(2nd from l.) w. J. Rygiel, R. Taylor & M. Stetson

Graduated from Castro Valley High School, CA (1969); UCLA (1975); Animation Training Program at Walt Disney Studios (1975). Creature effects supervisor/designer who entered American film as an assistant model animator for THE CRATER LAKE MONSTER (1977). Other special visual effects credits include THE DAY TIME ENDED (1980), CAVEMAN (1981), 2010 (1984), THE GATE (1987), I, MADMAN (1989), PUPPET MASTER II (1990), HIGHWAY TO HELL and DOCTOR MORBID (both 1992), PUPPET MASTER 4 (1993), DRAGONWORLD (1994), DEATHLINE (1997), THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (2001) and THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS (2002). He created creatures for John Carpenter's THE THING and Q (both 1992) and POLTERGEIST II: THE OTHER SIDE (1986). Cook was 2nd unit director for Peter Jackson's KING KONG (2005).  Best Achievement in Visual Effects 2001: THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (w. Jim Rygiel, Richard Taylor & Mark Stetson)  Best Achievement in Visual Effects 2002: THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS (w. Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri and Alex Funke)  Best Achievement in Visual Effects 2003: THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING (w. Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri and Alex Funke) 3 nominations, 3 Awards