A Santa Maria native and a Santa Maria company both received Emmy nominations for the 60th annual Primetime Emmy Awards, which were announced July 17 by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences at a ceremony in North Hollywood.

Righetti High School graduate Tifanie White has been nominated in the category “Outstanding Makeup for a Multi-camera Series or a Special” for her work as one of the makeup artists on “So You Think You Can Dance.”

CafeFX was nominated for the category “Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special” for its work on the HBO miniseries “John Adams,” which received a total of 23 Emmy nominations, the most of any program nominated this year, according to the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Each person on the nominated team gets a certificate. If their show wins for the category for which they’re nominated, one trophy is distributed, and each person on the team gets a certificate with the academy’s seal.

White, who is 27, was born and raised in Santa Maria to David White and Elizabeth Kingsley, both of Santa Maria. She graduated from Righetti in 1999, and received her associate’s degree from Hancock College in 2002. Her grandfather, Joe White, was the men’s dean and basketball coach at Hancock College in the 1960s, as well as an instructor and athletic director during his time at the school. Her uncle, Bob White, has been a math instructor at the school since the early 1980s, and is now the math department head. He stepped down as head coach at Hancock this past year.

After receiving her degree, White moved to Los Angeles to attend the Total Image Makeup Academy, now known as the Academy of Makeup and Fashion, and has been working in the Los Angeles area ever since.

“It’s really exciting,” White said of her Emmy nomination. “It’s nice to know that our work pays off. It’s really, really cool.”

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Jeff Goldman, visual effects supervisor at CafeFX; David Van Dyke,

visual effects producer; and Edwardo Mendez, compositing supervisor, worked on a recreation of Boston in the 1770s and the blockade of British ships across the Boston Harbor for their work on “John Adams.” CafeFX shared their nomination with HBO visual effects staff and Digital Backlot Studio.

“It’s great,” Goldman said of the nomination. “I think it’s a nice honor … We’re sort of so far off the industry’s beaten path here in Santa Maria, so it’s kind of neat to be involved with that.”

CafeFX’s recent work includes visual effects on “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor,” “Speed Racer” and “Spider-Man 3.”

The Emmy Awards gala will be broadcast Sept. 21 on ABC from Los Angeles.

Bettina Adragna can be reached at 739-2220 or at badragna@santamariatimes.com.