Since earning his Ph.D. from UCLA in 2007, Ari has worked with some of the top VFX and video game companies, including Industrial Light & Magic, LucasArts, and Rhythm & Hues Studios. 

His passion for computational human modelling, synthesis, motion, and animation led him to become Head of the Character Animation and Simulation Research Group at the University of Southern California. He is also an eleven-time speaker and pioneer at SIGGRAPH, a premier conference on computer graphics.