Chris Renaud (born December 1966) is an American film producer, director, illustrator, designer, animator, and voice actor. He was nominated for an
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
for the 2006 animated short ''
No Time for Nuts
''No Time for Nuts'' is a computer-animated short film from Blue Sky Studios, starring Scrat from ''Ice Age (franchise), Ice Age''. Directed by Chris Renaud (animator), Chris Renaud and Mike Thurmeier, it was released on November 21, 2006, on the D ...
'', which featured the character Scrat from the computer-animated ''
Ice Age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...
'' films. His most popular work is the '' Despicable Me'' franchise, including '' Despicable Me'' and ''
Despicable Me 2
''Despicable Me 2'' is a 2013 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Illumination Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. The sequel to ''Despicable Me'' (2010), it is directed by Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin, and ...
'', which he co-directed with
Pierre Coffin
Pierre-Louis Padang Coffin (born 16 March 1967) is a French animator, voice actor, director, producer, and writer best known for co-directing four films in the ''Despicable Me'' franchise and being the voice of the Minions, which won him the Ki ...
. Along with Coffin, he also co-created and lent his voice to the Minions from ''Despicable Me''.
Life and career
Chris Renaud was born in 1966 in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
. At age 15, he moved to
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781. Of this, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19, ...
when his father, who worked for
Bethlehem Steel
The Bethlehem Steel Corporation was an American steelmaking company headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. For most of the 20th century, it was one of the world's largest steel producing and shipbuilding companies. At the height of its succe ...
, was transferred to their corporate headquarters. Renaud has said he had mixed feelings with the move, saying it upset him but it was also one of the best things in his life because it showed him "that there was a great, big world out there". He was the artist for the high school yearbooks and newspaper and had aspirations of creating comic books. He graduated Parkland High School in
Allentown, Pennsylvania
Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The city has a population of 125,845 as of the 2020 United ...
in 1985 and attended
Baum School of Art
The Baum School of Art is a non-profit community art school located in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
In 2016–2017, the school had a total enrollment of 3,346 students, 1,921 of which were children and teens, and 1,425 of which were adults. 178 clas ...
in Allentown, where he received a $1,000 scholarship.
After graduating from
Syracuse University
Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...
with an illustration degree in 1989, Renaud began work as a
graphic designer
A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, ...
in the sports entertainment industry. He has created
logo
A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wordma ...
s and
mascot
A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...
s for NFL Properties, the NBA, and Foot Locker. After working as a designer and illustrator for a variety of publications and agencies, Chris began drawing and writing
comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
s. Working for both
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...
and
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...
, his projects included illustrating Marvel's ''
Starfleet Academy
In the fictional universe of ''Star Trek'', Starfleet Academy is where recruits to Starfleet's officer corps are trained. It was created in the year 2161, when the United Federation of Planets was founded. The Academy's motto is "''Ex astri ...
'' and pitching the story concept that evolved into ''Batman: Cataclysm'' which depicted a devastating earthquake hitting Gotham City. This yearlong tale across all Batman-related comics resulted in increased sales and visibility for the renowned character and set up the acclaimed "''No Man's Land''" storyline that followed.
As the production designer on the Disney Channel's ''
The Book of Pooh
''The Book of Pooh'' is an American children's television series that aired on the Playhouse Disney block on Disney Channel. It is the third television series to feature the characters from the Disney franchise based on A. A. Milne's works; th ...
'', Renaud transitioned into the world of children's television. Since that groundbreaking project, he has been able to design virtual sets and puppet characters for ''
Bear in the Big Blue House
''Bear in the Big Blue House'' is an American children's television series created by Mitchell Kriegman and produced by Jim Henson Television for Disney Channel's Playhouse Disney preschool television block. Debuting on October 20, 1997, it aire ...
Sony Pictures Animation
Sony Pictures Animation Inc. is an American animation studio owned by Sony Entertainment's Sony Pictures Entertainment through their Motion Picture Group division and founded on May 9, 2002. The studio's films are distributed worldwide by So ...
. With ''
It's a Big Big World
''It's a Big Big World'' is an American children's television series that aired on PBS Kids from January 2, 2006, to January 8, 2010. The series was created by Mitchell Kriegman, the creator of the Muppet television series, ''Bear in the Big ...
'', which aired from 2006 to 2010 on
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
, he took the lead in visual development and design of every aspect of this Emmy-nominated children's program.
Renaud worked for Blue Sky Studios as a story artist on the films ''
Robots "\n\n\n\n\nThe robots exclusion standard, also known as the robots exclusion protocol or simply robots.txt, is a standard used by websites to indicate to visiting web crawlers and other web robots which portions of the site they are allowed to visi ...
Horton Hears a Who!
''Horton Hears a Who!'' is a children's book written and illustrated by Theodor Seuss Geisel under the pen name Dr. Seuss. It was published in 1954 by Random House. This book tells the story of Horton the Elephant and his adventures saving Whovi ...
''. He wrote and co-directed the animated short ''
No Time for Nuts
''No Time for Nuts'' is a computer-animated short film from Blue Sky Studios, starring Scrat from ''Ice Age (franchise), Ice Age''. Directed by Chris Renaud (animator), Chris Renaud and Mike Thurmeier, it was released on November 21, 2006, on the D ...
'', which received an
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 ...
and a 2007 Oscar nomination for animated short film. It was also included in the Animation Show of Shows in 2006.
Renaud moved to
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
to work for
Illumination Entertainment
Illumination (formerly known as Illumination Entertainment) is an American computer animation studio, founded by Chris Meledandri in 2007. Illumination is owned by Meledandri and the Illumination brand is co-owned by Universal Pictures, a divisi ...
. While directing '' Despicable Me'' (2010), Renaud, along with his directing partner
Pierre Coffin
Pierre-Louis Padang Coffin (born 16 March 1967) is a French animator, voice actor, director, producer, and writer best known for co-directing four films in the ''Despicable Me'' franchise and being the voice of the Minions, which won him the Ki ...
, began to develop Gru's famous henchmen, the Minions. Initially, there were discussions about making the creatures robots. Then Renaud hit upon the notion that they could be mole people and slapped goggles on them. "I did a very rough, ugly, little sketch combining some elements into a mole person and sent it to Pierre, who then discussed it with Eric Guillon, who was the art director and final designer of the Minions, and they took some of those ideas and together we came up with what the Minions look like". The more the filmmakers worked on the little guys, the more yellow and more cylindrical they became. "Eric continued to refine the idea and made he Minionscloser to children. He made them funnier and simpler and a brighter color". Among the inspirations for the Minions were the
Oompa-Loompas
This is a list of characters in the 1964 Roald Dahl book ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'', his 1972 sequel ''Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator'', and the former's film adaptations, ''Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory'' (1971) and '' ...
from ''
Willy Wonka
Willy Wonka is a fictional character appearing in British author Roald Dahl's 1964 children's novel ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' and its 1972 sequel ''Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator''. He is the eccentric founder and proprietor ...
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'', as well as silent screen stars
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression ...
and
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...
, and Warner Bros. cartoon characters.
In a four-picture directing deal, he directed '' Despicable Me'' (2010), ''
Dr. Seuss' The Lorax
''The Lorax'' (also known as ''Dr. Seuss' The Lorax'') is a 2012 American 3D computer-animated musical fantasy comedy film produced by Illumination Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. The second screen adaptation of Dr. Seuss ...
'' (2012), ''
Despicable Me 2
''Despicable Me 2'' is a 2013 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Illumination Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. The sequel to ''Despicable Me'' (2010), it is directed by Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin, and ...
'' (2013), and ''
The Secret Life of Pets
''The Secret Life of Pets'' is a 2016 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Illumination Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. It is directed by Chris Renaud, co-directed by Yarrow Cheney (in his feature directorial ...
'' (2016), in which two pet dogs, Max and Duke, have to put their quarrels behind when they find out that a bunny, Snowball, is building an army of abandoned pets to take revenge on all pet owners and their pets. Renaud signed a new contract with Illumination Entertainment in 2013, saying: "I love working with Illumination. They've given me an unparalleled opportunity to keep directing one movie after another. Very often animation directors make one movie and then spend the next five years developing another one. But I'm in the unique position of being able to keep working and keep making movies... So I feel very fortunate."
In a 2012 interview, he mentioned that he read
Dr. Seuss
Theodor Seuss Geisel (;"Seuss" ''
Renaud executive-produced ''
Despicable Me 3
''Despicable Me 3'' is a 2017 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Illumination and distributed by Universal Pictures. It is the sequel to ''Despicable Me 2'' (2013), the third main installment, and the fourth installment overal ...
'' in 2017.
Personal life
Renaud has lived since 2008–2009 in Paris, France with his wife, Lauren, and their two children, John and Kiely.