Biography
Harley Jessup is an American production designer and visual effects artist. Born in Corvallis, Oregon, in 1954, he studied graphic design at Oregon State University (BFA) and Stanford University (MFA). He began his career at Korty Films, designing animated shorts for Sesame Street and serving as art director on the feature Twice Upon a Time.
Jessup worked as a visual effects art director at Industrial Light & Magic from 1987 to 1994, including as art department creative director from 1991. His credits there include Innerspace (for which he won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects) and Hook (nominated in the same category). He also won an Emmy for visual effects on The Ewok Adventure (1985).
Before joining Pixar Animation Studios, Jessup was production designer on Walt Disney Pictures' James and the Giant Peach (1996). At Pixar he served as production designer on Monsters, Inc. (2001, shared credit), Ratatouille (2007), Cars 2 (2011), Presto (2008), The Good Dinosaur (2015), Coco (2017) and Elio (2025). He retired from the studio after Elio.
