After watching John Wayne in The Alamo, Tony Venezia was inspired to become an actor, but growing up in Villa Park, far from Los Angeles, he pursued animation instead while earning a graduate degree at UCLA. Venezia began making independent films in high school in 1969 using a borrowed 16mm camera, creating the clay-animated short Klei, which won several awards, including Best Animation at the college level. He continued his film studies at Illinois State University, producing award-winning work. In 1978, Venezia moved to Los Angeles to attend UCLA?s Animation Workshop, initially planning to stay only a year. However, after three weeks, he decided to finish the program, where he went on to create award-winning films, including one that became a national finalist for the Student Academy Awards in 1983. Venezia began his special effects career in 1981 at Mid Ocean Motion Pictures, experimenting with slitscan, a light-painting technique. Between 1981 and 1989, he created three abstract films using this method. His 1987 film Ghost Dance was funded by a large production grant. In 1983, he founded Electric Filmworks, a special effects company working on projects for many major film production companies and TV networks. Though Venezia focused on theatrical and commercial projects from 1989 to 2012, he returned to the Midwest in 2000 to raise his children. He worked on the Oprah Winfrey Show for four seasons, designing on-air graphics, and contributed to the Total Living Network between 2000 and 2011. Since 2005, he has taught full-time at the College of DuPage, where he established its animation program, while also pursuing freelance and independent animation projects.