In addition to filmmaking, he is a National Geographic explorer-in-residence and has produced many documentaries on deep-ocean exploration, including Ghosts of the Abyss (2003) and Aliens of the Deep (2005).

Cameron has also contributed to underwater filming and remote vehicle technologies and helped create the digital 3D Fusion Camera System.

In 2012, Cameron became the first person to do a solo descent to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the Earth's ocean, in the Deepsea Challenger submersible.

[10][11] During this period, he learned about special effects by reading other students' work on "optical printing, or front screen projection, or dye transfers, anything that related to film technology" at the USC library.

[17] Upon release of Piranha II: The Spawning, critics were not impressed; author Tim Healey called it "a marvellously bad movie which splices clichés from every conceivable source".

Lance Henriksen, who starred in Piranha II: The Spawning, was considered for the lead role, but Cameron decided that Arnold Schwarzenegger was more suitable as the cyborg villain due to his bodybuilder appearance.

Despite conflicts with cast and crew during production, and having to replace one of the lead actors — James Remar with Michael Biehn — Aliens was a box office success, generating over $130 million worldwide.

[29] After Aliens, Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd decided to make The Abyss, a story about oil-rig workers who discover strange intelligent life in the ocean.

The production process began in the Cayman Islands and in South Carolina, in two huge water tanks "reclaimed from" an unfinished nuclear power plant.

The story depicts an American secret agent who leads a double life as a married man, whose wife believes he is a computer salesman.

[48][49] Cameron's completed screenplay depicts two star-crossed lovers, portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, from different social classes who fall in love amid the backdrop of the tragedy; a radical departure from his previous work.

The supporting cast includes Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Frances Fisher, Gloria Stuart, Bernard Hill, Jonathan Hyde, Victor Garber, Danny Nucci, David Warner and Bill Paxton.

[55] Upon receiving Best Picture, Cameron and producer Jon Landau asked for a moment of silence to remember the 1,500 people who died when the ship sank.

[56] Film critic Roger Ebert praised Cameron's storytelling, writing: "It is flawlessly crafted, intelligently constructed, strongly acted, and spellbinding".

[57] Authors Kevin Sandler and Gaylyn Studlar wrote in 1999 that the romance, historical nostalgia and James Horner's music contributed to the film's cultural phenomenon.

[60][61] Again during 1998, Cameron considered doing a large-scale technological/religious film by an unknown writer, but after three tries was forced to personally pass on the project "due to his secular nature.

In 2003, he directed Ghosts of the Abyss, a documentary about RMS Titanic which was released by Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media, and designed for 3D theaters.

It was composed with a mix of live-action footage and computer-generated animation, using an advanced version of the performance capture technique, previously used by director Robert Zemeckis in The Polar Express.

[94] The film is based on a 1990s Japanese manga series Battle Angel Alita, depicting a cyborg who cannot remember anything of her past life and tries to uncover the truth.

Produced with similar techniques and technology as in Avatar, the film starred Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, Jackie Earle Haley and Keean Johnson.

[110][111] Lightstorm Entertainment bought the film rights to the Taylor Stevens novel The Informationist, a thriller set in Africa with Cameron planning to direct.

[132] He was preceded by unmanned dives in 1995 and 2009, as well as by Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh, the first men to reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench aboard the bathyscaphe Trieste in 1960.

He was also critical of the use of carbon-fiber composite in the company's Titan submersible, stating that the material has "no strength in external compression" when withstanding the pressure in deep-sea environments.

[157] Relating to Avatar, Cameron was accused of "wilful and deliberate copying, dissemination and exploitation" of Dean's original images; the case was dismissed by US district judge Jesse Furman in 2014.

[161] Cameron's films are often based on themes which explore the conflicts between intelligent machines and humanity or nature,[162][163] dangers of corporate greed,[164] strong female characters, and a romance subplot.

[176] Author Alexandra Keller writes that Cameron is an egomaniac, obsessed with vision, but praises his "technological ingenuity" at creating a "visceral viewing experience".

[191] Whedon also admires Cameron's ability for writing heroic female characters such as Ellen Ripley of Aliens,[192] adding that he is "the leader and the teacher and the Yoda".

[195][196][197] Cameron received the inaugural Ray Bradbury Award from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 1992 for Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

[198] In recognition of "a distinguished career as a Canadian filmmaker", Carleton University awarded Cameron the honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts on June 13, 1998.

[219] In 2019, Cameron was appointed as a Companion of the Order of Canada by Governor General Julie Payette, giving him the Post Nominal Letters "CC" for life.