Patrick Tatopoulos

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Patrick Tatopoulos

Patrick Tatopoulos is a renowned American production designer. He is considered by many as a visionary, creating innovative, exciting concepts for filmed and computer generated environments. His unique designs, rich with mood, character and distinction, have appeared in numerous box office hit motion pictures, including such movies as Underworld, I, Robot, The Chronicles of Riddick, Independence Day, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Stargate, Godzilla and Stuart Little.

[edit] Biography

Born and raised in Paris, France, where he raced motorcycles, to a Greek immigrant father and a French mother, Tatopoulos worked in 2-D advertising and drew comic book covers. Tatopoulos lived in Greece for ten years before coming to the United States in 1989. In Greece, while working as an artist in commercials, he was continually fascinated by creatures and special effects.[1] Tatopoulos has a degree from Art De Paris where he was able to pursue his love of art history. From there, he moved to Rome and Greece where he began selling his illustrations. Eventually, his passion for the entertainment business drew him to the United States and within a short time became a designer for commercials, music video and motion pictures. Tatopoulos is a frequent collaborator with directors Roland Emmerich and Alex Proyas.

In May of 2000 Patrick was honored by The Hellenic Times at its ninth annual Scholarship Gala in New York. The goal of the organization is to identify young American scholars who best exemplify the values of their Greek heritage and provide them with educational support. A Patrick Tatopoulos Creative Arts Award Scholarship was created in 2001 and Patrick has personally presented the scholarship, in his name, to a deserving student in 2001 and 2002.[2][3]

[edit] Miscellanus

Becoming a special effects artist was not always his goal
Patrick is tri-lingual, he speaks French, Greek and English fluently.
Met future director Len Wiseman while working on Stargate and then Independence Day.
His father's origins are from Macedonia
His parents had a clothing store in Paris
Owns Tatopoulos Studios, Inc. and Patrick Tatopoulos Designs, Inc.