Fred Pienkos

Frederick "Fred" J. Pienkos  is a CGI Artist and Compositor at Digital Muse, and later Eden FX. He was involved with the special effects created in ,  and .

While working on Star Trek, Pienko was nominated five times for an Emmy Award, winning one in  for . Apart from these, Peinkos was also twice nominated for a VES (Visual Effects Society) Award, winning one in 2005 for his work in the episode . He would later appear in an interview featured on the ENT Season 4 DVD discussing the creation of the battle over New York City between  and several Stukas, featured in "Storm Front, Part II," for which he and his team were nominated for the other VES Award in another category, they did not win.

Career outside Star Trek 
Hailing from Illinois, Pienkos started his professional career in 1993 in Chicago as computer animator, working for several companies making commercials, before moving to Los Angeles in 1999, where he joined Digital Muse in December. He followed Digital Muse's co-founder John Gross in July 2000 to Eden FX, as the latter opted to start over when Digital Muse fell prey to a hostile takeover, and has remained in the employment of that company ever since. At Eden FX he worked on the majority that company was involved with, and which include among others the movies Hellboy (2004), Miami Vice (2006), Spider-Man 3 (2007), Nim's Island (2008, winning him a third VES award nomination), Hancock (2008), The Social Network (2010), and  Fright Night (2011). Television series Pienkos was involved with included Surface, Ghost Whisperer, Lost, Fringe, Robert Duncan McNeill's Chuck, NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Army Wives and Person of Interest.

Star Trek awards

Emmy Awards 
Pienkos received the following Emmy Award win and nominations in the category Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series:
  Emmy Award nomination for the episode , shared with Les Bernstein, Bruce Branit, Elizabeth Castro, Dan Curry, Paul Hill, Jeremy Hunt, John Gross, and Ronald B. Moore
  Emmy Award nomination for the episode , shared with Bruce Branit, Elizabeth Castro, Dan Curry, Paul Hill, Jeremy Hunt, John Gross, Ronald B. Moore, and Greg Rainoff
  Emmy Award nomination for the episode , shared with Adam Buckner, Steven Rogers, Paul Hill, Adam Howard, Greg Rainoff, John Gross, Eddie Robison, and David Stipes
  Emmy Award nomination for the episode , shared with Bruce Branit, Elizabeth Castro, Dan Curry, Sean Scott, Paul Hill, Ronald B. Moore, Eric Hance, and Greg Rainoff
  Emmy Award win for the episode , shared with David R. Morton, Elizabeth Castro, Dan Curry, Sean M. Scott, Paul Hill, Ronald B. Moore, Chris Zapara, and Greg Rainoff

Visual Effects Society Awards 
Pienkos received the following VES Award win and nomination: 
  VES Award win in the category Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Series for the episode , shared with Ronald B. Moore, Dan Curry, David Takemura
  VES Award nomination in the category Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Act on Broadcast Program for the episode , shared with Pierre Drolet, Eddie Robison, and Sean M. Scott

Star Trek interview 
 ENT Season 4 DVD special feature "Visual Effects Magic"

External links 
 
 Fred Pienkos at LinkedIn.com
 Pienkos company bio at EdenFx.com

Special and Visual effects staff
Star Trek calendar artists
Emmy Award winners
Emmy Award nominees
VES Award winners
VES Award nominees