Andy Serkis: The Man Behind the Mask

                                                         

                                 Andy Serkis has had quite the prolific career as a motion-capture actor. Perhaps most famous for playing Gollum in Lord of the Rings (as well as the upcoming The Hobbit), he’s also taken turns as Kong in King Kong, most recently, the ape Ceasar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes and captain Haddock in Adventures of Tintin.

                                          He is an impressive character actor with over 50 stage, television, and film credits.The 47-year-old Londoner has made a spectacular career out of crawling around in front of a green screen.He performs in a suit covered in reflectors that were tracked by a computer-driven camera. Animation was then superimposed over his movement, producing one of the most realistic computer-generated images in modern cinema.

               

                                        
                                          Now, Serkis is speaking out about the lack of respect his profession is paid in the awards circuit, saying that actors who perform under motion-capture are just as deserving of Academy Awards as their live-action counterparts. He was ruled ineligible for best supporting actor nomination at 2003 academy awards because his character, Gollum in Lord of the rings onscreen was computer animated.
                                        Serkis, for a decade of work exploring and expanding the possibilities of motion capture performance, deserves official recognition for his role in the technology, and for his roles as an actor.

Andy Serkis-Imdb