Patrick Tatopoulos is a
FrenchFrench people can refer to:* The legal residents and citizens of France, regardless of ancestry. For a legal discussion, see French nationality law.* People whose ancestors lived in France or the area that later became France....
-Greek
production designerProduction designer is a term used in the movie and television industries to refer to the person responsible for the overall look of a filmed event such as films, TV programs, music videos or adverts. Production designers have one of the key creative roles in the creation of motion pictures and...
, who lives and works in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. His designs have appeared in numerous motion pictures, including
Pitch BlackPitch Black is a 2000 science fiction action movie directed by David Twohy and is recognized as the acting breakthrough of Vin Diesel....
,
UnderworldUnderworld is a 2003 action-horror film about the secret history of Vampires and a type of werewolf known as Lycans . It is the first film in the Underworld series. The main plot revolves around Selene , a vampire who is a Death Dealer hunting Lycans...
,
I, RobotI, Robot is a 2004 science fiction-action film. The film was directed by Alex Proyas and produced by John Davis, Topher Dow, Wyck Godfrey, Laurence Mark and Will Smith. The screenplay was penned by Jeff Vintar, Akiva Goldsman and Hillary Seitz and is loosely based on Isaac Asimov's short-story...
,
The Chronicles of RiddickThe Chronicles of Riddick is a 2004 American science fiction / fantasy / thriller film. It follows the adventures of Richard B. Riddick, as he attempts to elude capture after the events depicted in the 2000 film Pitch Black, which details his meeting with Jack and Imam, his escape from the prison...
,
Independence DayIndependence Day is a 1996 science fiction film about a hostile alien invasion of Earth, focusing on a disparate group of individuals and families as they coincidentally converge in the Nevada desert and, along with the rest of the human population, participate in a last-chance retaliation on July...
,
Bram Stoker's Dracula,
StargateStargate is an American military science fiction film released through Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer and Carolco in 1994. Created by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich, the film is the first release in the Stargate franchise. Directed by Roland Emmerich, the film stars Kurt Russell, James Spader, Jaye...
,
GodzillaGodzilla is a 1998 American science fiction film. It is a Hollywood remake of the Japanese film of the same name. It was co-written and directed by Roland Emmerich, director of Independence Day. The film did not meet its anticipated success and was largely panned by critics and fans of the original...
,
Stuart LittleStuart Little is a 1999 live-action film, based on the novel of the same name by E.B. White. It combines live-action and computer animation. The screenplay was co-written by M. Night Shyamalan and Greg Brooker, with uncredited script doctoring by David O. Russell and Billy Ray. The plot of the...
,
I Am LegendI Am Legend is a 2007 science fiction-disaster film directed by Francis Lawrence and starring Will Smith. It is the third feature film adaptation of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel of the same name, following 1964's The Last Man on Earth and 1971's The Omega Man. Smith plays virologist Robert...
, and
Live Free or Die HardLive Free or Die Hard, , is a action film, and the fourth installment in the Die Hard series. The film was directed by Len Wiseman and stars Bruce Willis as John McClane, the protagonist of the first three films. Supporting cast members included Justin Long, Timothy Olyphant, Mary Elizabeth...
. He made his directorial debut with the 2009 film,
Underworld: Rise of the LycansUnderworld: Rise of the Lycans is an American film released January 23, 2009. It is the third installment in the Underworld series, focusing primarily on the origins of some characters and the events leading to the Vampire-Lycan war.-Plot:...
.
Tatopoulos was born and raised in
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
, to an immigrant father from
MacedoniaMacedonia is a geographical and historical region of Greece in southeastern Europe. Macedonia is the largest and second most populous Greek region...
,
GreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....
, and a
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
mother .
Patrick Tatopoulos is a
FrenchFrench people can refer to:* The legal residents and citizens of France, regardless of ancestry. For a legal discussion, see French nationality law.* People whose ancestors lived in France or the area that later became France....
-Greek
production designerProduction designer is a term used in the movie and television industries to refer to the person responsible for the overall look of a filmed event such as films, TV programs, music videos or adverts. Production designers have one of the key creative roles in the creation of motion pictures and...
, who lives and works in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. His designs have appeared in numerous motion pictures, including
Pitch BlackPitch Black is a 2000 science fiction action movie directed by David Twohy and is recognized as the acting breakthrough of Vin Diesel....
,
UnderworldUnderworld is a 2003 action-horror film about the secret history of Vampires and a type of werewolf known as Lycans . It is the first film in the Underworld series. The main plot revolves around Selene , a vampire who is a Death Dealer hunting Lycans...
,
I, RobotI, Robot is a 2004 science fiction-action film. The film was directed by Alex Proyas and produced by John Davis, Topher Dow, Wyck Godfrey, Laurence Mark and Will Smith. The screenplay was penned by Jeff Vintar, Akiva Goldsman and Hillary Seitz and is loosely based on Isaac Asimov's short-story...
,
The Chronicles of RiddickThe Chronicles of Riddick is a 2004 American science fiction / fantasy / thriller film. It follows the adventures of Richard B. Riddick, as he attempts to elude capture after the events depicted in the 2000 film Pitch Black, which details his meeting with Jack and Imam, his escape from the prison...
,
Independence DayIndependence Day is a 1996 science fiction film about a hostile alien invasion of Earth, focusing on a disparate group of individuals and families as they coincidentally converge in the Nevada desert and, along with the rest of the human population, participate in a last-chance retaliation on July...
,
Bram Stoker's Dracula,
StargateStargate is an American military science fiction film released through Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer and Carolco in 1994. Created by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich, the film is the first release in the Stargate franchise. Directed by Roland Emmerich, the film stars Kurt Russell, James Spader, Jaye...
,
GodzillaGodzilla is a 1998 American science fiction film. It is a Hollywood remake of the Japanese film of the same name. It was co-written and directed by Roland Emmerich, director of Independence Day. The film did not meet its anticipated success and was largely panned by critics and fans of the original...
,
Stuart LittleStuart Little is a 1999 live-action film, based on the novel of the same name by E.B. White. It combines live-action and computer animation. The screenplay was co-written by M. Night Shyamalan and Greg Brooker, with uncredited script doctoring by David O. Russell and Billy Ray. The plot of the...
,
I Am LegendI Am Legend is a 2007 science fiction-disaster film directed by Francis Lawrence and starring Will Smith. It is the third feature film adaptation of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel of the same name, following 1964's The Last Man on Earth and 1971's The Omega Man. Smith plays virologist Robert...
, and
Live Free or Die HardLive Free or Die Hard, , is a action film, and the fourth installment in the Die Hard series. The film was directed by Len Wiseman and stars Bruce Willis as John McClane, the protagonist of the first three films. Supporting cast members included Justin Long, Timothy Olyphant, Mary Elizabeth...
. He made his directorial debut with the 2009 film,
Underworld: Rise of the LycansUnderworld: Rise of the Lycans is an American film released January 23, 2009. It is the third installment in the Underworld series, focusing primarily on the origins of some characters and the events leading to the Vampire-Lycan war.-Plot:...
.
Biography
Tatopoulos was born and raised in
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
, to an immigrant father from
MacedoniaMacedonia is a geographical and historical region of Greece in southeastern Europe. Macedonia is the largest and second most populous Greek region...
,
GreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....
, and a
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
mother . His parents had a clothing store in
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. Patrick Tatopoulos raced motorcycles, worked in 2-D advertising and drew comic book covers. He lived in
GreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....
for ten years before coming to the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1989. He is tri-lingual, speaking fluently
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
,
GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
and
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
. In Greece, while working as a designer artist in the production of commercials, he was continually fascinated by creatures and special effects. He studied at the École d'Art Décoratif de Paris, the École des Arts Appliqués de Paris, and the
École des Beaux-ArtsÉcole des Beaux-Arts ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The most famous is the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, now located on the left bank in Paris, across the Seine from the Louvre, in the 6th arrondissement...
.From Paris he moved to
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
and
GreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....
where he began selling his illustrations. Eventually, his passion for the entertainment business drew him to the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and within a short time became a designer for commercials, music video and motion pictures. Tatopoulos is a frequent collaborator of directors
Roland EmmerichRoland Emmerich is a German film director, screenwriter and producer who works mostly in the disaster and action genres. He is the 18th highest grossing director of all time, with his films generating over $945 million in the United States, however some film critics have called his films...
,
Alex ProyasAlexander "Alex" Proyas is an Australian filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer, best known for directing The Crow, Dark City, I, Robot and Knowing.-Biography:...
, and
Len WisemanLen Ryan Wiseman is an American director and screenwriter, best known for directing the first two Underworld films and Live Free or Die Hard...
.
In May 2000, Tatopoulos was honored by The Hellenic Times at its ninth annual Scholarship Gala in
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. The goal of the organization is to identify young
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
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 Tatopoulos has personally presented the scholarship, in his name, to a deserving student in 2001 and 2002. He owns Tatopoulos Studios, Inc. and Patrick Tatopoulos Designs, Inc.
The character of Niko Tatopoulos in
Godzilla was named after his youngest daughter.
External links