Chris Wedge

John Christian Wedge (born March 20, 1957) is an American animated film director, producer, writer, cartoonist and voice actor, whose films include Ice Age (2002), Robots (2005), Epic (2013) and Monster Trucks (2016). He is a co-founder of the animation studio Blue Sky Studios and voices Scrat in the Ice Age franchise.
==Early life==
Wedge was born in Binghamton, New York. He became interested in animation when he was 12 years old: "Back then, there was a TV special about kids making cut-out animation in a workshop—as I recall it was Yellow Ball Workshop—it was a clear technique to follow and I followed it. That fascinated me and it got me started. It was so simple, effective and magical in outcome and I stuck with creating things throughout my childhood, teenage years and then college."
He attended Fayetteville-Manlius High School, graduating in 1975. He received his BFA in Film from State University of New York at Purchase in Purchase, New York in 1981, and subsequently earned his MA in computer graphics and art education at the Ohio State University. He has taught animation at the School of Visual Arts in New York City where he met his future film directing partner, Carlos Saldanha.
==Career==
In 1982, Wedge worked for MAGI/SynthaVision, where he was a principal animator on the Disney film Tron, credited as a scene programmer. Some of his other works include Where the Wild Things Are (1983), George Shrinks, The Brave Little Toaster (1987), and Santa Calls.
Wedge is co-founder and Vice President of Creative Development at Blue Sky Studios, one of the premier computer animation studios and producer of Wedge's films. He is the owner of WedgeWorks, a film production company founded by Wedge.
In the 1990s, he and his studio worked on CGI effects for the movies Alien Resurrection and Titan A.E.
In 1998, he won an Academy Award for the short animated film, Bunny. In 2002, Wedge directed Blue Sky Studios' first computer-animated film Ice Age and served as a producer for its sequels. He also voices Scrat in the film series, performing the character's "squeaks and squeals." In 2005, Wedge directed Robots, based on a story he created with William Joyce. In 2013 followed Epic, loosely based on Joyce's book, The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs.
In 2007, it was announced that Wedge would direct Hugo though he was subsequently replaced by Martin Scorsese. In 2009, it was reported that Wedge would direct an animated feature film adaptation of Will Wright's Spore, but since then there has been no further news about the film.
Wedge directed the science fiction/action film Monster Trucks (2016), with a $100 million budget, and starring Lucas Till and Jane Levy. Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger wrote the script for the film, produced by Mary Parent.
==Personal life==
Wedge lives in Katonah, New York with his wife Jeanne Markel. They have a daughter and a son, Sarah and Jack.
==Filmography==
===Director===
Year	Title 	Notes
1985	Tuber's Two-Step	Short film
1987	Balloon Guy 	Short film
1998	Bunny 	(Short Film) Academy Award for Best Animated Short FilmAlso writer
2002	Ice Age 	Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature
2005	Robots 	
2013	Epic 	
2017	Monster Trucks 	
===Producer===
Year	Title 	Notes
1990	The Mind's Eye 	Short film
2002	Gone Nutty 	Executive Producer
2006	Ice Age: The Meltdown 	Executive Producer
2006	No Time for Nuts 	Executive Producer
2008	Horton Hears a Who! 	Executive Producer
2008	Surviving Sid 	Short filmExecutive Producer
2009	Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs	Executive Producer
2011	Rio 	Executive Producer
2012	Ice Age: Continental Drift 	Executive Producer
2014	Rio 2 	Executive Producer
2016	Ice Age: Collision Course 	Executive Producer
2017	Ferdinand 	Executive Producer
2019	Spies in Disguise 	Executive Producer
===Animator===
Year	Title 	Notes
1982	Tron 	Principal Animator
1987	Balloon Guy 	Animator
1996	Joe's Apartment	Animation Director
===Writer===
Year	Title	Notes
1998	Bunny	
2013	Epic 	Story
===Actor===
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
2002	Ice Age 	Scrat, Dodo 	
2002	Gone Nutty 	Scrat 	Short film
2005	Robots 	Wonderbot, Phone Booth	
2005	Aunt Fanny's Tour of Booty 	Hacky 	Short film
2006	Ice Age: The Meltdown 	Scrat 	Main role
2006	No Time for Nuts 	Scrat 	Short film
2006	Family Guy 	Scrat 	Episode "Sibling Rivalry"
2008	Surviving Sid 	Scrat 	Short film
2009	Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs 	Scrat 	
2011	Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas 	Scrat 	TV Special
2012	Ice Age: Continental Drift 	Scrat 	
2015	The Simpsons 	Scrat 	Episode: "Treehouse of Horror XXVI"
2016	Ice Age: The Great Egg-Scapade 	Scrat 	TV Special
2016	Ice Age: Collision Course 	Scrat 	
2019	Ice Age: Scrat's Nutty Adventure	Scrat 	Video game
2019	Spies in Disguise 	Unnamed spy 	
2022	Ice Age: Adventures of Buck Wild	Scrat 	
===Special Thanks===
Year	Title 	Notes
2011	Adventures in Plymptoons!	Documentary
2020	Sonic The Hedgehog 	
==Critical reception==
Film 	Rotten Tomatoes	Metacritic	IMDb
Film 	Overall 	Overall 	Overall
Ice Age (2002) 	77% 	60% 	
Robots (2005) 	64% 	64% 	6.3
Epic (2013) 	64% 	52% 	
Monster Trucks (2016)	31% 	41% 	5.4
==Awards and nominations==
Year	Award 	Category 	Work 	Result
1996	Ottawa International Animation Festival Award 	Best Production Under 10 Minutes in Length 	Joe's Apartment 	
1999	Academy Award 	Best Animated Short Film 	Bunny 	
1999	Drama International Short Film Festival Award 	Special Prize for Animation 	Bunny 	
1999	Nashville Film Festival Award 	Best Animation 	Bunny 	
1999	Jury Award 	Best Short 	Bunny 	
1999	Oberhausen International Short Film Festival Award	Prize of the Children's Short Film Competition 	Bunny 	
2003	Academy Award 	Best Animated Feature 	Ice Age 	
2003	Annie Award 	Outstanding Directing in an Animated Feature ProductionShared with Carlos Saldanha (co-director) 	Ice Age 	
2003	DVD Exclusive Award 	Best Audio Commentary, New ReleaseShared with Carlos Saldanha (co-director) 	Ice Age 	
2003	ShoWest Convention Award 	Animation Director of the Year 	 	
2013	Behind the Voice Actors Award 	Best Vocal Ensemble in a Feature FilmShared with Ray Romano, Denis Leary, John Leguizamo, Queen Latifah, Keke Palmer, Seann William Scott, Josh Peck, Wanda Sykes, Jennifer Lopez, Alan Tudyk, Joy Behar, Patrick Stewart, Simon Pegg & Rebel Wilson	Ice Age: Continental Drift	
2014	Annie Award 	Outstanding Achievement in Directing in an Animated Feature Production 	Epic 	
Category:Animators from New York (state)
Category:American animated film directors
Category:American animated film producers
Category:Animation screenwriters
Category:Ohio State University alumni
Category:Artists from Binghamton, New York
Category:State University of New York at Purchase alumni
Category:1957 births
Category:Living people
Category:Fayetteville-Manlius High School alumni
Category:People from Manlius, New York
Category:Directors of Best Animated Short Academy Award winners
Category:Blue Sky Studios people
Category:People from Katonah, New York
Category:Film directors from New York (state)