Van Ling is a visual effects supervisor, film producer and creator of DVD menus for many popular movies, including the Star Wars DVDs. Ling graduated summa cum laude from the USC School of Cinema-Television. He began his career as a visual effects supervisor for The Abyss and became head of production on Lightstorm Entertainment, for which he continued with many major motion pictures and television, including Titanic, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, The Walking Dead, Starship Troopers, Dr. Dolittle, Vanilla Sky and many others.[3] He had a brief cameo in James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster Titanic, as the Chinese man, who was in real-life, a Chinese passenger booked under the name of Fang Lang (original name Wing Sun Fong, 方榮山), whom Fifth Officer Harold Lowe rescued from the sea. Van is also an active member of the Visual Effect Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Producers Guild of America and the Visual Effects Society, the latter in which he served six terms as Board of Directors. He wrote and directed Cliffs of Freedom, an indie drama film starring Christopher Plummer, Billy Zane, Lance Henriksen, Tania Raymonde, Jan Uddin, Raza Jaffrey, Patti LuPone, Costas Mandylor, and Kevin Corrigan. Description above from the Wikipedia article Van Ling, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Read moreShow less
Biography from TMDB.
- Producer, director, actor, editor and writer
- 15 on Motif · 17 credits in all
What are Van Ling's films like?
Across their 7 Motif titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Ideas and Bonds.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 7
A split, not a type: Light 2 · Serious 2 · Dark 3
Grounded 4 · Stylized 3 · Heightened 0
Gentle 2 · Charged 3 · Intense 2
A split, not a type: Steady 3 · Shifting 4 · Whiplash 0
Straight-faced 5 · Some laughs 2 · Funny 0
A split, not a type: Slow burn 4 · Even-paced 2 · Relentless 1
Casual 1 · Engaged 5 · Full focus 1
Easy watch 2 · Affecting 3 · Heavy 2
Resolved 7 · Open-ended 0 · Ambiguous 0
Moods and endings
- Happy3
- Bittersweet4
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Van Ling's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 10 of their 15 Motif titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Tubi (4).
Subscription and free streaming for Van Ling's titles on Motif; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
17 credits, 15 with a Motif page; 1 appearance as themselves is hidden until asked for.
Cliffs of Freedom(2019)
Midcredits score: 61st percentile of all films
Last Man Standing(2011)
Midcredits score: 24th percentile of all films
No Feat But What We Make: 'Terminator 2' and the Rise of Digital Effects (not in the Motif catalog yet)(2003)
Not Another Teen Movie(2001)
Midcredits score: 36th percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 80th percentile of all films
Stir of Echoes(1999)
Midcredits score: 78th percentile of all films
Soldier(1998)
Midcredits score: 47th percentile of all films
Doctor Dolittle(1998)
Midcredits score: 23rd percentile of all films
Deep Rising(1998)
Midcredits score: 48th percentile of all films
Titanic(1997)
Midcredits score: 97th percentile of all films
Starship Troopers(1997)
Midcredits score: 89th percentile of all films
Men in Black(1997)
Midcredits score: 92nd percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 95th percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 60th percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 99th percentile of all films
The Abyss(1989)
Midcredits score: 92nd percentile of all filmsThe Man Who Loved Fat Dancing (not in the Motif catalog yet)(1986)
Career shape
A full career of 17 titles from 1986 to 2019.
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on Motif, shown from 5 scored.
How do Van Ling's films land?
Their typical Motif film has a Midcredits score in the 78th percentile, the median of all 15; across their 7 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 79th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up8
- 50th to 74th2
- 25th to 49th3
- Below 25th2
Shape of the crowd
4 of their 15 titles are Crowd Pleasers.
- Universally Loved3
- Cult Classic2
- Crowd Pleaser4
- Broadly Agreed2
- Mixed4
Reviewers score the atmosphere 73/100 and the pacing 59/100 in their films, across 5 reviewed titles. The element that speaks to their work as a director.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on Motif; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their Motif titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Who does Van Ling work with?
People who share at least 2 of Van Ling's Motif titles, grouped by what they did on them; James Cameron shares the most, 3.
Directors
- James CameronShared titles: Other Voices: Back Through Time: Creating 'the Terminator': Cast & Crew Recollections (2001), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), The Abyss (1989)See all 3 shared titles with James Cameron
Actors
- Arnold SchwarzeneggerShared titles: Other Voices: Back Through Time: Creating 'the Terminator': Cast & Crew Recollections (2001), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)See all 2 shared titles with Arnold Schwarzenegger
- Linda HamiltonShared titles: Other Voices: Back Through Time: Creating 'the Terminator': Cast & Crew Recollections (2001), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)See all 2 shared titles with Linda Hamilton
- Michael BiehnShared titles: Other Voices: Back Through Time: Creating 'the Terminator': Cast & Crew Recollections (2001), The Abyss (1989)See all 2 shared titles with Michael Biehn
Composers and editors
- Alan SilvestriShared titles: Under Pressure: Making 'the Abyss' (1993), The Abyss (1989)See all 2 shared titles with Alan Silvestri
- Ed W. MarshShared titles: Under Pressure: Making 'the Abyss' (1993), The Abyss (1989)See all 2 shared titles with Ed W. Marsh
- Conrad Buff IVShared titles: Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), The Abyss (1989)See all 2 shared titles with Conrad Buff IV
Producers
- Gale Anne HurdShared titles: Other Voices: Back Through Time: Creating 'the Terminator': Cast & Crew Recollections (2001), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), The Abyss (1989)See all 3 shared titles with Gale Anne Hurd
- Casey CannonShared titles: Cliffs of Freedom (2019), Under Pressure: Making 'the Abyss' (1993)See all 2 shared titles with Casey Cannon
- Nancy NybergShared titles: T2: More Than Meets the Eye (1993), Under Pressure: Making 'the Abyss' (1993)See all 2 shared titles with Nancy Nyberg
Mixed roles
- Lauryl DuplechanShared titles: Cliffs of Freedom (2019), Other Voices: Back Through Time: Creating 'the Terminator': Cast & Crew Recollections (2001)See all 2 shared titles with Lauryl Duplechan
- Brad FiedelShared titles: Other Voices: Back Through Time: Creating 'the Terminator': Cast & Crew Recollections (2001), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)See all 2 shared titles with Brad Fiedel
- Mark GoldblattShared titles: Other Voices: Back Through Time: Creating 'the Terminator': Cast & Crew Recollections (2001), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)See all 2 shared titles with Mark Goldblatt
- William WisherShared titles: Other Voices: Back Through Time: Creating 'the Terminator': Cast & Crew Recollections (2001), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)See all 2 shared titles with William Wisher
