English film actor, director and author Andy Serkis is known for his performance capture roles comprising motion capture acting, animation and voice work for such computer-generated characters as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001-2003) and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the eponymous King Kong in the 2005 film, Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Captain Haddock / Sir Francis Haddock in Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin and Supreme Leader Snoke in Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens. Serkis earned a Golden Globe Award nomination for his portrayal of serial killer Ian Brady in the British television film Longford, and was nominated for a BAFTA Award for his portrayal of new wave and punk rock musician Ian Dury in the biopic Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll. In 2015, he had a small role in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Serkis has his own motion capture workshop, The Imaginarium Studios in London, which he will use for his directorial debut, Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle.

Apart from his line of CGI-driven characters, Serkis continued with traditional acting in several leading and supporting roles, such as his appearances as “Richard Kneeland” opposite Jennifer Garner in 13 Going on 30, and “Alley” opposite David Bowie in The Prestige, among other film performances. On television, he starred as ‘Vincent Van Gogh’ in the sixth episode of Simon Schama’s Power of Art, the BBC2 series about artists. Serkis is billed as “Capricorn” in the upcoming adventure film, Inkheart . At the same time, he continued the development of performance capture while expanding his career into computer games. He starred as “King Bothan” in the martial arts drama, Heavenly Sword, a Playstation 3 title, for which he provided a basis for his in-game face and also acts as a dramatic director on the project.