Venezuelan-born special effects wizard Tulio Hernandez has been part of some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters.

He has worked on “Avatar,” “Spider-Man 2,” “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” and “Night at the Museum,” among many others.

“But what marked my path was the film ‘Komodo,’ in 1999, when I saw my name on the credits and felt I had made the right decisions in my life,” Hernandez, 50, said in an interview with Efe.

He came to the United States in 1978 from his native Maracaibo with plans to attend college and ultimately graduated with a degree in tourism and hospitality.

“In 1988,” he recounted, “a friend wanted to open a vegetarian restaurant. He asked me to help him, but this friend was also making a movie and seeing them work I felt as if someone had hit me on the head and I said: this is what I want to do.”

“My vision of reality is quite particular. I always see it with visual effects, I look at the environment and think how to put it on the computer,” Hernandez said, “Being Venezuelan, the Latin touch is in everything I do.”