in a Live Action Motion Picture", and given to visual effects artists for work on a specified character. The category was again re-titled in 2008, this time to "Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture". In 2014, it was titled "Outstanding Performance of an Animated Character in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture", but changed in 2016 to "Outstanding Animated Performance in a Photoreal Feature" and once again in 2017 to its current title.

## Winners and nominees
### 2000s

Outstanding Character Animation in a Live Action Motion Picture
| Year | Film | Character | Nominee(s) |
| 2002 | The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers | | Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, Ken McGaugh and Bay Raitt |
| 2002 | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | Dobby's Face | David Andrews, Steven Rawlins, Frank Gravatt and Doug Smythe |
| 2002 | Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones | | Rob Coleman, Hal Hickel, Chris Armstrong and James Tooley |
| 2003 | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | | Steven Hornby, Andy Serkis, Matthias Menz, and Greg Butler |
| 2003 | Hulk | | Scott Benza, Jamy Wheless, Kevin Martel and Aaron Ferguson |
| 2003 | Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl | | Susan Campbell, James Tooley, Geoff Campbell and Dugan Beach |
Outstanding Performance by an Animated Character in a Live Action Motion Picture
| Year | Film | Character | Nominee(s) |
| 2004 | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | Hippogriff | Michael Eames, David Lomax, Felix Balbas and Pablo Grillo |
| 2004 | Hellboy | Sammael | Dovi Anderson, Todd Labonte, Sven Jensen and Paul Thuriot |
| 2004 | Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events | Sunny | Rick O'Connor, Martin Murphy, Indira Guettieri and Sam Breach |
| 2005 | King Kong | King Kong | Andy Serkis, Christian Rivers, Atsushi Sato, Guy Williams |
| 2005 | The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe | Aslan | Richie Baneham, Erik De Boer, Matt Logue, Joe Ksander |
| 2005 | Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire | Dragon | Steve Rawlins, Eric Wong, Robert Weaver and Steve Nichols |
| 2006 | Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest | Davy Jones | Steve Walton, Jung-Seung Hong, Marc Chu and James Tooley |
| 2006 | Charlotte's Web | Templeton | Todd Labonte, Jason Armstrong, Sven Jensen and David Richard Nelson |
| 2006 | Charlotte's Web | Wilbur | Grant Adam, Daniel Fotheringham, Avi Goodman and Paul Buckley |
| 2007 | Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End | Davy Jones | Hal Hickel, Marc Chu, Jakub Pistecky, Maia Kayser |
| 2007 | Enchanted | Pip | Tom Gibbons, James W. Brown, David Richard Nelson and John Koester |
| 2007 | I Am Legend | Infected Leader | David Schaub, Marco Marenghi and Josh Beveridge |
| 2007 | Spider-Man 3 | Sandman | Chris Yang, Bernd Anger, Dominick Cecere and Remington Scott |
| 2007 | Transformers | Optimus Prime | Rick O'Connor, Doug Sutton, Keiji Yamaguchi and Jeff White |
| 2007 | The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep | Crusoe | Richard Francis-Moore, Martin Hill, Marco Revelant and Daniel Barrett |
Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
| Year | Film | Character | Nominee(s) |
| 2008 | The Curious Case of Benjamin Button | Benjamin Button | Steve Preeg, Matthias Wittmann, Tom St. Amand and David McLean |
| 2008 | Hellboy 2: The Golden Army | Elemental Sequence | Colin McEvoy and Christoph Ammann |
| 2008 | Iron Man | Iron Man | Hal Hickel, Bruce Holcomb, James Tooley and John Walker |
| 2008 | The Spiderwick Chronicles | Hogsqueal | Todd Labonte, Michael Brunet, Nathan Fredenburg and Aharon Bourland |
| 2009 | Avatar | Neytiri | Joe Letteri, Andrew R. Jones, Jeff Unay and Zoe Saldana |
| 2009 | District 9 | Christopher Johnson | Steve Nichols, Jeremy Mesana, Vera Zivny and Brett Ineson |
| 2009 | G-Force | Bucky | Benjamin Cinelli, Dustin Wicke, Peter Tieryas and Ryan Yee |
| 2009 | Watchmen | Doctor Manhattan | Keith Smith, Kevin Hudson, Victor Schutz and Aaron Campbell |

### 2010s

| Year | Film | Character | Nominee(s) |
| 2010 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 | Dobby | Matthieu Vig, Ben Lambert, Laurie Brugger and Marine Poirson |
| 2010 | Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore | Kitty Galore | William Groebe, Brian Medenhall, Aharon Bourland and Steve Reding |
| 2010 | The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader | Reepicheep | Gabriele Zucchelli, Catherine Mullan, Benoit Dubuc and Pete Bayley |
| 2010 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 | Kreacher | Laurent Laban, Will Brand, Matthieu Goutte and Jason Baker |
| 2011 | Rise of the Planet of the Apes | Caesar | Daniel Barrett, Florian Fernandez, Matthew Muntean, Eric Reynolds |
| 2011 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 | The Gringotts Dragon | Yasunoby Arahori, Tom Bracht, Gavin Harrison and Chris Lentz |
| 2011 | Paul | Paul | Anders Beer, Julian Foddy, Jody Johnson and David Lowry |
| 2011 | The Thing | Edvard/Adam | Lyndon Barrois, Fred Chapman, Greg Massie and Marco Menco |
| 2012 | Life of Pi | Richard Parker | Erik De Boer, Sean Comer, Betsy Asher Hall, Kai-Hua Lan |
| 2012 | The Avengers | The Hulk | Yasunoby Arahori, Tom Bracht, Gavin Harrison and Chris Lentz |
| 2012 | The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey | Goblin King | Jung Min Chang, James Jacobs, David Clayton and Guillaume Francois |
| 2012 | The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey | Gollum | Gino Acevedo, Alessandro Bonora, Jeff Capogreco, Kevin Estey |
| 2013 | The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug | Smaug | Eric Reynolds, David Clayton, Myriam Catrin and Guillaume Francois |
| 2013 | Gravity | Ryan | Max Solomon, Mathieu Vig, Michael Brunet and David Shirk |
| 2013 | Oz the Great and Powerful | China Girl | Troy Saliba, In-Ah Roediger, Carolyn Vale and Kevin Souls |
| 2013 | Pacific Rim | Kaiju-Leatherback | Jakub Pistecky, Frank Gravatt, Cyrus Jam and Chris Havreberg |
Outstanding Performance of an Animated Character in a Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture
| Year | Film | Character | Nominee(s) |
| 2014 | Dawn of the Planet of the Apes | Caesar | Paul Story, Eteuati Tema, Andrea Merlo and Emiliano Padovani |
| 2014 | Dawn of the Planet of the Apes | Koba | Daniel Barrett, Alessandro Bonora, Mark Edward Allen and Masaya Suzuki |
| 2014 | Guardians of the Galaxy | Rocket | Kevin Spruce, Rachel Williams, Laurie Brugger and Mark Wilson |
| 2014 | Maleficent | Thistlewit | Darren Hendler, Matthias Wittmann, Jeremy Buttell and Elliot Rosenstein |
Outstanding Animated Performance in a Photoreal Feature
| Year | Film | Character | Nominee(s) |
| 2015 | The Revenant | The Bear | Matt Shumway, Gaelle Morand, Karin Cooper and Leandro Estebecorena |
| 2015 | Avengers: Age of Ultron | The Hulk | Jakub Pistecky, Lana Lan, John Walker and Sean Comer |
| 2015 | Chappie | Chappie | Chris Harvey, Mark Wendell and Robert Bourgeault |
| 2015 | Star Wars: The Force Awakens | Maz Kanata | Joel Bodin, Arslan Elver, Ian Comley and Stephen Cullingford |
| 2016 | The Jungle Book | King Louie | Paul Story, Dennis Yoo, Jack Tema and Andrei Coval |
| 2016 | Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them | Niffler | Laurent Laban, Gabriel Beauvais-Tremblay, Luc Girard and Romain Rico |
| 2016 | The Jungle Book | Shere Khan | Chris Harvey, Mark Wendell and Robert Bourgeault |
| 2016 | Rogue One: A Star Wars Story | Grand Moff Tarkin | Sven Jensen, Jee Young Park, Steve Walton and Cyrus Jam |
| 2016 | Warcraft | Durotan | Sunny Wei, Brian Cantwell, Brian Paik and Jee Young Park |
Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature
| Year | Film | Character | Nominee(s) |
| 2017 | War for the Planet of the Apes | Caesar | Sunny Wei, Dennis Yoo, Ludovic Chailloleau, Douglas McHale and Tim Forbes |
| 2017 | Blade Runner 2049 | Rachael | Axel Akkeson, Stefano Carter, Wesley Chandler and Ian Cooke-Grimes |
| 2017 | Kong: Skull Island | King Kong | Laurent Laban, Gabriel Beauvais-Tremblay, Luc Girard and Romain Rico |
| 2017 | War for the Planet of the Apes | Bad Ape | Eteuati Tema, Aidan Martin, Florian Fernandez and Mathias Larserud |
| 2018 | Avengers: Infinity War | Thanos | Jan Philip Cramer, Darren Hendler, Paul Story and Sidney Kombo-Kintombo |
| 2018 | Christopher Robin | Tigger | Arslan Elver, Kayn Garcia, Laurent Laban and Mariano Mendiburu |
| 2018 | Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom | Indoraptor | Jance Rubinchik, Ted Lister, Yannick Gillain and Keith Ribbons |
| 2018 | Ready Player One | Art3mis | Dave Shirk, Brian Cantwell, Jung-Seung Hong and Kim Ooi |
| 2019 | Alita: Battle Angel | Alita | Michael Cozens, Mark Haenga, Olivier Lesaint, Dejan Momcliovic |
| 2019 | Avengers: Endgame | Smart Hulk | Kevin Martel, Ebrahim Jahromi, Sven Jensen, Rober Allman |
| 2019 | Gemini Man | Junior | Paul Story, Stuart Adcock, Emiliano Padovani, Marco Revelant |
| 2019 | The Lion King | Scar | Gabriel Arnold, James Hood, Julia Friedl, Daniel Fortheringham |

### 2020s

| Year | Film | Character | Nominee(s) |
| 2020 | The One and Only Ivan | Ivan | Valentina Rosselli, Thomas Huizer, Andrea De Martis, William Bell |
| 2020 | The Kangaroo Chronicles [de] | Kangaroo | Claudius Urban, Sebastian Badea, Dorian Knapp, Ruth Wiegand |
| 2020 | Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey | Don Juan Diego | Eric Guaglione, Shuchi Singhal, Adrien Annesley, Mahmoud Ellithy |
| 2020 | The Witches | Daisy | Jye Skinn, Sarah Fuller, Marco Iannaccone, Fredrik Sundqvist |
| 2021 | Finch | Jeff | Harinarayan Rajeev, Matthias Schoenegger, Simon Allen, Paul Nelson |
| 2021 | Flora & Ulysses | Ulysses | Pierre-Loïc Hamon, Sachin Tyagi, Nandini Nambiar, Loïc Mireault |
| 2021 | Jungle Cruise | Aguirre | Alexander Lee, Claus Pedersen, Rasely Ma, Gary Wu |
| 2021 | Venom: Let There Be Carnage | Carnage | Richard Spriggs, Ricardo Silva, Lucas Cuenca, Federico Frassinelli |
| 2022 | Avatar: The Way of Water | Kiri | Harinarayan Rajeev, Matthias Schoenegger, Simon Allen, Paul Nelson |
| 2022 | Beast | Lion | Alvise Avati, Bore Şahin, Chris McGaw, Krzysztof Boyoko |
| 2022 | Disney's Pinocchio | Honest John | Christophe Paradis, Valentina Rosselli, Armita Khanlarpour, Kyoungmin Kim |
| 2022 | Slumberland | Pig | Fernando Lopes Herrera, Victor Dinis, Martine Chartrand, Lucie Martinetto |

## Superlatives
### Films with Multiple Nominations
#### 2 Nominations

* Charlotte's Web (2006)
* Dawn of the Planet of the Apes*
* Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1*
* The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
* The Jungle Book (2016)*
* War for the Planet of the Apes*

### Characters with Multiple Awards
#### 3 Wins

* Caesar

#### 2 Wins

* Davy Jones