He is the son of the animator Ub Iwerks (Walt Disney's original business partner and co-creator of Mickey Mouse and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit) and father of Oscar-nominated documentary film producer Leslie Iwerks.
In 1954, Iwerks worked as a camera technician for the film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, starring Kirk Douglas and Peter Lorre.
Notable contributions include the first 360 film techniques, 360-degree camera, and first Circle-Vision 360 film, America the Beautiful, and developing the process for creating seamless live action shots with animated backgrounds.
He was awarded the Gordon E. Sawyer Award, which is given each year by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to "an individual in the motion picture industry whose technological contributions have brought credit to the industry".
[5] On March 21, 1999, at the 71st Academy Awards show, an Oscar for Scientific and Technical Achievement was presented to Iwerks Entertainment for an innovation called the Iwerks 8/70 Linear Loop projection system.