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An Oscar? I've already got one, says Stafford's Interstellar star

It is an award that Hollywood great Leonardo DiCaprio can only dream about getting his hands on.

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But Stafford's Andrew Lockley now has two Oscars to his name after bagging another at the 87th Academy Awards – adding to the two BAFTAs he has already won.

Andrew scooped his latest gong on Sunday night for his special effects wizardry on sci-fi blockbuster Interstellar.

The first thing he did after winning the award was to text his parents who had stayed up to watch back home in Wildwood to tell them that he felt amazing.

It is the second time that the 43 year old former Walton High School pupil has tasted success on the Los Angeles red carpet after earning the same honour for the digital effects on Inception in 2011.

This film was also directed by Christopher Nolan and also starred DiCaprio.

But this latest success came as something of a shock to Andrew despite the fact that he and his team from London-based company Double Negative scooped a Bafta earlier this month for Interstellar.

He knew that it was going to be tough because of the strength of the competition in the special effects category particularly from the Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

Andrew also said that he had been blown away by the special effects in X-Men: Days of Future Past which was also in the running.

Glamour – Andrew on his way to the Oscar's ceremony

But on the big night it was Nolan's space spectacular which took the ultimate prize.

After winning his second Oscar, Andrew said: "I'm very excited that we are winners again. Everyone seems to think that we should have expected to be nominated, but it's never a sure thing."

He shared his excitement with hundreds of his followers on Twitter leading up to the ceremony, as well as during the glitzy show where fellow Brit Eddie Redmayne won the Oscar for the best actor.

After it was announced that his film had won, Andrew posted: "Well done everyone on the Interstellar crew." He also posted a picture of himself holding the famous statuette.

His parents, mother Cate and father Patrick Lockley who stayed up until 4am UK time to watch their son on Sunday, were among the first people he contacted from across the Atlantic.

Mrs Lockley said: "He just said it was amazing to get it again and a really big surprise.

"I don't think that they were confident they were going to win because their main rival was the Planet of the Apes film, so I think it was 50/50.

"He was very nervous and excited and just thrilled to bits to win because it is the highest accolade in film," said his proud mother.

"I think he was looking forward to it more this time because he knew what to expect."

Mrs Lockley said Andrew, who went to Barnfields Primary School, wanted to work in film ever since he saw Star Wars when he was eight years old.

But he did not actually get into the industry for another 20 years.

Oscar selfie joy – Andrew at the awards

After leaving school, aged 16, Andrew did an apprenticeship at Matthew Boulton College, Birmingham, before later working at the General Electric Company in the print room.

Mrs Lockley said: "He had always wanted to work in film since he was eight, but we used to laugh about it because it is dream stuff isn't it.

"But when he was in his late 20s he just thought it is now or never so he went for it," she said.

At the age of 28 he did a one year masters course in digital special effects at Bournemouth University graduating in 2000.

A year later he started at Double Negative in London, where he still works today and has enjoyed his recent successes.

"It was quite a young company then so he has grown with them," said Mrs Lockley.

Since then Andrew has worked on some massive blockbusters.

One of his first major productions was to jump into the middle of the Harry Potter film adaptations working on the Goblet of Fire – the fourth in the blockbuster franchise – in 2005. His other credits include Children of Men, 10,000 BC, the Dark Knight and the Dark Knight Rises, Captain America: The First Avenger and Rush.

But it was the 2010 film Inception – which was also directed by Christopher Nolan – which gave him his first Bafta and Oscar.

The film, starring Leonardo DiCapri, was praised for its special effects by the critics as the protagonists delve into people's chaotic dream worlds in order to influence the real world.

After Inception and the Dark Knight series, Nolan's 2014 release Interstellar was hotly anticipated, but frustratingly for film fans details about the project were scarce with the director keen to keep specifics about the plot under wraps.

The movie came out in October with the burden of being the next big sci-fi film. But it did not disappoint going on to gross more than $600 million to date around the world.

The film's effects are very much at the heart of the blockbuster as lead actors Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway travel through the galaxy – as well as time – in search of another planet to sustain human life with Earth's atmosphere deteriorating.

Not only did Andrew, who was internal supervisor on the project, and Double Negative have to recreate those alien worlds, but they had to take on the daunting prospect of visualising a black hole – something which had astro-physicists as much in anticipation as sci-fi film fans.

But aside from the watchful eye of the science world, what did Andrew's parents think?

Interstellar – Anne Hathaway and Matthew McConaughey

"We enjoyed it very much," said Mrs Lockley. "Sci-fi is not exactly our cup of tea, but we enjoyed it because we can see where Andrew has been working on it.

"He was away for about six months making it, one minute he was in Iceland saying he was next to a freezing lake, then he was back down to LA.

"But we just like to see his name in the credits. We are usually the last ones in the theatre waiting while the cleaners are coming in," said his proud mother.

After seeing her son collect the coveted Oscar on Sunday night ahead of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Mrs Lockley said: "We were really excited and nervous. It is surprising how nervous you get when it's your children. We are thrilled to bits."

Andrew is currently working on a film version of Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass which is due out in 2016.

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