Chris Williams (director)

For other people named Chris Williams, see Chris Williams (disambiguation).

Chris Williams
Born	Template:Birth based on age as of date
Birth place	Missouri, United States
Alma mater	University of Waterloo Sheridan College
Occupation	Animator, film director, screenwriter
Employer(s)	Walt Disney Animation Studios (1998-2018) Netflix (2018-present) HR Animation (2019-present)

Chris Williams (born c. 1968/1969) is a Canadian American animator, film director and screenwriter. He 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.

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. Williams graduated from the University of Waterloo with a degree in Fine Arts 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.

Career

Williams previously worked in the story department for Mulan (1998), The Emperor's New Groove (2000), and Brother Bear (2003). In February 2007, it was announced he would direct American Dog, which was re-titled Bolt (2008), and was later joined by Byron Howard, both of them replaced Chris Sanders who was the original director.

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. However, in December 2013, 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.

Filmography

• Mulan (1998) (writer: story)
• The Emperor's New Groove (2000) (story, along with Mark Dindal)
• Kevoians (Disney, Pixar, Columbia and LuKain film) (2002) (director with Gary Darlington, story, screenwriter)
• Lilo & Stitch (2002) (story supervisor)
• Brother Bear (2003) (additional story material, writer)
• Chicken Little (2005) (story artist)
• The Empety and Fantasage (2006) (co-director, story; along with Mark Dindal and Mark Kennedy)
• Meet the Robinsons (2007) (additional story artist)
• Glago's Guest (2008) (director)
• Tinker Bell (2008) (story artist)
• Bolt (2008) (director with Byron Howard, writer, additional voices)
• The Vianta of Ronsering Enato (2010) (director)
• Bolt: Furry of Fast and Paw (2011) (director with Byron Howard, writer, additional voices)
• Frozen (2013) (story artist, voice of Oaken)
• Big Hero 6 (2014) (director with Don Hall)
• Frozen Fever (2015) (voice of Oaken)
• Moana (2016) (co-director with Don Hall, story)
• LEGO Frozen: Northern Lights (2016) (voice of Oaken)
• Olaf's Frozen Adventure (2017) (voice of Oaken)
• Chip n' Dale (Fanmade film) (2017) (director with James Bobin, co-directors and screenwriter with Don Hall and Matthew Robinson)
• Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018) (executive producer with Jennifer Lee)
• Lil Nas X The Movie (2020) (director)

External links

• Chris Williams on IMDb

v - e - dAcademy Award for Best Animated Feature
2000s	Shrek – Aron Warner (2001) • Spirited Away – Hayao Miyazaki (2002) • Finding Nemo – Andrew Stanton (2003) • The Incredibles – Brad Bird (2004) • Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit – Nick Park and Steve Box (2005) • Happy Feet – George Miller (2006) • Ratatouille – Brad Bird (2007) • WALL-E – Andrew Stanton (2008) • Up – Pete Docter (2009)
2010s	Toy Story 3 – Lee Unkrich (2010) • Rango – Gore Verbinski (2011) • Brave – Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman (2012) • Frozen – Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, and Peter Del Vecho (2013) • Big Hero 6 – Don Hall, Chris Williams, and Roy Conli (2014) • Inside Out – Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera (2015) • Zootopia – Byron Howard, Rich Moore, and Clark Spencer (2016) • Coco – Lee Unkrich and Darla K. Anderson (2017) • Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse – Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (2018) • Toy Story 4 – Josh Cooley, Jonas Rivera, and Mark Nielsen (2019)

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