Vicky Jenson

Victoria "Vicky" Jenson (born March 6, 1960) is a film director of both live-action and animated films, and has been said to be "one of Hollywood's most inspiring female Directors". She has directed projects for DreamWorks Animation, including Shrek, the first film to win an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, giving rise to one of Hollywood's largest film franchises.
==Career==
=== Biography and early work ===
Jenson began painting animation cells at the age of 13. She attended the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and California State University Northridge. She "started as a background artist at Hanna-Barbera in 1977, became a storyboard artist for Warner Bros., Marvel and Disney Television, and variously worked as a production designer, art director and co-producer". In the early 1980s, Jenson worked on the storyboard backgrounds on the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon series for Filmation. She was also a storyboard srtist for Season 1 of Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats cartoon series, and the 1986 film Heathcliff: The Movie for DiC Entertainment. She was also a design and color stylist on Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures, the influential Ralph Bakshi reboot of Mighty Mouse, in the 1980s. She held the same position with The Ren & Stimpy Show in the early 1990s, for creator John Kricfalusi. For both Mighty Mouse and Ren & Stimpy, Jenson was among those "responsible for the development of the visual style" of the series. In 1992, Jenson was the art director for FernGully: The Last Rainforest, and the production designer for Computer Warriors: The Adventure Begins and Playroom. In 2000, Jenson began working for DreamWorks as a production designer and story artist for The Road to El Dorado.
===Directing career===
Having worked on The Road to El Dorado (2000) for DreamWorks, the studio initially hired Jenson to work on Shrek as a story artist, with the directors to be Andrew Adamson (also a first-time director) and Kelly Asbury, who had joined in 1997 to co-direct the film. However, Asbury left a year later for work on the 2002 film Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, and Jenson was selected by producer Jeffrey Katzenberg to be the new director of the film. Jenson recalled her experience being brought into Shrek, and eventually tapped to direct, as follows:
Jenson described the directing process as one in which "we didn't try to figure out how to make adolescents laugh. You have to use yourself as the best judge and use your own instincts. We figured if we laughed at it, chances are good someone else would too". According to Adamson, the co-directors mutually decided to split the work in half, so the crew could at least know whom to go to with specific questions about the film's sequences: "We both ended up doing a lot of everything", "We're both kinda control freaks, and we both wanted to do everything." Following the success of Shrek, Jenson went on to co-direct Shark Tale with Bibo Bergeron and Rob Letterman. In 2003, while working on Shark Tale, Jenson received the first annual Kiera Chaplin Limelight award given at the Women's Image Network Awards.
In July 2017, it was reported that Jenson was directing an untitled animated fantasy film. The film tells of a teenager who "comes of age using magical powers to defend her family when the opposing forces of light and darkness threaten to divide her kingdom. The untitled project was now being titled Spellbound.
==== Live-action work ====
She directed a live-action short, Family Tree, which "premiered at Sundance, screened at countless festivals, including Sundance, SXSW, Aspen and Malibu and went on to win multiple festival awards". In 2009, she finished her first live-action feature directorial work for the Alexis Bledel-starring comedy, Post Grad. The film received mixed reviews, but Roger Ebert awarded it three out of four stars, stating, "[i]f you're cynical or jaded, it might not get past you. But here is the first movie in a long time that had me actually admitting I wouldn't mind seeing a sequel". Also in 2009, Jenson directed all of the spots for the year-long "Modelquins" ad campaign for Old Navy, including the "Supermodelquins Christmas" ads. She was represented by the Anonymous Content agency for the campaign.
In 2015, Jenson directed a stage production of the play, Time Stands Still, by Donald Margulies. The Los Angeles Times wrote of Jenson's stage directorial debut: "the staging by Vicky Jenson successfully captures the script's broad contours", and Broadway World praised the production, stating that "Vicky Jenson smoothly directs her uniformly skilled four-member cast".
==Filmography==
Year	Title 	Position 	Notes
1985	The Secret of the Sword 	storyboard artist 	
1987	Rock Odyssey 	background artist 	
1987	Slam Dance 	storyboard artist 	
1987	Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night 	storyboard artist 	
1988	She's Having a Baby 	storyboard artist 	
1988	Pound Puppies and the Legend of Big Paw	designer 	
1990	Playroom 	production designer 	
1992	FernGully: The Last Rainforest 	storyboard artist/art director/layout artist/layout designer 	
1998	Antz 	additional story artist 	uncredited
1998	The Prince of Egypt 	story artist 	uncredited
2000	The Road to El Dorado 	storyboard artist/additional production designer/production designer	
2000	Chicken Run 	additional story 	
2001	Shrek 	director 	
2002	Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron 	story artist 	uncredited
2003	Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas 	additional story artist 	
2004	Shrek 2 	story artist 	uncredited
2004	Shark Tale 	director 	
2005	Cerebral Print: The Secret Files 	actress 	
2005	Madagascar 	additional story artist 	uncredited
2006	Over the Hedge 	additional story artist 	uncredited
2007	Shrek the Third 	story artist 	uncredited
2007	Bee Movie 	additional story artist 	uncredited
2008	Kung Fu Panda 	additional story artist 	uncredited
2008	Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa 	development 	
2009	Post Grad 	director 	
2010	Shrek Forever After 	additional story artist 	uncredited
2011	Kung Fu Panda 2 	story artist 	uncredited
2012	Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted 	story artist 	uncredited
TBA 	Spellbound 	director 	
==Awards and nominations==
Year	Award 	Category 	Nominated work	Result
2001	Academy Awards 	Academy Award for Best Animated Feature 	Shrek 	
2001	BAFTA Awards 2001 	Children's Award, Best Feature Film 	Shrek 	
2001	Annie Awards 	Outstanding Individual Achievement for Directing in an Animated Feature Production	Shrek 	
2001	Cannes Film Festival 	Palme d'Or 	Shrek 	
2001	L.A. Film Critics Association 	Best Animation 	Shrek 	
2001	National Board of Review 	Best Animated Feature 	Shrek 	
2001	Karlovy Vary International Film Festival	Audience Award 	Shrek 	
2002	BAFTA Awards 2002 	Best Adapted Screenplay 	Shrek 	
2002	Critics' Choice Awards 2002 	Best Animated Film 	Shrek 	
2002	People's Choice Awards 	Favorite Motion Picture. 	Shrek 	
2003	Aspen Shorts Fest 2003 	Audience Award, Glenwood Springs Section 	Family Tree 	
2003	SXSW 2003 	Special Jury Award, Narrative Short 	Family Tree 	
2003	Dragon*Con Independent Film Festival 	Best Short 	Family Tree 	
2003	Dragon*Con Independent Film Festival 	Best Magical Realism 	Family Tree 	
2003	Empire Film Festival 2003 	Audience Award, Best Short 	Family Tree 	
2003	Malibu Film Festival 2003 	Best of the Fest 	Family Tree 	
2003	Malibu Film Festival 2003 	Best Live Action Short 	Family Tree 	
2003	DeadCENTER Film Festival 	Grand Jury Award 	Family Tree 	
2003	Wine Country Film Festival 2003 	Best Short Film (Novela Form Film) 	Family Tree 	
2004	Big Bear Lake Int'l Film Festival 2004 	Jury Award, Best Short Film 	Family Tree 	
2005	Academy Awards 	Best Animated Feature 	Shark Tale 	
2005	BAFTA Awards 2005 	Children's Award, Best Feature Film. 	Shark Tale 	
2005	ASCAP Awards 2005 	Top Box Office Film 	Shark Tale 	
==Personal life==
Jenson is the sister of classical violinist Dylana Jenson.
Category:1960 births
Category:American animators
Category:Living people
Category:American storyboard artists
Category:American animated film directors
Category:American women film directors
Category:Annie Award winners
Category:Background artists
Category:DreamWorks Animation people
Category:Directors of Best Animated Feature Academy Award winners
Category:Women animators
Category:Academy of Art University alumni
Category:People from Los Angeles