Winston has garnered a record number of awards for his achievements, including four Academy Awards™ (with nine nominations), three British Academy of Film & Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards, two Emmy Awards and numerous other industry accolades. In 1981, Winston won his first Oscar® nomination for the robotic-looking make-up he created for Heartbeeps. 1981's Academy Awards™ ceremony was the first year that make-up effects were recognized as an official category. He went on to receive nominations for Aliens, Predator, Edward Scissorhands, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Jurassic Park, Batman Returns and The Lost World.

For his work with Aliens, he won the Oscar® and coveted BAFTA Award. Terminator 2: Judgment Day earned Winston the Oscar® for Best Make-up and Best Visual Effects and a BAFTA Award for Best Achievement in Visual Effects and his fourth Oscar® for fashioning the live-action dinosaurs in Jurassic Park.

Most recently, Winston has lent his considerable talents to Instinct, Lake Placid, Inspector Gadget, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, The Sixth Sense and Lost Souls.

A hallmark of Winston's genius is his mastery of new technologies. In 1978 he created the flying monkey's lip articulation for Sidney Lumet's The Wiz. Through innovation Winston has created some of the most extraordinary creatures in film history.

His most notable creature credits include: The Terminator for James Cameron; the Queen Alien in Aliens; the predator in Joel Silver's Predator; the tragic and innocent Edward Scissorhands for in Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands; the Penguin in Tim Burton's Batman Returns; the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park and the vampires in Interview with a Vampire. His additional special effects credits include Congo, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Mouse Hunt, Paulie, The Relic and Predator II.

Winston is also an accomplished director. His directing credits include Pumpkinhead, The Adventures of a Gnome Named Gnorm, Michael Jackson's Ghosts as well as second unit directing on many of his films.

In typical fashion, Winston has embraced the revolutionary technique of Computer Generated Imagery (CGI). In 1993, he partnered with James Cameron and ILM principal Scott Ross to form Digital Domain, a computer-effects company headquartered in Venice, California.

Winston is on the board of directors for Free Arts for Abused Children, and was recently recognized for his community contributions by the County of Los Angeles. He holds an honorary doctorate of humanities from the Savannah College of Art and Design.