(written from a Production point of view)
Frederick "Fred" J. Pienkos (born 16 September 1973; age 50) is a CGI Artist and Compositor at Digital Muse, and later Eden FX. He was involved with the special effects created in Star Trek Nemesis, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise.
While working on Star Trek, Pienko was nominated five times for an Emmy Award, winning one in 2004 for "Countdown". Apart from these, Peinkos was also twice nominated for a VES (Visual Effects Society) Award, winning one in 2005 for his work in the episode "Storm Front, Part II". He would later appear in an interview featured on the ENT Season 4 DVD discussing the creation of the battle over New York City between Enterprise and several Stukas, featured in "Storm Front, Part II," for which he and his team were nominated for the other VES Award in another category, they did not win. [1]
Career outside Star Trek[]
Hailing from Illinois, Pienkos started his professional career in 1993 in Chicago as computer animator, working for several companies making commercials, before moving to Los Angeles in 1999, where he joined Digital Muse in December. He followed Digital Muse's co-founder John Gross in July 2000 to Eden FX, as the latter opted to start over when Digital Muse fell prey to a hostile takeover, and has remained in the employment of that company ever since. At Eden FX he worked on the majority that company was involved with, and which include Hellboy (2004), Miami Vice (2006), Spider-Man 3 (2007), Nim's Island (2008, winning him a third VES award nomination), Hancock (2008), The Social Network (2010), and Fright Night (2011). Television series Pienkos was involved with included Surface, Ghost Whisperer, Lost, Fringe, Robert Duncan McNeill's Chuck, NCIS, Army Wives and Person of Interest.
Star Trek awards[]
Emmy Awards[]
Pienkos received the following Emmy Award win and nominations in the category Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series:
- 2000 Emmy Award nomination for the episode "Life Line", shared with Les Bernstein, Bruce Branit, Elizabeth Castro, Dan Curry, Paul Hill, Jeremy Hunt, John Gross, and Ronald B. Moore
- 2000 Emmy Award nomination for the episode "The Haunting of Deck Twelve", shared with Bruce Branit, Elizabeth Castro, Dan Curry, Paul Hill, Jeremy Hunt, John Gross, Ronald B. Moore, and Greg Rainoff
- 2002 Emmy Award nomination for the episode "Breaking the Ice", shared with Adam Buckner, Steven Rogers, Paul Hill, Adam Howard, Greg Rainoff, John Gross, Eddie Robison, and David Stipes
- 2003 Emmy Award nomination for the episode "The Expanse", shared with Bruce Branit, Elizabeth Castro, Dan Curry, Sean Scott, Paul Hill, Ronald B. Moore, Eric Hance, and Greg Rainoff
- 2004 Emmy Award win for the episode "Countdown", shared with Dave Morton, Elizabeth Castro, Dan Curry, Sean M. Scott, Paul Hill, Ronald B. Moore, Chris Zapara, and Greg Rainoff
Visual Effects Society Awards[]
Pienkos received the following VES Award win and nomination:
- 2005 VES Award win in the category Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Series for the episode "Storm Front, Part II", shared with Ronald B. Moore, Dan Curry, David Takemura
- 2005 VES Award nomination in the category Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Act on Broadcast Program for the episode "Storm Front, Part II", shared with Pierre Drolet, Eddie Robison, and Sean M. Scott
Star Trek interview[]
- ENT Season 4 DVD special feature "Visual Effects Magic"