Chris Williams (director)

Chris Williams (born December 19, 1968) is a Canadian American animator, film director, screenwriter and voice actor who directed the short film Glago's Guest and co-directed Bolt, which was nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2009, Big Hero 6, which won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2015 and Moana, which was nominated for two Oscars for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song in 2016.

Chris Williams
Born	(1968-12-19) December 19, 1968 Missouri, U.S.[1]
Alma mater	University of Waterloo Sheridan College
Occupation	Animator, film director, screenwriter, voice actor
Years active	1996–present
Employer	Walt Disney Animation Studios (1998–2018) Netflix (2018–present)
Notable work	Glago's Guest Bolt Big Hero 6 Moana

Early life

Williams was born in Missouri and spent the first 25 years of his life in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, where his father was the Director of Counselling Services at the University of Waterloo.[1] Williams graduated from the University of Waterloo with a degree in Fine Arts[2] and then enrolled in the animation program at Sheridan College, Oakville, Ontario. Upon graduation from Sheridan, he was recruited by Disney and moved to Los Angeles.[1]

Career

Williams previously worked in the story department for Mulan (1998), The Emperor's New Groove (2000) and Frozen (2013), in which he also voiced the character Oaken. In February 2007, it was announced he would direct American Dog,[3] which was re-titled Bolt (2008) and was later joined by Byron Howard, both of them replaced Chris Sanders who was the original director.[4]

In July 2010, it was reported by various sources that Williams would direct King of the Elves based on the story by Philip K. Dick.[5][6][7] However, in 2012, it was revealed that Williams had joined another Walt Disney Animation film, Big Hero 6, as a co-director inspired by the Marvel Comics of the same name.[8]

In November 2018, it was reported that Williams had left Disney and would direct Jacob and the Sea Beast for Netflix.[9]

Filmography

Year	Title	Credits	Notes
1998	Mulan	Story
2000	The Emperor's New Groove	Story
2002	Lilo & Stitch	Story Supervisor
2003	Brother Bear	Story
2005	Chicken Little	Story Artist
2007	Meet the Robinsons	Additional Story Artist
2008	Glago's Guest	Director / Writer
	Bolt	Co-director / Screenplay	With Byron Howard
2009	G-Force	Additional Story Material
2010	Tangled	Additional Story Artist
2013	Frozen	Story Artist / Oaken (voice)
2014	Big Hero 6	Co-director	With Don Hall
2015	Frozen Fever	Oaken (voice)
2016	Zootopia	Story
	Moana	Co-director / Story	With John Musker, Ron Clements, and Don Hall[10][11]
	LEGO Frozen: Northern Lights	Oaken (voice)
2017	Olaf's Frozen Adventure	Oaken (voice)
2018	Ralph Breaks the Internet	Additional Story Artist / Executive producer	with Jennifer Lee and John Lasseter

References

1. Knelman, Martin (February 25, 2009). "Bolt from blue took Canadian to Oscars". The Star. Archived from the original on December 25, 2013. Retrieved December 24, 2013.
2. "University of Waterloo alumnus wins Oscar for Big Hero 6". Waterloo Stories. University of Waterloo. Archived from the original on 2015-02-23. Retrieved 2015-02-23.
3. Fritz, Ben (February 8, 2007). "'Toy Story' sequel set". Variety. Archived from the original on December 26, 2014. Retrieved December 9, 2014.
4. Sciretta, Peter (June 20, 2008). "Bolt Teaser Poster; A Look Back at American Dog". /Film. Archived from the original on December 13, 2014. Retrieved December 9, 2014.
5. "King of the Elves being reworked; Disney plans far ahead". Filmonic. August 6, 2010. Archived from the original on January 4, 2012. Retrieved December 24, 2011.
6. Graser, Marc; Sneider, Jeff (June 29, 2011). "Disney revives 'King of the Elves' toon". Variety. Archived from the original on April 12, 2013. Retrieved June 30, 2011.
7. Chitwood, Adam (June 29, 2011). "Disney Sets HORRIBLE BOSSES Scribe to Pen KING OF THE ELVES". Collider. Archived from the original on July 26, 2015. Retrieved December 9, 2014.
8. Giardina, Carolyn (December 31, 2013). "Chris Williams To Co-Direct Disney Animation's 'Big Hero 6' With Don Hall". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on January 2, 2014. Retrieved December 31, 2013.
9. Lang, Brent (November 5, 2018). "Netflix Backs 'Jacob and the Sea Beast' From 'Big Hero 6' Director Chris Williams (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on November 5, 2018. Retrieved April 10, 2019.
10. Sciretta, Peter (June 29, 2016). "Disney Animation's Big Announcement Coming Tomorrow, Here's What It Could Be". /Film. Archived from the original on August 18, 2016. Retrieved August 21, 2016.
11. "Moana (Trailer H)". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on October 1, 2016. Retrieved September 27, 2016.

External links

• Chris Williams on IMDb