Rex Grignon | |
---|---|
Born | June 11, 1962 |
Occupation | Co-founder |
Employer | Nimble Collective |
Rex Grignon (born June 11, 1962) is a Canadian-American animation director and entrepreneur. Grignon received his animation training at Sheridan College [1] where he graduated in 1984. He then earned his bachelor's degree in 1985 from New York Institute of Technology. He worked in Europe for two years as a staff animator and Art Director in Frankfurt and Paris, mostly working on early 3D commercials and broadcast graphics. Grignon moved to the U.S. in 1988 where he worked for Pacific Data Images as a Senior Animator and co-founded PDI's Character Animation Group with Tim Johnson.
After founding the Character Animation Group, he worked for two years with Jim Henson and Frank Oz at the Jim Henson Company as lead animator. Grignon briefly left PDI to work at Pixar as an animator on Toy Story. After PDI was bought by DreamWorks Animation, Grignon worked as the Head of Character Animation on such films as Antz , Shrek , Madagascar, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa , [2] and Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted . [3]
In 2006 Grignon was accepted into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences—the Oscars—for his contributions to the field of animation.
He was awarded the first ever Distinguished Alumnus Award, Animation from Sheridan College in 2007 and won the 2013 Premier's Award for Creative Arts and Design. [4]
Grignon was the lead designer of Premo, the animation software developed at DreamWorks Animation. In 2018 Premo won a Technical Achievement Award [5] from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Grignon is currently the CEO of Nimble Collective, which he co-founded in 2014 with DreamWorks alumni Jason Schleifer, Bruce Wilson and Scott LaFleur.
Year | Title | Credits |
---|---|---|
1989 | The Jim Henson Hour (TV series) | animator |
1991 | Muppet*Vision 3-D (short) | lead animator |
The Last Halloween (TV short) | lead animator | |
1994 | Angels in the Outfield | animator |
1995 | Toy Story | anmator |
1998 | Antz | supervising animator |
2000 | CyberWorld (short) | chief animator |
2001 | Shrek | additional supervising animator |
Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party (video short) | supervising animator | |
2003 | Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas | CG character animator |
2005 | Madagascar | head of character animation |
The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper (short) | head of character animation | |
2008 | Kung Fu Panda | additional animation |
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa | head of character animation | |
2012 | Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted | head of character animation |
2014 | Rocky and Bullwinkle (short) | supervising animator |
2017 | Coin Operated (short) | animation supervisor |
Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, formerly Sheridan College of Applied Arts and Technology, is a public polytechnic institute partnered with private Canadian College of Technology and Trades operating campuses across the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, Canada.
Conrad Vernon is an American voice actor, director, writer, and storyboard artist best known for his work on the DreamWorks animated film series Shrek as well as other films such as Monsters vs. Aliens, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, and Penguins of Madagascar. He also co-directed non-DreamWorks animated films such as Sony Pictures' Sausage Party and MGM’s The Addams Family.
DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA) (also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios or simply DreamWorks) is an American animation studio owned by Universal Pictures, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The studio has released a total of 48 feature films, including several of the highest-grossing animated films of all time, with Shrek 2 (2004) having been the highest at the time of its release. Its first film, Antz, was released on October 2, 1998, and its latest film, Kung Fu Panda 4, was released on March 8, 2024. They have an upcoming theatrical slate of films, which includes The Wild Robot on September 27, 2024, Dog Man on January 31, 2025, The Bad Guys 2 on August 1, 2025, and Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie on September 26, 2025.
Pacific Data Images (PDI) was an American visual effects and computer animation production company based in Redwood City, California, that was bought by DreamWorks SKG in 2000. It was renamed PDI/DreamWorks and was owned by DreamWorks Animation.
James Baxter is a British character animator. He was first known for his work on several Walt Disney Animation Studios films, including various characters in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Belle in Beauty and the Beast, Rafiki in The Lion King, and Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Eric Darnell is an American animator, storyboard artist, director, screenwriter, songwriter and occasional voice actor best known for co-directing Antz with Tim Johnson, as well as co-directing and co-writing Madagascar, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa and Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted with Tom McGrath, as well as the spin off Penguins of Madagascar (2014) with Simon J. Smith.
Tim Johnson is an American animator, film director, film producer, and television director. Johnson is best known for directing the DreamWorks Animation films Antz, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, Over the Hedge, and Home.
Raman Hui Shing-Ngai is a Hong Kong animator, film director, and film producer. He is best known for directing the films Monster Hunt and Monster Hunt 2.
Thomas McGrath is an American voice actor, animator and filmmaker. He is known for the DreamWorks animated film Madagascar, which he co-wrote and directed with Eric Darnell while voicing the character of Skipper the Penguin. The film spawned two direct sequels. along with a spin-off animated series and film based on the penguins in which McGrath reprised his role as Skipper. McGrath has also directed other DreamWorks animated films such as Megamind and The Boss Baby and its 2021 sequel.
Madagascar is a 2005 American animated survival comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation SKG and PDI/DreamWorks, and distributed by DreamWorks Pictures. The film was directed by Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath and written by Darnell, McGrath, Mark Burton, and Billy Frolick. The film stars the voices of Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer, and Andy Richter. It centers around a group of animals from the Central Park Zoo who find themselves stranded on the island of Madagascar and must adjust to living in the wild.
The Penguins of Madagascar is an American animated television series produced by DreamWorks Animation and co-produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studio. It stars nine characters from DreamWorks' animated film Madagascar: the penguins Skipper, Rico, Kowalski, and Private ; the lemurs King Julien, Maurice, and Mort ; and Mason and Phil the chimpanzees. Characters new to the series include Marlene the otter and a zookeeper named Alice. It is the first Nicktoon co-produced with DreamWorks Animation. The series was executive-produced by Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle, who were the creators of the animated series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command and Disney Channel's Kim Possible.
Samantha Youssef is a Canadian character animator, and animation director. She has worked in both feature films and video games for Walt Disney Animation, Filmax, and Ubisoft.
Simon James Smith is a British animator, film director, and voice actor. He is best known for his work at DreamWorks Animation. Smith came to PDI/DreamWorks in 1997 as head of layout for the company's feature film division. A CG animation veteran with nearly 35 years of experience, Smith supervised the layout department on PDI/DreamWorks' first animated feature Antz, serving as the Head of Layout in Shrek. He then directed the Universal Studios Theatre experience Shrek 4-D, followed by the short Far Far Away Idol. His first feature film as a director was in 2007, with Bee Movie. He then directed another DVD short, Megamind: The Button of Doom, before co-directing, with Eric Darnell, the comedy/spy action spin-off from the Madagascar series, Penguins of Madagascar, the mini series "Baymax Dreams" for Disney, and is executive producer "Batwheels" for Warner Bros.
David Soren is a Canadian director, writer, voice actor, and storyboard artist at DreamWorks Animation. His most notable work are TV specials based on the Madagascar film franchise: Merry Madagascar and Madly Madagascar. He directed the 2013 animated feature film Turbo, which is based on his own original concept, as well as the 2017 animated film Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie based on Dav Pilkey's Captain Underpants book series.
Nickson Fong is a Singaporean computer graphics artist and the first Singaporean to receive an Academy Award.
Jerry Beck is an American animation historian, author, blogger, and video producer.
Rahul Chandrakant Thakkar is an Indian-American software inventor who was one of the 33 recipients of Academy Award for scientific and technical achievement in 2016. Thakkar won the Academy Award for creating the "groundbreaking design" of DreamWorks Animation Media Review System, a scalable digital film review platform.
Amanda Strong is a animator and filmmaker from Vancouver, Canada. She has exhibited work and her films have been screened at festivals worldwide, including Cannes Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival, and the Ottawa International Animation Festival. Strong self-identifies as Michif (Métis).
Jason Schleifer is an American animator, character technical director, and entrepreneur. Schleifer started his career at Alias/Wavefront where he was a product specialist during the development of Maya. His technical expertise in character rigging led him to work as a character technical director and eventually animation lead at Weta Digital where he helped create and animate the character, Gollum for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. In 2003 Schleifer moved back to the U.S. to work at PDI/DreamWorks in Redwood City, CA where he became Head of Character Animation and worked on feature films including Madagascar, Over the Hedge, Megamind, and Mr. Peabody & Sherman.
Simon Otto is a Swiss film director and animator. He is best known for working as the Head of Character Animation of the Oscar-nominated How to Train Your Dragon film trilogy for DreamWorks Animation.