Gini Cruz Santos

Last updated
Gini Cruz Santos
Born1966 (age 5859) [1]
Pasay, Rizal, Philippines [2]
NationalityFilipino
Notable works
Dory on Finding Nemo
Awards Annie nomination (2003) [3]
VES nomination (2004) [4]

Gini Cruz Santos [5] is a Filipina animator at Pixar studios based in the San Francisco Bay Area. [6] [7] [8] She worked on numerous Pixar animation films including Toy Story 2 , [8] Monsters, Inc. , Finding Nemo , [9] A Bug's Life , [8] The Incredibles , [8] Ratatouille , [10] Toy Story 3 , [9] Up , [2] Lifted [11] and Brave . [12] She was nominated in 2004 for an Annie award for her detailed lifelike animation on Finding Nemo , [13] [14] and was nominated by the Visual Effects Society for an award for this project as well. [4]

Contents

Santos was born in Pasay in the Philippines. [2] She moved to Guam after age three but returned to study in the Philippines. [8] She studied Fine Arts at the University of Santo Tomas with a major in advertising. [8] She earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Computer Arts from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. [15]

Santos worked as an art director at an advertising agency. In 1996, she was hired by Pixar after submitting her short feature reel entitled The Eclipse without submitting her resume; [9] her reel focused on human relationships. Her animation of Dory, voiced by Ellen DeGeneres, on the film Finding Nemo was praised for integrating "fish movement, human movement, and facial expressions to make them look and feel like real characters". [14] She was the supervising animator on the Pixar short film entitled Lifted . [10] [11] She was lauded for her work in Brave . [12] She is sometimes described as a Pixnoy: a Filipino-American or Fil-am artist working at Pixar. [1] [2] [7]

Filmography

Related Research Articles

<i>Finding Nemo</i> 2003 film by Andrew Stanton

Finding Nemo is a 2003 American animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The film was directed by Andrew Stanton, co-directed by Lee Unkrich, and produced by Graham Walters, from a screenplay written by Stanton, Bob Peterson, and David Reynolds, based on a story by Stanton. The film stars the voices of Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander Gould, Willem Dafoe, and Geoffrey Rush. It tells the story of an overprotective clownfish named Marlin (Brooks) who, along with a forgetful regal blue tang named Dory (DeGeneres), searches for his missing son Nemo (Gould). Along the way, Marlin learns to take risks and comes to terms with Nemo taking care of himself.

Dan Lee was a Canadian-American animator, best known as the character designer of Nemo, the title character from Finding Nemo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Stanton</span> American filmmaker (born 1965)

Andrew Ayers Stanton is an American filmmaker and voice actor based at Pixar, which he joined in 1990. His film work includes co-writing and co-directing Pixar's A Bug's Life (1998), directing Finding Nemo (2003) and its sequel Finding Dory (2016), WALL-E (2008), and the live-action film, Disney's John Carter (2012), and co-writing all five and directing the upcoming latter in Toy Story films (1995–2026) and Monsters, Inc. (2001).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronnie del Carmen</span> Filipino-American storyboard artist (born 1959)

Ronaldo del Carmen is a Filipino writer, director, storyboard artist, illustrator, and voice actor. He co-directed and co-wrote the story for the Pixar film Inside Out (2015), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, the first Filipino to do so.

William Everett "Bud" Luckey was an American artist, cartoonist, illustrator, musician, singer and voice actor. He worked at the animation studio Pixar, where he worked as a character designer on a number of films, including Toy Story, Toy Story 2, A Bug's Life, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, Cars and Ratatouille. Luckey was also the voice of Rick Dicker in The Incredibles, Chuckles the Clown in Toy Story 3 and as Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh (2011).

Ralph Eggleston was an American animator, art director, storyboard artist, and production designer at Pixar Animation Studios. He won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for For the Birds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Reeves (animator)</span> Canadian animator and technical director

William "Bill" Reeves is a Canadian animator and technical director known for working with John Lasseter on the animated shorts Luxo Jr. and The Adventures of André and Wally B.

James Ford Murphy is an American animator. He started his career as an art director for Jockey which displaying layouts for the commercials of company’s underwear. And then, he later worked as an animator for commercials including Little Caesars in Calabash animation studio before he left to become an animator for video game, Torin’s Passage and afterwards move to his current company at Pixar. He is now the head of animation at Pixar Animation Studios. He directed the 2014 short film Lava.

Doug Sweetland is an American animator and filmmaker. He wrote and directed the Pixar short film Presto (2008), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.

Carlos Baena is a professional animator and now a cofounder of the online school Animation Mentor, which was started in March 2005. It was the first post-secondary school that helped students to pursue a career in animation. At the school, students work with mentors from major studios in a production-style environment, and graduate with a professional demo reel.

<i>Finding Dory</i> 2016 film by Andrew Stanton

Finding Dory is a 2016 American animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Andrew Stanton, co-directed by Angus MacLane, produced by Lindsey Collins, and written by Stanton and Victoria Strouse. The second installment to the Finding Nemo franchise, the film is both a sequel and spin-off following the events of Finding Nemo (2003). Ellen DeGeneres and Albert Brooks reprise their roles from the first film, with Hayden Rolence, Ed O'Neill, Kaitlin Olson, Ty Burrell, Diane Keaton and Eugene Levy joining the cast. The film focuses on the amnesiac fish Dory (DeGeneres), who journeys to be reunited with her parents.

<i>Finding Nemo</i> (franchise) Film series and media franchise

Finding Nemo is a CGI animated film series and Disney media franchise that began with the 2003 film of the same name, produced by Pixar and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The original film was followed by a standalone sequel, Finding Dory, released in 2016. Both films were directed by Andrew Stanton. The film series received widespread critical acclaim from critics and audiences with two films released to-date, the series has grossed $1.9 billion worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angus MacLane</span> American animator (born 1975)

Angus MacLane is an American animator, filmmaker and voice actor, best known for his work at Pixar Animation Studios. He co-directed the film Finding Dory (2016) and made his solo feature directorial debut with the Toy Story spin-off film Lightyear (2022). MacLane is also a Lego enthusiast and created the CubeDudes building format and designed a LEGO WALL-E that has become an official set from The Lego Group.

Jerome Ranft is an American character sculptor and voice actor for Pixar Animation Studios. He is the younger brother of the late Pixar story artist Joe Ranft.

Wonderful World of Animation is a nighttime show at Disney's Hollywood Studios. The show is a celebration of all Disney animation, beginning with Mickey Mouse. It premiered on May 1, 2019, as part of the park's 30th anniversary celebration, replacing Disney Movie Magic.

Jim Capobianco is an American film director, animator and screenwriter. He has worked as a story artist and storyboard artist for films such as The Lion King (1994), Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), A Bug's Life (1998), Toy Story 2 (1999), Monsters, Inc. (2001), Finding Nemo (2003), Up (2009), Inside Out (2015), and Finding Dory (2016).

Shawn P. Krause is an animator of Pixar Animation Studios and once a Creative Director of Animation and Story at Spire Animation Studios.

References

  1. 1 2 Bert Sulat Jr., July 15, 2007, Philippine Star, There's a rat in my ratatouille, Accessed June 12, 2014
  2. 1 2 3 4 Janet Nepales, Female Network, June 24, 2010, "Pixnoy" (Pinay Working at Pixar) Animates Toy Story 3: Janet talks to Gini Cruz Santos, a Filipina animator for Pixar's popular sequel, Accessed June 12, 2014
  3. 31st Annual Annie Awards, 31st Annual Annie Award Nominees and Winners (2003), Accessed June 12, 2014, "... Character Animation... Gini Santos Finding Nemo..."
  4. 1 2 Visual Effects Society, 2004, 2nd Annual VES Awards Archived 2014-06-13 at archive.today , (VES= Visual Effects Society), Accessed June 12, 2014, "...Outstanding Character Animation in an Animated Motion Picture... Finding Nemo 'Inside the Whale' ... Gini Santos..."
  5. Philippine Daily Inquirer, August 18, 2003, It's 'Gini' Cruz Santos, Accessed June 12, 2014, "...Her complete name is Virginia 'Gini' Cruz Santos..."
  6. Beck, Jerry (2007). Animated Movie Guide : The Ultimate Illustrated Reference to Cartoon, Stop-Motion and Computer-Generated Feature Films . Chicago, IL, USA: Chicago Review Press. p.  84. ISBN   9781556525919.
  7. 1 2 Staff reporters, July 11, 2012, Asian Week, San Francisco Book Launch of My Filipino Connection – The Philippines in Hollywood Archived 2015-04-01 at the Wayback Machine , Accessed June 12, 2014, "... “Pixnoys” – top Filam talents at Pixar... Gini Cruz Santos..."
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Nov 17, 2004, Levent Ozler, Dexigner, Gini Cruz Santos: An Incredible Pinay Animator, Accessed June 11, 2014, "...Virginia "Gini" Cruz Santos ... "Toy Story 2," "A Bug's Life," "Finding Nemo" and "The Incredibles" to life. ..."
  9. 1 2 3 Kristine A. Caguiat, July 5, 2011, Juice, The All Stars of Philippine Animation: Gini Cruz Santos, Accessed June 12, 2014, "...Gini Santos ... solely responsible for the lovable Dory character in Finding Nemo..."
  10. 1 2 Gini Santos (Pixar Shorts) Interview Archived 2014-06-13 at archive.today , Accessed June 12, 2014, "...Gini Santos was the supervising animator on the latest Pixar short film, Lifted...."
  11. 1 2 Barbara Robertson, Volume: 30 Issue: 2 (Feb 2007), Computer Graphics magazine, Acorns and Aliens: Despite their focus on feature films, Pixar and Blue Sky Studios once again create Oscar-worthy short animations, Accessed June 12, 2014, "...animator Gini Santos.... "Lifted" supervising animator,..."
  12. 1 2 Ruben V. Nepales, Philippine Daily Inquirer, July 7, 2012, A great ‘Pilipino’ weekend, Accessed June 12, 2014, "... Gini Cruz Santos...first female animation supervisor..."
  13. Rick DeMott, January 9, 2004, ANIMATIONWorld via Animation World Network, , Accessed June 12, 2014, "...INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT CATEGORIES Character Animation ... Gini Santos... FINDING NEMO..."
  14. 1 2 Oct 23, 2009, Sean Howell, Yahoo! News, Profile of Gini Santos - Pixar Animator Brings Asian Flare and Female Perspective Archived 2014-06-13 at archive.today , Accessed June 12, 2014, "...she integrates the fish movement, human movement, and facial expressions..."
  15. "Among the Pixnoys at Pixar - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos". Inquirer. Archived from the original on 2010-06-21. Retrieved 2014-06-12.