Pavani Rao Boddapati is a Visual Effects Sequence Supervisor at Weta Digital where she plays a critical role on projects with a major research and development component. She is currently working on James Cameron’s Avatar sequels, building on her recent supervision of the underwater sequence in Alita: Battle Angel (2019) to lead the development of Weta’s next-generation water pipeline.

Pavani was CG Supervisor on Avatar: Flight of Passage (2017), a 3D flying-simulator ride for Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park which won a Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Visual Effects. She led the team in designing a bespoke pipeline to deliver every aspect of the ride’s fully immersive Pandora environment, created in stereo at 10K and 60FPS.

Pavani joined Weta Digital as a Lighting Technical Director on Avatar (2009). She was Lead Lighting Technical Director on Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) and CG Supervisor on The Hobbit trilogy (2012–14). Drawing on her architectural background, she led the team in building and later damaging the post-apocalyptic CG world in Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015). Pavani began her VFX career at Rhythm and Hues in Los Angeles where she contributed look development to Academy Award-winner The Golden Compass (2007).

She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.