Chris Sanders Biography

Christopher Michael "Chris" Sanders (born March 12, 1962) is an American animation director and illustrator best known for directing the Disney animated feature Lilo & Stitch (2002) and DreamWorks How to Train Your Dragon (2010), and providing the voice of Experiment 626 from the former. After leaving Walt Disney Animation Studios, Sanders went on to work for DreamWorks Animation, directing the highly acclaimed animated feature film How to Train Your Dragon. His recent work is serving as co-director and co-writer on The Croods, along with Kirk DeMicco. Now, Sanders and DeMicco are both working on The Croods 2, a sequel to the film.

Early life

A 1984 graduate of the California Institute of the Arts.

Career

Sanders began his career as a character designer for Muppet Babies. He also served as a storyboard artist, artistic director, production designer, and character designer on Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and Mulan.

On December 16, 2006 several internet animation fan sites, including AnimatedNews.com, reported that Sanders had been removed as the director of the upcoming Disney animated film American Dog by John Lasseter. A New York Times interview with John Lasseter later revealed that Chris Sanders was negotiating his exit from Disney. After the departure of Sanders from Disney, directing duties were handed to Chris Williams, a Disney writer, and the film was retitled Bolt. Despite his departure from Disney, Sanders continues to voice Stitch, reprising his role as Stitch in the English version of the Square Enix/Disney collaboration game Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, and recently reprised his role as Stitch again in Kinect Disneyland Adventures.

DreamWorks Animation

In March 2007, Variety reported that Chris Sanders had moved to DreamWorks Animation and had then taken over as director on Crood Awakening (later renamed to The Croods), a project previously in co-production with Aardman Animations before their departure from DreamWorks. At the time, Chris had this to say about the move: "I've been so anxious to start working on things, and so I talked to a lot of people... I like the way DreamWorks looks at animation. Animation still has a lot of different places to go, and I don't want to miss out on a chance to try some new things with it."

On September 24, 2008, it was reported that Sanders and Lilo & Stitch co-director and co-writer Dean DeBlois would be screenwriting and directing How to Train Your Dragon for DreamWorks Animation. The film was released on March 26, 2010 and was well-received by critics. It grossed nearly $500 million worldwide. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score at the 83rd Academy Awards. The movie also won ten Annie Awards, including Best Animated Feature.

After completing How to Train Your Dragon, Chris returned to The Croods, which was released on March 22, 2013. Sanders shared directing and writing credits with Kirk DeMicco, who had joined in the middle of production. The film proved to be a success, grossing over $500 million, and earning itself a sequel, with Sanders and DeMicco returning in their original roles.

Sanders also draws the popular webcomic Kiskaloo, but, since a post from Chris on September 30, 2008 stating "I'll be drawing and posting the new comic in a just a couple of days!", hasn't been drawn since.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	The Rescuers Down Under		storyboard artist/character designer/visual development
1991	Beauty and the Beast		story/visual development artist
1992	Aladdin		story
1994	The Lion King		story/production designer, storyboard artist for Mufasa's Ghost sequence
1998	Mulan	Little Brother	screenplay/story supervisor
1999	Fantasia 2000		original concept: "Pines of Rome"
2002	Lilo & Stitch	Stitch	director/writer/character designer
2003	Stitch! The Movie	Stitch	characters
	Lilo & Stitch: The Series	Stitch/Experiment 627 (Evile)	characters
2004	The Lion King 1½	Stitch	cameo appearance
2005	Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch	Stitch	characters
2006	Leroy & Stitch	Stitch/Leroy	characters
2008	Stitch!		characters
2010	How to Train Your Dragon		director/screenplay
2013	The Croods	Belt	director/screenplay
2014	How to Train Your Dragon 2		executive producer
2016	How to Train Your Dragon 3		executive producer
TBA	The Croods 2		director/screenplay