Chris Sanders

A three-time Academy Award® nominee, writer/director Chris Sanders is the Writer and Director of The Wild Robot for DreamWorks Animation. Most recently, Sanders directed The Call of the Wild, for 20th Century Studios, starring Harrison Ford.

Born into an artistic household in Colorado Springs, CO, Sanders was the middle of three children and grew up drawing and penning short stories. “Art was the dominant thing in our house as we grew up,” Sanders says. “My dad was always sketching and painting – mostly abstract stuff and Buck Rogers-style spaceships. On Friday nights, we all sat at the dining room table around big glasses of water and painted as a family. We were always welcome to draw at my dad’s desk, and we had a constant supply of Blackwing pencils and computer paper he had liberated from the office where he worked.”

Although Sanders drew throughout school and served as the cartoonist for the Arvada High School newspaper, he hadn’t considered art as something he could do for a living.

But when his grandmother found a random article about the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in the Denver Post, everything changed. Sanders applied for and was accepted to CalArts’ Animation Program and went on to work for Marvel Productions and later, Disney Studios. Sanders worked as a story artist on Rescuers Down Under, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King, before he was made head of story on Mulan.
Sanders wrote, storyboarded, and directed Lilo & Stitch with Dean DeBlois, for which Sanders earned his first Oscar® nomination. In addition, Sanders voiced (and continues to voice) the titular character of Stitch.

In 2006, Sanders left Disney Studios to join the filmmaking team at DreamWorks Animation. As a character designer, Sanders contributed to the Shrek and Madagascar franchises, as well as Kung Fu Panda.
When Sanders was given the opportunity to direct DWA’s How to Train Your Dragon, he jumped at the chance. His first call was to his fellow Lilo & Stitch director Dean DeBlois.
“I felt that the story of teenaged Vikings battling dragons was the perfect style for us,” Sanders says. “Dean was just finishing a project and was excited to join me in writing and directing the project.”
HTTYD garnered two Academy Award® nominations, two BAFTA nominations, a Golden Globe nomination, and won ten Annie Awards and three Visual Effects Society Awards and, in the process, established a successful franchise across two Oscar® nominated subsequent films, a multiple Emmy award-winning television series, multiple theme park attractions and countless consumer products.

Following the success of How to Train Your Dragon, Sanders and Kirk DeMicco wrote and directed the Academy Award® nominated blockbuster The Croods, establishing yet another franchise for DreamWorks Animation.

Chris Sanders is a member of the Academy Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, ASIFA- Hollywood, and the Visual Effects Society. In addition to his three Academy Award® nominations, Sanders has been recognized by ASIFA-Hollywood numerous times throughout his career, winning four Annie Awards and an additional four nominations, as well as earning numerous accolades around the world for his work.