Cottalango Leon

Cottalango Leon (born 1971) is an Indian-American computer graphics technician who won the Academy Award for scientific and technical achievement jointly with Sam Richards and J. Robert Ray in 2016.

Leon won the Academy Award for "the design, engineering and continuous development" of Sony Pictures Imageworks itView technology, a digital 3D film review software. Leon worked on the itView technology for eight years as the chief contributor. Leon's early years were spent in this city – a place he still visits every two years.

Leon attended the Government High School at Kallapalayam, a village in the Sultanpet Block of Coimbatore. After studying here till grade VII, he studied from grade VIII to grade XII at Kadri Mills High School in Coimbatore. During his childhood, Leon became interested in the subjects of mathematics and science, and also developed, as per him, a keen interest in "the visual aspect of movies".

Career After graduating, Leon joined the New Delhi firm Softek LLC and worked with them for two years till 1994. As per the Academy, these set of awards are bestowed upon individuals who have contributed significantly over time – and not necessarily in the past year – to the motion picture industry.

Richard Edlund, Chair of the Scientific and Technical Awards Committee at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences praised the "outstanding, innovative work" of awardees, adding that their contributions "have further expanded filmmakers’ creative opportunities..." The Academy's award citation praised itView's API plugin and varied functionalities, mentioning that "itView provides an intuitive and flexible creative review environment that can be deployed globally for highly efficient collaboration." Leon said that "the award was not totally unexpected" but that it felt "good to be recognised by the Academy and the wider industry."