Who performed the motion capture for King Kong in Jackson's 2005 film?

Andy Serkis performed the motion capture for King Kong in Peter Jackson’s 2005 film. Serkis supplied Kong’s physical movements and facial performance, which Weta Digital transformed into the giant computer-generated ape.

To prepare, Serkis studied gorillas at the London Zoo and observed them in Rwanda, focusing on their posture, movement, gestures, and social behavior. Jackson wanted Kong to act like an animal rather than a human in a fur suit, so the performance emphasized realistic weight, muscle, curiosity, fear, and emotion.

Serkis wore a motion-capture suit and facial markers; after filming, he spent additional time on a motion-capture stage recreating Kong’s movements for the animators. The process helped make Kong expressive without giving him human speech. Serkis also played the human character Lumpy in the film, but that role is separate from his work as Kong.

The performance became an important milestone in digital character acting and helped establish Serkis as one of the best-known motion-capture performers in modern cinema.