Jerome Ranft

Last updated
Jerome Ranft
Alma mater Fullerton College
California College of the Arts (BFA)
Occupations
  • Character sculptor
  • voice actor
Years active1993–present
Employer Pixar Animation Studios (1997–present)
SpouseAdrienne Ranft
Relatives Joe Ranft (brother)
Sue Barry (sister-in-law)

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. [1]

Contents

Career

Ranft attended Fullerton College and the California College of the Arts. [2] He graduated in 1991. His first job out of school was on the Tim Burton-produced classic The Nightmare Before Christmas . [3] Ranft joined Pixar in 1997 working as a character sculptor on Geri's Game (1997) and later on Pixar's second film A Bug's Life (1998), Toy Story 2 (1999), Monsters, Inc. (2001), Finding Nemo (2003), Cars (2006), Ratatouille (2007), Toy Story 3 (2010), and Brave (2012). He stated in an interview that he does not fall in love with just one sculpture he made but all of them and that for the character of Sulley he created over 30 different sculptures. He also provided the voice of the character Gamma in Up (2009) and Dug's Special Mission , Red in Cars Toons: Tales from Radiator Springs and Cars 3 , the Mover in Henry Selick's Coraline , as well as Jacques in Finding Dory (2016), [4] the sequel to Finding Nemo (2003), in which his older brother Joe voiced the same character. Before joining Pixar, Jerome served as a character sculptor for Disney's James and the Giant Peach (1996).

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pixar</span> American computer animation studio (founded 1986)

Pixar Animation Studios, known simply as Pixar, is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Since 2006, Pixar has been a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, a division of Disney Entertainment, a segment of the Walt Disney Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Ratzenberger</span> American actor (born 1947)

John Dezso Ratzenberger is an American actor. He is best known for playing the character Cliff Clavin on the comedy series Cheers, for which he earned two Primetime Emmy nominations. Ratzenberger also played the role in the short-lived spin-off The Tortellis and in an episode of Wings, which was made by the same creators. He has voiced various characters in several Pixar animated feature films including Hamm in the Toy Story franchise, The Abominable Snowman in the Monsters, Inc. franchise, Mack in the Cars franchise, The Underminer in The Incredibles franchise, Fritz in the Inside Out franchise, and many others.

<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. Directed by Andrew Stanton and co-directed by Lee Unkrich, the screenplay was written by Stanton, Bob Peterson, and David Reynolds from 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.

<i>A Bugs Life</i> 1998 American animated film

A Bug's Life is a 1998 American animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is Pixar's second feature-length film, following Toy Story (1995). The film was directed by John Lasseter, co-directed by Andrew Stanton, and produced by Darla K. Anderson and Kevin Reher, from a screenplay written by Stanton, Donald McEnery, and Bob Shaw, and a story conceived by Lasseter, Stanton, and Joe Ranft. It stars the voices of Dave Foley, Kevin Spacey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Hayden Panettiere. In the film, a misfit ant named Flik, looks for "tough warriors" to save his ant colony from a protection racket run by a gang of grasshoppers. However, the "warriors" he brings back were a troupe of Circus Bugs. The film's plot was initially inspired by Aesop's fable The Ant and the Grasshopper.

<i>Cars</i> (film) 2006 Pixar film

Cars is a 2006 American animated sports comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The film was directed by John Lasseter, co-directed by Joe Ranft, produced by Darla K. Anderson, and written by Lasseter, Ranft, Dan Fogelman, Kiel Murray, Phil Lorin, and Jorgen Klubien based on a story by Lasseter, Ranft, and Klubien. The film stars an ensemble voice cast of Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt, Larry the Cable Guy, Tony Shalhoub, Cheech Marin, Michael Wallis, George Carlin, Paul Dooley, Jenifer Lewis, Guido Quaroni, Michael Keaton, Katherine Helmond, John Ratzenberger and Richard Petty, while race car drivers Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mario Andretti, Michael Schumacher and car enthusiast Jay Leno voice themselves.

<i>Toy Story 3</i> 2010 Pixar film

Toy Story 3 is a 2010 American animated comedy-drama film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is the third installment in the Toy Story series and the sequel to Toy Story 2 (1999). It was directed by Lee Unkrich, the editor of the first two films and the co-director of Toy Story 2, produced by Darla K. Anderson, and written by Michael Arndt, while Unkrich wrote the story along with John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton, respectively, director and co-writer of the first two films. The film's ensemble voice cast includes Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Estelle Harris, Jeff Pidgeon, Jodi Benson, John Morris, Laurie Metcalf, and R. Lee Ermey. In Toy Story 3, Andy Davis (Morris), now a teenager, is going to college. Woody (Hanks), Buzz Lightyear (Allen), and the other toys are accidentally donated to Sunnyside Daycare, a daycare center, by Andy's mother (Metcalf), and the toys must decide where their loyalties lie.

<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">Joe Ranft</span> American screenwriter (1960–2005)

Joseph Henry Ranft was an American animator, screenwriter, and voice actor. He worked for Pixar Animation Studios and Disney at Walt Disney Animation Studios and Disney Television Animation. His younger brother Jerome Ranft is a sculptor who also worked on several Pixar films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Circle Seven Animation</span> Former division of Walt Disney Feature Animation

Circle Seven Animation was a short-lived division of Walt Disney Feature Animation specializing in computer-generated imagery (CGI) animation and was originally intended to create sequels to the Disney-owned Pixar properties, leading rivals and animators to derisively nickname the division "Pixaren't". The studio did not release any films during its existence, nor were any of its scripts used by Pixar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Peterson (filmmaker)</span> American animator, director and writer (born 1961)

Robert Peterson is an American animator, director, screenwriter, storyboard supervisor and voice actor who works at Pixar. He was hired at Pixar by Roger Gould in 1994 as an animator for commercials, before subsequently becoming an animator on Toy Story (1995). He was the co-director and co-writer for Up (2009), in which he also voiced the characters Dug and Alpha. His work as a writer for the films Up and Finding Nemo (2003) earned him nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He was also a co-writer on Cars 3 (2017) and won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Form Animated Program for his work on Forky Asks A Question (2020).

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.

Dory (<i>Finding Nemo</i>) Fictional character

Dory is a fictional blue tang fish and a major character of Pixar's animated film series Finding Nemo. She suffers from short-term memory loss, which often causes frustration to Marlin, especially when his son Nemo is in danger. However, her childlike optimism and ability to communicate different languages from both humans and whales have helped both her and Marlin advance their quest to find Nemo.

<i>Cars</i> (franchise) Disney media franchise

Cars is an American animated film series and Disney media franchise set in a world populated by anthropomorphic vehicles created by John Lasseter, Joe Ranft and Jorgen Klubien. The franchise began with the 2006 film, Cars, produced by Pixar and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The film was followed by the sequels Cars 2 (2011) and Cars 3 (2017). The now-defunct Disneytoon Studios produced the two spin-off films Planes (2013) and Planes: Fire & Rescue (2014).

<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 and released by 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 a 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.

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

<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.

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.

References

  1. "'Finding Dory' release date: Sequel swimming into our hearts June 2016". MNR Daily. July 22, 2015. Archived from the original on October 13, 2019. Retrieved February 2, 2016.
  2. Ota, Tyrone-Mikaele (June 2, 2015). "For Pixar Artist, Success began at a Community College". Kapiʻolani Community College . Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  3. "For Pixar Artist, Success began at a Community College - Kapi'o Voices and Views".
  4. "Finding Dory Press Kit" (PDF). wdsmediafile.com. The Walt Disney Studios. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 8, 2019. Retrieved June 13, 2016.