Baneham is from Tallaght in Dublin and went to secondary school in Old Bawn before training in Ballyfermot Art College.
[3][4] In the 1990s, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue his career with his then girlfriend (and now wife) Ashling.
[5] He also worked with Rhythm and Hues on The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and as animation supervisor (overseeing the animation of the character of Gollum) on The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
For his work on Avatar, Richie, along with Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum and Andrew R. Jones, won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects at the 82nd Academy Awards and the visual effects category at the 2010 BAFTAs.
[8] At the 16th Visual Effects Society Awards in February 2018, a team of visual effects artists, including Baneham, was recognised for its work on Avatar: Flight of Passage - an attraction at Disney's Animal Kingdom.