Chris Buck Biography

A native of Wichita, Kansas, Chris Buck made his feature directing debut with Disney's blockbuster animated feature, Tarzan (1999).

Having studied character animation at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), one of Chris's first major jobs was as an animator on the Disney movie The Fox and the Hound (1981). Work on films such as Oliver & Company (1988) and The Little Mermaid (1989) followed, and he received an Annie nomination for Best Individual Achievement for Animation for creating Grandmother Willow in Pocahontas (1995).

He performed experimental animation for The Rescuers Down Under and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, and worked as a supervising animator on Walt Disney Pictures' 2004 feature Home on the Range.

Other accomplishments include a stint at Hyperion Pictures, where Chris helped develop several films and served as a directing animator on the feature Bebe's Kids. He also joined creative forces with director Tim Burton to help storyboard Disney's live-action featurette Frankenweenie. Buck later worked with Burton again as directing animator on the Brad Bird-directed "Family Dog" episode of Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories and as director of the subsequent primetime animated series.

Chris's career also spans a number of animated commercials (including some with the Keebler elves) and he also taught character animation classes at CalArts.

He went on to co-direct the animated feature Surf's Up (2007) with Ash Brannon. The movie features penguins competing in a world surfing championship.

However, it was when he teamed up with Jennifer Lee for the Disney animated feature Frozen (2013) that Buck hit a home run. The film earned U.S. $1.2 billion, won two Oscars and was the inspiration for a wide range of merchandise. The return of Elsa, Anna, Olaf and their friends took place in the form of a feature film sequel, Frozen II, in 2019.

Chris is married to sound engineer Shelley Rae Hinton, with whom he has three children.

Filmography:
Frozen II (2019)
Frozen (2013)
Surf's Up (2007)
Tarzan (1999)