Meet Virginia Cantaro | FX Artist and Motion Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Virginia Cantaro and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Virginia, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I have always been keen on movies. I started doing my first editing videos when I was a child: I used to grab DVDs of my favorite movies, put them in my computer and start cutting scenes, creating sort of mash-up trailers. Growing up it became evident to me that I wanted to work in cinema industry. The first time I watched “Inception” on the big screen and I started to see buildings folding on themselves, I thought “Wow! That’s what I want to do for a living”. I realized that I wanted to give the viewer that feeling I was experiencing in that moment. At that time, I wasn’t sure how to achieve that goal, so I started with a bachelor in Video Design at European Institute of Design, in Rome, where I learnt how all the movie production works, from shooting to color correction. I became passionate of all post-production field and I chose to start my career as a Motion Designer. After my first year of working in that field, I felt that 2D animation wasn’t enough, I wanted to explore 3D dimension and improve my skills. So I went to Gnomon School of VFX in Los Angeles and I specialized in Dynamics Effects with the software Houdini. And that is what I’m doing ever since: explosions, destruction, particles and all kind of FX for movies and tv shows.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’m an FX artist. This means I destroy stuff, make snow, rain, fire, create magical effects, and stuff like that for movies, tv shows and sometimes also commercials. Over the course of my career, I have had the opportunity to work with studios from all around the globe, such as Mr. X, Outpost, Pixomondo and various others. Enthusiasm, dedication and a bit of risk taking I think is what took me where I am today professionally.
My experience in Toronto at Mr. X (Technicolor) was probably the most important step in my career. I wasn’t looking for a job abroad in that period. However, when the occasion knocked on my door, I realized that I couldn’t miss it, that I could go one step further in my career by jumping in this new job and adventure. And, indeed, that experience gave me the opportunity to work on the Academy Award Winning “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”. And also it opened a lot of doors and from that moment it has been a growth, professionally and personally.
One of the most exciting projects I have collaborated for is “Star Wars: Visions 2” (episode “Sith”), with the Spanish studio El Guirì. It’s thanks to this project that I have been personally nominated, along with my FX Artists colleagues, for an Annie Awards for Best FX in TV/Media.
I hope that the idea I convey is positivity and willingness to act. Both in personal life and at work. I always want to be there to support my loved ones and encourage people. In the last period, I started to teach Dynamics FX at Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. And from this experience I’m realizing that I like to give advice to my students and give them an overview of how it looks like working in the visual effects industry and make them passionate about this job. I hope this positive energy is what I transmit to them and to people in general.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
In Los Angeles, I would say let’s dedicate a day in the studios. Universal probably has the right mix between amusement park and tour of movie sets. Then we could go in Downtown, to explore Little Tokyo, grab something to eat there and then being lost in the amazing lanes of books in “The Last Bookstore”. In the last day, I would take them to Santa Monica and enjoy the sun, maybe with some outdoor activities on the beach.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I am lucky enough to have a strong support network thanks to friends and family. So, for sure, a big shotout goes to all my loved ones! Then I would like to say thanks to Max and Lorenzo, from IED, and to Andrès, from Gnomon, because they always believed in me and they guided me along the path.

Website: https://virginiacantaro.wixsite.com/visualeffects

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/virginiacantaro/

Other: https://vimeo.com/809096361

Image Credits
Personal Photo: Chiara Santoro Additional Photos: Virginia Cantaro