Pete Docter

One of the most prominent creative forces in the Pixar-led animation renaissance that swept through Hollywood in the 1990s and early-mid 2000s, Pete Docter first gravitated to animation at the age of eight by creating his own animated flip-books. That experience gave the blossoming artist a deep-seated love of illustration, and he received a formal education in that arena by attending the character animation college program at Valencia-based CalArts. Docter excelled in that venue and attracted attention for his widely-praised student shorts, including Next Door (for which he won the student equivalent of an Academy Award), then after graduation went to work for Disney, the Minneapolis-based Reelworks, Bajus-Jones Film Corporation and Bob Rogers & Company. Pixar, however, brought about Docter's crowning achievements. He served as animator and screenwriter on 1995's Toy Story, served as storyboard artist on the 1998 A Bug's Life and authored the screen story for the 1999 Toy Story 2, before authoring the story and co-directing the 2001 Monsters, Inc., for which he also authored the story. In 2009, Docter directed the Pixar feature Up, about a septuagenarian who teams up with a wilderness ranger to fight a slew of monsters and supernatural beings.

In addition to his animation work for Pixar and other studios, Docter did a series of animated advertisements for brands and products including Life Savers and Tropicana Fruit Juice.

~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide