Born under the palm trees of Oahu, Hawaii… Steven spent his first baby year’s hoola dancing and eating humongous amounts of pineapple. Due to family circumstances, his family soon moved back to New York where he lived the majority of his childhood in good old Fresh Meadows, New York. It was here that he began to take interest in video games, movie effects, cartoons and computers all through elementary school and high school. Eventually he moved onto the big world of college in the heart of New York City.

Steven Zaharakis graduated in 2000 with a Bachelors degree in Computer Science from NYU. Immediately after graduating, he began working at Computer Associates as a Software Engineer until 2002, when he decided he wanted to begin studies in computer graphics and animation. In the Fall of 2002, he enrolled at NYU graduate school to obtain a Masters in Digital Imaging and Design, and graduated May of 2004. After graduating, he worked at various studios in NYC doing internships and freelance work for roughly a year… and soon after landed a full time job at Viewpoint, as a 3D Artist/Developer.

After spending 2 years at Viewpoint, it was time to move on to bigger and brighter areas. So he made the decision to pack his bags, and fly to sunny LA. There he started work as a Rigging TD, working at places like Halon Entertainment on films like G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and eventually at The Jim Henson Company to work on TV’s Sid the Science Kid.  Soon after he was able to join the ranks of Disney where he worked for 4 years as a Technical Director on films such as Planes, Planes: Fire and Rescue, and various Tinker Bell movies.  Today he currently resides in Sherman Oaks and works as a Virtual Production Technical Director at Digital Domain and has worked the past several years on films/video games such as Ready Player One, Archangel VR, and The Nutjob 2. His future aspirations are to continue as a Technical Director and Character Rigger in film, tv, and video games and help lead others in the field.