At the suggestion of animation director Bob Clampett, in 1975 Cook applied for and was admitted to the Animation Training Program at Walt Disney Studios, where he studied under Eric Larson. His interest in live action production led to an assignment as a gag man/storyboard artist on his first film, "Herbie Goes To Monte Carlo".Cook's abilities as animator and sculptor led to work with David Allen and Jim Danforth, on such films as "Caveman" and "Q", as well as solo stints as Visual Effects Supervisor on such films as "The Gate" and "I, Madman".Realizing the advantages of computer animation in the early 90's, he supervised the animation on several low-budget features (such as "Demon In The Bottle" and "Redline"), before being asked by Peter Jackson to serve as Animation Director on "The Lord Of The Rings" series.