David H. Tanaka, VES

A native Californian, David H. Tanaka, VES  attended the University of California at Berkeley where in 1989 he earned his bachelor's degree in Fine Arts with an emphasis in Film Theory.  Upon graduating, he worked for post-production facilities throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, quickly gaining experience through corporate advertising and industrial documentary assignments.

David is an Editor, Producer and Creative Director with experience now ranging from visual effects and animation, to documentary and live action feature filmmaking. For 15 years he served at Industrial Light & Magic in VFX Production and VFX Editorial on films including Jurassic Park, Forrest Gump and the Star Wars saga. He then went on to Pixar Animation Studios as a Special Projects Editor for 10 years, contributing to such productions as Cars, Ratatouille, WALL•E, Up, Toy Story 3 and Monsters University.

Tanaka currently holds a staff VFX Editor position at Tippett Studio in Berkeley, California, having just completed work on such streaming shows as The Orville: New Horizons, The Resort, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Disney/Marvel’s Secret Invasion.

He has also served as Adjunct Professor for the Academy of Art University, San Francisco, specializing in producing and editing for animation and visual effects production.

Father of two (Mitchell, age 25, and Benjamin, age 22), he loves sharing the craft of film production, editing and visual effects with his family in the form of personal film/video projects. In 2020, he along with his wife, Dorianne, also co-founded Cinemabilities ® - a remote filmmaking course for typically and atypically developing students, ages 10 to 20.

David H. Tanaka, VES has served three terms as Chair of the VES Bay Area Section, as well as two terms as 2nd Vice Chair on the global Board of Directors in 2021 and 2023. He has contributed to the VES Archives, Awards, Outreach, and Work From Home Committees, and in 2022 was honored
with both VES Lifetime Member and VES Fellow distinctions.

David is now serving his third term as 2nd Vice Chair on the global VES Board of Directors in 2025.

Role with the VES

2nd Vice Chair, VES Board of DirectorsCo-Chair, The VES Archive Committee