Jeff Kleiser has been pushing the extremes of visual effects since 1978, when he co-founded Digital Effects in NYC, worked at Omnibus Computer Graphics and co-founded Kleiser-Walczak, and contributed to TRON, Flight of the Navigator, Stargate, Judge Dredd, Clear and Present Danger, the X-Men trilogy, Fantastic Four, and numerous theme park projects including The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man at Universal Studios. In addition, he co-directed Monsters of Grace with partner Diana Walczak, which was a 74 minute stereoscopic avante garde opera designed by Robert Wilson and composed by Philip Glass.
Kleiser’s visual effects work on Ra.One, Bollywood’s biggest movies to date earned the prestigious National Award for Best Special Effects, which Is India’s equivalent of the Oscar. A member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Kleiser also serves on the board of the Visual Effects Society and is a founding member of the board of the Williamstown Film Festival.
Diana Walczak and Jeff Kleiser developed the first computer-generated humans, the first digital stunt doubles for Judge Dredd w/ Sylvester Stallone, the first face replacements in a movie for The One w/ Jet Li. Visual effects credits also include Stargate, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Surrogates and Ra.One. They also animated the Columbia Pictures film logo.
Diana sculpted the iconic Michael Jackson HIStory Statue which became the basis for the cover of his 1995 HIStory album and an international marketing campaign for the album and the HIStory World Tour.
Diana has written, shot, and directed live-action short documentary films covering 15 projects that improve people’s lives in Kenya, Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Morocco.