A BOURNEMOUTH University (BU) graduate who created visual effects for Star Wars: The Last Jedi has been nominated for an Oscar.

Mike Mulholland is effects supervisor with the London outpost of Lucasfilm’s effects company Industrial Light and Magic.

He was interviewed by the Daily Echo in 2016 about his work on Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which brought back the original cast after 33 years.

His other credits include Gravity, Warhorse, the Matrix sequels, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Avatar, and Band of Brothers.

If The Last Jedi wins at the Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday, Mike will become the third BU graduate to take to the stage to collect an Oscar for visual effects after Andrew Lockley (Inception and Interstellar) and Mark Ardington (Ex Machina).

The Last Jedi is up against Blade Runner 2049, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Kong: Skull Island, and War for the Planet of the Apes in the visual effects category.

Mike said it was a “great honour” to be nominated alongside his colleagues for an Oscar, adding it would be “quite surreal walking down the red carpet”.

“It's a very strong year for VFX (visual effects) and all the nominated films feature excellent work. Each film represents the hard work of hundreds of crew - so it's a privilege to be able to represent everyone who worked on the film,” he said.

Commenting on what it was like to work on an internationally-recognised franchise like Star Wars, he said: “There's so much history and backstory to the franchise. It was amazing to be working with characters and spaceships that I remember from my own childhood.”

The 41-year-old graduated from Bournemouth University in 1996 after studying a BA in computer animation and visualisation.

After graduating, he spent a couple of years in the computer game industry before moving into visual effects.

Offering his advice to any BU graduates looking to progress in the industry, he said: “There are many different disciplines within VFX - so I suggest students explore as many as possible to find out what interests them most and get a rounded understanding of the field.

“Once you've settled on an area that excites you then focus your work to show you've got a passion and talent in a particular area.”