Andrew Stanton Biography

After graduating from CalArts in 1987, Andrew Stanton worked as a writer on the animated television series Mighty Mouse, the New Adventures (1987) as well as writing and directing his own animated short, A Story (1987), before being approached by Pixar Animation Studios to join them. One of his first jobs for Pixar was animating the short film Luxo Jr. in 'Surprise' and 'Light & Heavy' (1991).

The first major feature Stanton worked on was Toy Story (1995), as a character designer, story artist and writer, as well as providing several voices. His hard work and versatility paid off when along with the other writers he was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen category. The Toy Story writing team won also an Annie (animation) award for Best Individual Achievement: Writing in 1996.

On his next animated feature, A Bug's Life (1998), Stanton worked as a writer, story artist and co-director, as well as providing voices for several characters. The film won a number of awards, including a Blockbuster Entertainment award for Favorite Animated Family Movie in 1999.

Stanton single-handedly wrote and directed the animated feature Finding Nemo (2003), about a young fish whose father sets out to rescue him when he is stolen from his home in the Great Barrier Reef to live an office aquarium. The idea came to Stanton 11 years earlier in Vallejo when he took his small son to watch sharks swimming in a tank through a glass tunnel at Marine World. Stanton also voices the character Crush in the film. He recently decided to try his director's hand at something a little different. His film John Carter tells the story of a man who's transplanted to Mars to fight off 12-foot barbarians who are holding him prisoner.

Filmography:

John Carter (2012)
WALL.E (2008)
Finding Nemo (2003)
A Bug's Life (1998)