O'Neill, Pat

Born in Los Angeles, Pat O'Neill attended the University of California in the city, earning a BA (1962) and an MFA (1964). In 1985, he was included along with nineteen other photographers in the 20/20 portfolio, published by UCLA to celebrate twenty years of its MFA photography program, which is held in the Museum of Contemporary Photography’s collection. While he was a graduate student in the photography department, O'Neill began making films, and since then he has primarily been known as an experimental filmmaker. O'Neill began teaching film at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in 1970, as one of the school’s original faculty members, and he later founded Lookout Mountain Films in 1974. In addition to his completing his own independent films, O'Neill has worked as visual effects and animations specialist for larger studio productions by directors such as George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.