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Born into an Air Force family in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Crash experienced a nomadic military childhood. His early education was rooted in observing nature, fostering a profound respect for the natural order. He developed an intuitive grasp of light, shadow, and the relationships between objects. Beyond contemporary nature, he was captivated by prehistoric creatures, leading him to study Paleontology. This blend of scientific fact and imagination became the ideal foundation for bringing fantasy worlds to life. Crash declared early on that he intended to "do dinosaurs" when he grew up.
Crash earned a scholarship to the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, graduating with a BFA in illustration in 1988. That year, he met Stan Winston, beginning a 12-year collaboration. His first design project was Predator II, directed by Stephen Hopkins, immersing him in work he had previously admired as a fan. Soon after, he worked with Tim Burton on "Edward Scissorhands," a hero of Crash's. Incorporating Johnny Depp's facial features, he created three illustrations for the character, one of which was selected as the final design.
Next came James Cameron's sci-fi sequel "Terminator 2." With Cameron’s art direction background, Crash faced the challenge of meeting the vision of a brilliant artist and director. He contributed designs for what became a $205 million box office hit. Reuniting with Tim Burton, Crash designed the Penguin makeup worn by Danny DeVito in "Batman Returns," crafting a memorable villain that redefined the comic book role and distanced itself from the 1960s and '70s TV portrayal. The film exceeded expectations with $163 million in box office revenue and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Makeup.
The following year, "Jurassic Park" offered Crash the chance to collaborate with Steven Spielberg, whom he regards as one of the greatest filmmakers, fulfilling his childhood dream of creating dinosaurs in an innovative way. The film presented dinosaurs as active, warm-blooded, and intelligent creatures, breaking new ground in the genre. Due to early secrecy, Crash worked alone on dinosaur concepts for a year. During production, he served as an on-set puppeteer, bringing the prehistoric creatures to life via radio and cable controls, and even performed as the Raptor in a full suit he designed.
Following the massive $357 million success of "Jurassic Park," Crash designed makeup for "Interview With the Vampire," tasked with satisfying fans of the book without necessarily creating the definitive vampire look. Casting delays led to multiple designs for the lead character, Lestat, and after Tom Cruise was cast, Crash developed a subtle makeup faithful to Anne Rice's descriptions. Transitioning from subtle vampire designs, Crash ventured into comic book fantasy with "Tank Girl," featuring half-human, half-kangaroo characters, and continued exploring human-animal mutations in the 1996 remake of "The Island of Dr. Moreau."
Directed by Peter Hyams, "The Relic" challenged Crash to design a creature combining features from various animals, emphasizing its physical power and creating another original character that achieved cult status.
In 1995, Crash returned to prehistoric themes with "Jurassic Park: The Lost World," expanding his dinosaur creations for Spielberg's epic series. These two films have collectively grossed over $1.6 billion worldwide. The theme park attraction became one of Universal Studios’ most successful rides, while home video sales reached $454 million. Merchandise, including toys, clothing, video games, and books, generated approximately $1.5 billion in revenue.
For DreamWorks' 1998 project "Small Soldiers," Crash designed and art-directed a team of illustrators to create the Commando Elite and Gorgonites action figures—high-tech toy soldiers with advanced computer chips that brought them to life. The film aimed to boost toy sales and succeeded spectacularly. Hasbro handled manufacturing and distribution, with toy sales surpassing $150 million, doubling the box office revenue.
After a decade of designing iconic film characters, Crash’s reputation soared, placing him among the top five artists in his field. He created numerous characters for major studio releases, working intensively over two years on films such as Disney's "Inspector Gadget," DreamWorks' "Galaxy Quest," Universal's "End of Days" (reuniting with director Peter Hyams), and DreamWorks' "What Lies Beneath," a Hitchcock-style mystery directed by Robert Zemeckis.
Having mastered visual storytelling, Crash developed a passion for writing and began studying the craft in 1998 while continuing his character design work.
In 1999, Crash sold two story pitches to HBO’s Creature Features series. The first, "Earth vs. The Spider," entered production in early 2001, scheduled to air later that year, with international distribution through Columbia Tri-Star.
As his writing career began, the horror, sci-fi, and fantasy genres called him back with the third installment of "Jurassic Park," directed by Joe Johnston, a filmmaker Crash deeply respects. He returned to his drawing board to develop new designs.
Crash then contributed to Steven Spielberg's "A.I. Artificial Intelligence," where his designs, like those for "Jurassic Park," were closely guarded. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects. Through his company Calypso Productions Inc., Crash continued creating characters for projects including "Sound of Thunder" (reuniting with Peter Hyams), Larry Kasdan's "Dreamcatcher," Ang Lee's "Hulk," Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean," Henson's "Time Dogs," Anschutz Entertainment's "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," Steven Sommer's "Van Helsing," Ilya Salkind's "Abominable Snowman," Stephen King's/Sony's "Kingdom Hospital," and Universal's "Submariner."
Crash is a member of the Screen Actors Guild. His work has appeared in Cinefex magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, Daily Variety, Barbara Walters' "Most Fascinating People," In Hollywood, Extra Entertainment Tonight, Movie Magic, the Jurassic Park DVD, The Making of Jurassic Park, The Making of Terminator 2, Make-up Magazine, Fangoria Magazine, the Museum of Natural History, the Museum of the Moving Image, and numerous other publications worldwide.
