In 1994, he joined Rhythm & Hues as a technical director, and Westenhofer's lighting and effects animation work was featured in
Batman Forever and numerous commercials. He was promoted to CG supervisor for
Speed 2: Cruise Control, and continued in that role for
Spawn,
Mouse Hunt,
Kazaam and
Waterworld. His other VFX supervisor credits include
Elf,
The Rundown,
Stuart Little 2,
Men in Black II,
Cats & Dogs,
Along Came a Spider,
Frequency,
Stuart Little, and
Babe: Pig in the City. In 2005, Westenhofer supervised a team of 400 digital artists on
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which was nominated for an
Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. Later he would win both the BAFTA and the Academy Award for the 2007 release
The Golden Compass, and 2012's
Life of Pi in 2013. During the Academy Awards, when Westenhofer brought up Rhythm and Hues' financial issues during his speech, the microphone was cut off, which prompted many protests by the visual effects industry. He had intended to say: "What I was trying to say up there is that at a time when visual effects movies are dominating the box office, visual effects companies are struggling," Westenhofer told reporters. "And I wanted to point out that we aren't technicians. Visual effects is not just a commodity that's being done by people pushing buttons. We're artists, and if we don't find a way to fix the business model, we start to lose the artistry. If anything, 'Life of Pi' shows that we're artists and not just technicians." Westenhofer also worked as VFX supervisor for
Wonder Woman, released in June 2017. His latest project is
Black Adam, which was released in October 2022. ==Appearances==