Andrew Stanton

Born: December 3 1965

Where: Rockport, Massachusetts, USA
The writer-director and mainstay of Pixar Studios is probably best known for the Oscar-winning computer animation Finding Nemo.

He also enjoys a voice talent sideline and has provided speech for Hopper in A Bug's Life, Evil Emperor Zurg in Toy Story 2 and Crush in Finding Nemo.

He graduated in character animation from the California Institute of the Arts before working as an animator for Kroyer Films in the 1980s.

At the end of the decade, he also worked as a writer for animation legend Ralph Bakshi's Mighty Mouse, the New Adventures.

In 1990, he was the second animator (and ninth employee overall) to join Lasseter's fledgling Pixar Studios.

His working relationship with Lasseter was cemented when he animated the Luxo Jr shorts Surprise and Light and Heavy.

He went on to serve as writer and character designer for Pixar's 1995 freshman effort, Toy Story, which went on to became a family classic.

Subsequent successes included writing for Monsters Inc and Toy Story 2 before he directed Finding Nemo in 2003.

Stanton returned to the director's chair in 2003 with what was perhaps Pixar's most popular film to date, Finding Nemo.