Raised in Arlington, Virginia

Moved to California

Completed 6000 hours in an apprenticeship program in theatrical makeup and special effects at the Walt Disney Studio

TV debut, makeup effects for the TV-movie, "Gargoyles"

Breakthrough TV work, aged actress Cicely Tyson for the acclaimed TV-movie, "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman"

Established the Stan Winston Studio in Northridge, California

Received first feature makeup credit for "The Terror of Dr. Chancey/Mansion of the Doomed"

Provided special makeup for the landmark TV miniseries, "Roots"

First feature credit for special makeup, Sidney Lumet's "The Wiz"

Credited as special makeup consultant for Oliver Stone's "The Hand"

Nominated for the first Oscar recognizing achievement in makeup for the film, "Heartbeeps"

First credit for effects design, "Parasite"

Did "Panther and Hawk transformations" for the NBC sci-fi adventure series, "Manimal"

Second unit director for "The Terminator" (also worked on special effects); first collaboration with James Cameron

Created alien effects and lead the huge effects unit on Cameron's "Aliens"; won first Academy Award for Best Visual Effects

Created the alien antagonist of "Predator"

Feature directing debut, "Pumpkinhead" (also received story credit)

First credit as creature effects producer, "Leviathan"

Served as special makeup effects producer for Tim Burton's "Edward Scissorhands"

Earned two Oscars for Visual Effects and Makeup for work on Cameron's "Terminator 2: Judgment Day"

Formed Digital Domain, a digital special effects company, with James Cameron and Scott Ross; the second largest computer effects company after Industrial Light and Magic; he and Cameron resigned from the company in 1998

Helmed second feature, "The Adventures of a Gnome Named Gnorm"; also did makeup effects; released direct-to-video

Created the live action dinosaurs for Steven Spielberg's "Jurassic Park"; received fourth Academy Award

Provided vampire makeup and effects for the highly publicized "Interview with a Vampire"

Second unit director for "Congo"

Directed the short film "Ghosts" starring Michael Jackson; also did special effects, produced and scripted

Signed development deal with DreamWorks to produce and direct films

Formed Stan Winston Productions

Returned to creating live action dinosaurs for the sequel "The Lost World: Jurassic Park"

Designed the character effects for "Instinct"

Was special effects supervisor on "End of Days"

Received star on Hollywood Walk of Fame (February 23)

Produced a series of TV-movie remakes for HBO/Cinemax, including "Earth vs the Spider" (1958), "How to Make a Monster" (1958), "Day the World Ended" (1956), "The She-Creature" (1956) and "Teenage Cave Man" (1958)

Created a walking and talking teddy bear for "A.I. Artificial Intelligence"

Once again contributed to creating live action dinosaurs for "Jurassic Park III"

Reprised role as anamatronic and makeup effects supervisor on "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines"

Final work was creating the physical suit for use by Robert Downey Jr. in "Iron Man"