Multi-talented animator Andrew Stanton made his debut in the top directing spot this year as the director of the animated hit Finding Nemo, from Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, in addition to screenplay credit and supplying the voice of the character "Crush." Finding Nemo has already grossed more than $300 million at the box office in the United States.

Mr. Stanton served as co-writer, co-director, executive producer, and story artist on all four of the previous Disney/Pixar animated features: Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, and Monsters, Inc. In the U.S. alone, those four films have grossed a total of more than $800 million at the box office.

Mr. Stanton has been a major creative force at Pixar Animation Studios since 1990, when he became the second animator to join the Studio's group of computer animation pioneers. He was one of four screenwriters to receive an Oscar® nomination in 1996 for his contribution to Toy Story, and went on to receive credit as a screenwriter on every subsequent Pixar film. In addition, he served as a co-director on the 1998 Disney/Pixar feature A Bug's Life, and was the executive producer of the 2001 Oscar®-nominated hit Monsters, Inc.

A native of Rockport, Massachusetts, Mr. Stanton earned a BFA in character animation from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), where he completed two student films: A Story -- a tale of a boy named Melvin, a dinosaur named Ted, and a killer clown with a goon squad named Randy -- and Somewhere in the Arctic.

In the 1980s, he launched his professional career in Los Angeles animating for Bill Kroyer's Kroyer Films studio and writing for Ralph Bakshi's production of Mighty Mouse, The New Adventures (1987). In 1990, he joined John Lasseter at his fledgling commercial production company, Pixar, and served as directing animator and director on numerous commercials.

Mr. Stanton and Mr. Lasseter co-directed the Luxo Jr. shorts Surprise and Light and Heavy for Sesame Street before beginning preproduction on Toy Story in the early 1990s.

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