RICHARD THOMPSON is a 3D artist, animator, and associate professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). His career has been dedicated to the creative and collaborative arts industries, working on a variety of award-winning projects across multiple platforms. His most recent animated short film, King Karno, has been selected for screening at 11 film festivals, winning five awards and garnering a nomination so far. The film will also be part of an upcoming art gallery exhibition. Previously, another animated short film, M0D3RN T1M3Z, won awards at 28 film festivals. His 3D artworks, Nonna, Speechless, and Via dei Sogni, have been exhibited, and his script, La Piazza, has been selected at nine festivals, earning two awards. In industry, he worked on the multi-Emmy Award-winning series Word World.

In an earlier career as an actor and playwright, Richard appeared on and off-Broadway, in Tony and Obie award-winning plays; he was nominated for a Helen Hayes Best Actor Award for the role of Jimmy Porter in John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger; and his play, Hunting Humans, won several Drama-Logue awards, including for best writing. Drawing on this theatrical background, his creative practice seeks to define how we recognize life in movement while focusing on design economy for visual storytelling. Central to this inquiry is the proposition that authenticity in motion is essential to establishing empathetic connections with virtual characters. This work is further informed by an exploration of emerging motion capture technologies and the interrelation between the history of clowning and digital character performance. The aim is to establish a foundation for animating intentional movement – distinguishing visual authenticity (believability) from visual accuracy (mere realism). These insights will be tested through creative production, informing the movement of all my animated characters.

At NJIT, he received the 2024–25 HCAD Faculty Award for Rising Star in Research and Scholarship, and his teaching was recognized with a Nexus Award for Excellence in Innovation in Education. Previously, at Middlesex College, he was honored with an Excellence in Teaching Award.