Ben Gluck is an American animator, screenwriter, and film director. Gluck was a director and head of story at

Disney Animation studios The Walt Disney Company has owned and operated several animation studios since the company's founding on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio; the current Walt Disney Animation Studios in Burbank, Ca ...

Beginnings

Benjamin Gluck was born in

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. He received his

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachelor ...

degree in Character Animation from the esteemed California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) and was awarded a full-tuition merit scholarship from Walt Disney Feature Animation studios. His student short film ''Man's Best Friend'' was awarded the Walter Lantz First Prize Award. That film premiered worldwide in heavy rotation on MTV's network, and received many top awards in the United States and International film circuits and toured worldwide and theatrically in Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Animation Festival.

Career

Gluck started his professional career at

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios and simply known as DreamWorks) is an American animation studio that produces animated films and television programs and is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division ...

as the studio's very first story trainee, on ''

The Prince of Egypt ''The Prince of Egypt'' is a 1998 American animated musical drama film produced by DreamWorks Animation and released by DreamWorks Pictures. The first feature film from DreamWorks to be traditionally animated, it is an adaptation of the Book ...

''. After graduating with a BFA in character animation, he was recruited by Walt Disney Feature Animation where he worked for over a decade as a story artist on the Disney films

Dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

, ''

The Emperor's New Groove ''The Emperor's New Groove'' is a 2000 American animated slapstick comedy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 40th animated film produced by the studio, it was directed by Mark Dindal and pr ...

'', and Home on the Range. He was the first head of story at Disney-Television on the film ''

Bambi 2 ''Bambi II'' (also known as ''Bambi and the Great Prince of the Forest'') is a 2006 American animated drama film directed by Brian Pimental and produced by the Australian office of Disneytoon Studios as a followup to the 1942 film ''Bambi''. A ...

'', and he directed ''

Brother Bear 2 ''Brother Bear 2'' is a 2006 American animated direct-to-video musical fantasy comedy-drama film and the sequel to the animated feature ''Brother Bear'', which was released on August 29, 2006. Melissa Etheridge contributed three songs to the film ...

'', Disney's second sequel to have a higher rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

than its predecessor. After Disney, Gluck was recruited by Academy Award nominated director Shane Acker, for head of story, on the

Tim Burton Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and animator. He is known for his gothic fantasy and horror films such as ''Beetlejuice'' (1988), ''Edward Scissorhands'' (1990), ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993), ...

produced adult animated, '' 9'' for

Focus Features Focus Features LLC is an American film production and distribution company, owned by Comcast as part of Universal Pictures, a division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. Focus Features distributes independent and foreign films in th ...

. In this role, Gluck shaped the characters and supervised the story animatic. Gluck was a segment storyboard artist on the critically acclaimed animated feature film adaptation of Kahlil Gibran's, ''

The Prophet A prophet is a person who is believed to speak through divine inspiration. Prophet or The Prophet may also refer to: People People referred to as "The Prophet" as a title * The Prophet (musician) (born 1968), Dutch gabber and hardstyle DJ ...

''. Gluck was also hired by

George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker. Lucas is best known for creating the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founding Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairm ...

as a creative consultant on the film '' Strange Magic''. Gluck co-directed, along with

Anthony Bell Tony Bell (born 20 June 1958) is a freelance writer and journalist, known for his ''What's he on'' column in Cycling Weekly, where he was a columnist between 1994 and 2006. His popularity gained as a CW columnist led to engagements as an after-d ...

the small budget film ''

Alpha and Omega Alpha (Α or α) and omega (Ω or ω) are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, and a title of Christ and God in the Book of Revelation. This pair of letters is used as a Christian symbol, and is often combined with the Cross, Chi-rh ...

'', which was followed by eight sequels creating the franchise of the same name, and Lionsgate studios highest-grossing original CGI franchise to date. Gluck was the head of story on two

Peanuts ''Peanuts'' is a print syndication, syndicated daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. ' ...

specials: '' Snoopy Presents: For Auld Lang Syne'', the first new

holiday special since 2011, and the 47th overall, and on the 49th original

streaming holiday special '' Snoopy Presents: To Mom (and Dad), With Love''. Both specials are in collaboration with Apple TV +, and the family of Charles Schultz.

Awards and recognition

* Walter Lantz Honorary Student Academy Award: best short animated film "Man's Best Friend." *

Annie Award The Annie Awards are accolades which the Los Angeles branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood, has presented each year since 1972 to recognize excellence in animation shown in cinema and television. Originally desi ...

for Best Home Entertainment Production:

at the 34th Annie Awards. *

for Best Screenplay:

at the 35th Annie Awards.

Filmography

Television

* Man's Best Friend (TV) (1996) * Rugrats (TV) (2000) * Clerks (TV) (2001) *

Madea's Tough Love ''Tyler Perry's Madea's Tough Love'' is a 2015 American live action-animated comedy film directed by Frank Marino, written by Matt Fleckenstein and Benjamin Gluck produced by Tyler Perry, Matt Moore, and Ozzie Areu, and starring the voices of Per ...

(2015)

References

Apple TV+ New Peanuts Holiday Specials

External links

*
Ben Gluck's Interview with TV Guide
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gluck, Benjamin Living people 1979 births People from Missouri American animated film directors Animators from Missouri Film directors from Missouri