Jonathan Niles Heckman began his professional career at the visual effects boutique, Giant Killer Robots while still a teenager. Landing a industry job three years prior to receiving his degree allowed him first-hand experience to the post-production side of the industry through vfx at GKR, while spending the remainder of his time in film school at the Academy of Art University focusing on his passion of film making.

His first few years in the industry were divided between various 3D & 2D feature and commercial work and after graduating, he moved into compositing leadership and supervision. Experience with cameras and shooting led him to become GKR’s On-Set Visual Effects Supervisor, where he was responsible for overseeing the company's plate photography with New Line Cinema, Warner Brothers, and 20th Century Fox.

After having worked at Industrial Light & Magic he served as an additional Visual Effects Supervisor during principal photography of The Incredible Hulk in Toronto for Marvel Studios. Most recently employed at Digital Domain and Weta Digital, he has been a member of three Acadmeny Award winning teams shared between the Animated Feature and Visual Effects categories.

He currently specializes in using previsualization to design content for DD's Advertising department and Mothership production company in addition to creating projects as a independent filmmaker. He is the founding menber of Aurora-Lab.