JAMES CHINLUND was born and raised in New York City. He studied Fine Art at CalArts in Los Angeles, with a focus on sculpture and large scale installation art works. After graduating, Chinlund returned to New York and started his career in film, initially as a carpenter, before finding opportunities as a Production Designer on music videos and independent films. During this period he first worked with frequent collaborator Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain) in addition to other directors in the New York independent film world including: Todd Solondz (Storytelling), Paul Schrader (Autofocus) and Spike Lee (25th Hour). After a short break from features to help care for his young daughter, Chinlund returned to the feature world in 2012 to work on "The Avengers" for Marvel which set a record for the highest grossing opening weekend ever. Since then he has been nominated eight times for Art Director’s Guild Awards. Two for his work on the Fox films "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" and “War for the Planet of the Apes” directed by Matt Reeves, and for his work on "The Lion King" directed by Jon Favreau which was the first feature film ever shot entirely in Virtual Reality. His latest film “The Batman” saw his work nominated for a BAFTA.  Over the years James has been active in the commercial, fashion and art worlds as well. Collaborators include: Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, Rupert Sanders, Spike Jonze, Philippe Parreno, Lance Acord, Marc Forster and Harmony Korine. Recently James has been doing a series of live events, designing runway sets for Nicolas Ghesquière and Louis Vuitton.