Chris Williams | |
---|---|
Born | |
Alma mater | University of Waterloo Sheridan College |
Occupation(s) | Animator, film director, screenwriter, voice actor |
Years active | 1996–present |
Employer(s) | Walt Disney Animation Studios (1998–2018) Netflix (2018–present) |
Notable work | Glago's Guest Bolt Big Hero 6 Moana The Sea Beast |
Chris Williams (born December 19, 1968) is an American-Canadian animation film director, screenwriter and voice actor who is best known for directing the films Bolt (2008) and Big Hero 6 (2014) and co-directing the film Moana (2016) for Walt Disney Animation Studios, and for directing the film The Sea Beast (2022) for Netflix Animation.
Williams was born on December 19, 1968, in Missouri and spent the first 25 years of his life in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, where his father was the director of Counselling Services at the University of Waterloo. [1] Williams graduated from the University of Waterloo with a degree in Fine Arts [2] and then enrolled in the animation program at Sheridan College, Oakville, Ontario. Upon graduation from Sheridan, he was recruited by Disney and moved to Los Angeles. [1]
Williams previously worked in the story department for Mulan (1998), The Emperor's New Groove (2000) and Frozen (2013), in which he also voiced the character Oaken. In February 2007, it was announced he would direct American Dog, [3] which was re-titled Bolt (2008) and was later joined by Byron Howard, both of them replaced Chris Sanders who was the original director. [4]
In July 2010, it was reported by various sources that Williams would direct King of the Elves based on the story by Philip K. Dick. [5] [6] [7] However, in 2012, it was revealed that Williams had joined another Walt Disney Animation film, Big Hero 6 , as a co-director inspired by the Marvel Comics of the same name. [8]
In November 2018, it was reported that Williams had left Disney and he would write and direct The Sea Beast for Netflix. [9] The Sea Beast was released on Netflix on July 8, 2022.
Year | Film | Credited as | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Director | Writer | Producer | Story Artist | Other | Voice | Notes | ||
1998 | Mulan | No | No | No | Yes | No | ||
2000 | The Emperor's New Groove | No | Story | No | Yes | No | ||
2002 | Lilo & Stitch | No | No | No | Yes | No | ||
2003 | Brother Bear | No | No | No | No | Yes | Additional Story | |
2005 | Chicken Little | No | No | No | Yes | No | ||
2007 | Meet the Robinsons | No | No | No | Additional | No | ||
2008 | Bolt | Yes | Screenplay | No | No | Yes | Additional Voices | Disney Story Trust - uncredited [10] |
2009 | The Princess and the Frog | No | No | No | No | No | ||
2010 | Tangled | No | No | No | Additional | No | ||
2011 | Winnie the Pooh | No | No | No | No | No | ||
2012 | Wreck-It Ralph | No | No | No | Additional | No | ||
2013 | Frozen | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Oaken | |
2014 | Big Hero 6 | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Creative Leadership | |
2016 | Zootopia | No | No | No | No | Yes | Additional Story, Creative Leadership | |
Moana | Co-Director | Story | No | No | Yes | Creative Leadership | ||
2018 | Ralph Breaks the Internet | No | No | Executive | Additional | Yes | ||
2019 | Frozen II | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Oaken (uncredited) | |
2021 | Raya and the Last Dragon | No | No | No | No | Yes | Additional Story | |
2022 | The Sea Beast | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Netflix Original Film |
Year | Title | Director | Writer | Executive Producer | Other | Voice | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2008 | Glago's Guest | Yes | Yes | No | No | ||
2009 | Super Rhino | No | No | Yes | No | ||
Prep & Landing | No | No | Yes | No | TV special | ||
2015 | Frozen Fever | No | No | No | Yes | Oaken | |
2016 | LEGO Frozen: Northern Lights | No | No | No | Yes | Episode: "Journey to the Lights" | |
2017 | Gone Fishing [11] | Co-Director | No | No | No | ||
Olaf's Frozen Adventure | No | No | No | Yes | Oaken | Featurette | |
2020 | Once Upon a Snowman | No | No | No | Yes | Disney+ Original Short Film |
Year | Title | Role |
---|---|---|
2012 | Paperman | Special Thanks |
2020 | The Willoughbys | |
2022 | Strange World | Very Special Thanks |
2023 | Nimona | Special Thanks |
Glen Keane is an American animator, director, author and illustrator. As a character animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios for 38 years (1974–2012), he worked on feature films including The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, Tarzan and Tangled. He received the 1992 Annie Award for character animation and the 2007 Winsor McCay Award for lifetime contribution to the field of animation. He was named a Disney Legend in 2013, a year after retiring from the studio.
Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene from its first synchronized sound cartoon, Steamboat Willie (1928). Founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney, it is the oldest-running animation studio in the world. It is currently organized as a division of Walt Disney Studios and is headquartered at the Roy E. Disney Animation Building at the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California. Since its foundation, the studio has produced 62 feature films, from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) to Wish (2023), and hundreds of short films.
Bolt is a 2008 American animated action-adventure film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Chris Williams and Byron Howard and produced by Clark Spencer, from a screenplay written by Williams and Dan Fogelman. The film stars the voices of John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman, Mark Walton, Malcolm McDowell, James Lipton and Greg Germann. This was also one of the final film roles for Lipton before his death in 2020, the other being Igor, which was released the same year as Bolt.
Christopher Michael Sanders is an American filmmaker, animator, and voice actor. His credits include Lilo & Stitch (2002) and How to Train Your Dragon (2010), both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with Dean DeBlois, The Croods (2013) with Kirk DeMicco, and The Call of the Wild (2020). He is also known for creating the story behind Lilo & Stitch and for creating and voicing its latter title character in the film and its franchise.
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Glago's Guest is a Walt Disney Animation Studios computer-animated short film directed by Chris Williams. The film premiered at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in June 2008.
Prep & Landing is an American animated television special, based on an idea by Chris Williams at Walt Disney Animation Studios and developed by Kevin Deters and Stevie Wermers-Skelton into a half-hour Christmas special. It first aired on December 8, 2009, on ABC.
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