Maddie holds a unique dual role at Cinesite as Creative Director for Cinesite’s Immersive division and Group Head of Builds & Visual Development for our Visual Effects division.

As Group Head of Builds & Visual Development, Madeleine is pivotal to each production, expertly interpreting filmmakers’ ideas and inspiring the VFX team. An accomplished artist, she studied classical figurative sculpture at the Florence Academy of Art and performed cadaver lab studies, enabling anatomical realism in creature design. A foremost expert in ZBrush, she has authored highly-regarded textbooks, manuals, and video tutorials, and taught Advanced Digital Sculpting, Anatomy, and Creature Design at Gnomon School of Visual Effects for 19 years. Passionate about sharing her craft, she spoke at FMX 2022 on concept and visual development for The Witcher, work that helped earn Cinesite a BAFTA. Her extensive credits include Pete’s Dragon, The BFG, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Pacific Rim: Uprising, and The Hobbit trilogy, where she particularly enjoyed designing orcs with Guillermo Del Toro.

As Creative Director for Cinesite’s Immersive division, Maddie is an award-winning creative director known for developing extraordinary concepts. Leveraging her VFX and cinematic background, in 2024 she supported Frameless’s Creative Director Ryan Atwood in interpreting iconic artworks by Cézanne, Klimt, Kandinsky, Monet, Canaletto, and Rembrandt for immersive experiences. At Cinesite, she is responsible for creating memorable experiences for global audiences across theme parks, museums, and multi-sensory venues, bridging cinematic craft with location-based storytelling. In her spare time, Madeleine enjoys sculpting with polymer clay and painting in oil and acrylic.