Chris Wedge

American animatorTemplate:SHORTDESC:American animator[[Category:**Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Pagetype/config' not found.**s with short description]]

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**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 voiced the character 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 voiced 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

### Animator

 1996 | *Joe's Apartment* | Animation Director

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Staudter, Thomas (March 21, 1999). "'Bunny' From Harrison Competes for Oscar". Retrieved on June 2, 2013.
2. ↑ "Behind The Voice Actors - Chris Wedge". http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Chris-Wedge/. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Buchman, Lisa (September 12, 2012). "Meet Chris Wedge, 'Ice Age' Creator, Katonah Resident". Retrieved on November 29, 2012.
4. ↑ "Chris Wedge, Class of 1975, Inducted in 2000". *Fayetteville-Manlius Hall of Distinction*. Fayetteville-Manlius Schools. http://www.fmschools.org/community.cfm?subpage=16023. Retrieved May 29, 2011.
5. ↑ LaRue, William (November 2, 2006). "'Ice Age' director gives students a look into animation", *The Syracuse Post-Standard*, Syracuse.com. Retrieved on January 27, 2007. Template:Dead link
6. ↑ Schneider, Karl (August 24, 2006). "Chris Wedge to direct THE LEAF MEN AND THE BRAVE GOOD BUGS", *Movie News, Mania.com*, Mania Entertainment, LLC., citing The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved on January 27, 2007. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007.
7. ↑ Template:Cite journal
8. ↑ Template:Cite magazine
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Paramount Animation Plans ‘Monster Trucks’ Live Action-Toon Franchise: In Final Talks With Blue Sky’s Chris Wedge To Direct" (July 31, 2013). Retrieved on August 2, 2013.
10. ↑ "Paramount Animation Planning Live Action/Animated Franchise 'Monster Trucks' With Blue Sky's Chris Wedge" (August 1, 2013). Retrieved on August 2, 2013.
11. ↑ "Chris Wedge Acceptance Speech". The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. http://aaspeechesdb.oscars.org/link/071-18/. Retrieved June 2, 2013. "And so to my beautiful wife and family, Jean\*, Sarah and Jack..."
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Exclusive: 'Ice Age' squirrel to make Macy's debut", *USA Today* (October 22, 2015). Retrieved on October 29, 2015.
13. ↑ "Ice Age (2002) - Rotten Tomatoes". https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ice\_age/. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
14. ↑ "Ice Age Reviews - Metacritic". https://www.metacritic.com/movie/ice-age. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
15. ↑ "Ice Age (2002) - IMDb". Uk.imdb.com. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0268380/. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
16. ↑ "Robots (2005) - Rotten Tomatoes". https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/robots/. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
17. ↑ "Robots Reviews - Metacritic". https://www.metacritic.com/movie/robots. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
18. ↑ "Robots (2005) - IMDb". Uk.imdb.com. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0358082/. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
19. ↑ "Epic (2013) - Rotten Tomatoes". https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/epic\_2013/. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
20. ↑ "Epic Reviews - Metacritic". https://www.metacritic.com/movie/epic-2013. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
21. ↑ "Epic (2013) - IMDb". Uk.imdb.com. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0848537/. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
22. ↑ "Monster Trucks (2017) - Rotten Tomatoes". https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/monster\_trucks\_2017/. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
23. ↑ "Monster Trucks Reviews - Metacritic". https://www.metacritic.com/movie/monster-trucks. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
24. ↑ "Monster Trucks (2016) - IMDb". Uk.imdb.com. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3095734/. Retrieved April 19, 2017.

## External links

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* Template:IMDb name
* IGN interview
* BBC interview

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