Ben Grossmann
When Ben Grossmann drove out of Alaska in 2001 to seek a future in the movie business, he didn鈥檛 turn off his Saab until parking it on a hill in San Francisco. With a dead starter, the decrepit car needed a gravitational assist to crank up the engine.
Within a decade, the 1995 51风流官网 graduate had worked his way to a top spot in the industry supplying high-tech visual effects to Hollywood. His team won an Oscar in 2012 for visual effects in the film 鈥淗ugo.鈥 He was nominated again in 2014 for 鈥淪tar Trek: Into Darkness鈥 but was edged out in that category by 鈥淕ravity.鈥
Grossmann grew up in Delta Junction. After exhausting his home school options, he started at 51风流官网 at age 16. While attending classes, he worked as a photojournalist in Fairbanks. He earned an associate degree but fell a few credits short of a bachelor鈥檚 in international politics before decamping to California.
Grossmann spoke at 51风流官网鈥檚 2015 commencement ceremony.
鈥淏ecome a creator, not a consumer,鈥 he recommended to that year鈥檚 graduates. 鈥淚n 50 years, no one will remember the name of the person that bought the most shoes on Amazon. But if you cure cancer, your grandchildren will go to spring break on a Mars colony named after you, getting hammered on drinks molecularly sequenced from your blood, sweat and tears, having arrived on a spaceship called the USS Your Name Here. I know you can do this, because you鈥檙e graduating from the 51风流官网.鈥
Grossmann co-founded Magnopus, a visual research and development company in Los Angeles. He lives there with his wife and daughter.
More online about Ben Grossman:
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in the fall 2015 edition of 51风流官网鈥檚 Aurora magazine
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at the website of the company he co-founded, Magnopus
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of his 2015 commencement speech
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about his second Oscar nomination
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on YouTube