Domee Shi (; ; born 1989) is a Chinese-born Canadian

animator An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video gam ...

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

and

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

. Since 2011, she has worked for

Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californi ...

, contributing as a storyboard artist for multiple films, including ''

Inside Out Inside Out may refer to: *Backwards (disambiguation) or inverse Books * '' Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd'', by Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason * ''Inside Out'', Christian book by Larry Crabb * ''Inside Out'', novel by Barry Eisler ...

'' (2015), ''

Incredibles 2 ''Incredibles 2'' is a 2018 American computer-animated superhero film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Written and directed by Brad Bird, it is the sequel to ''The Incredibles'' (2004) and the second fu ...

'' (2018), and ''

Toy Story 4 ''Toy Story 4'' is a 2019 American computer-animated comedy-drama film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the fourth installment in Pixar's ''Toy Story'' series and the sequel to ''Toy Story 3'' ( ...

'' (2019). Shi directed the 2018 short film '' Bao'' and the 2022 feature film ''

Turning Red ''Turning Red'' is a 2022 American computer-animated fantasy comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It was directed by Domee Shi in her feature directorial debut, written by Shi ...

'', becoming the first woman to direct a short film and then the first woman with sole director's credit on a feature film for Pixar. ''Bao'' won an

Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as part of the annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, since the 5th Academy Awards (with different names), covering the year ...

at the

91st Academy Awards The 91st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2018 and took place on February 24, 2019, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. During the ceremony, A ...

, and also earned nominations for the

43rd Annie Awards The 43rd Annual Annie Awards honoring excellence in the field of animation of 2015 was held on February 6, 2016, at the University of California, Los Angeles's Royce Hall in Los Angeles, California, presenting in 36 categories. This year, a new c ...

, the International Online Cinema Awards, and the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...

Early life

Shi was born in 1989 in

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

(now

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

) as an only child before immigrating to Canada at the age of two with her parents. She spent six months in

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

before moving to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, where she grew up learning about art from her father. She was influenced by her father, who had been a college professor of fine arts and a landscape painter in China. Shi took inspiration and guidance from her mother's personality when directing ''Bao''. Shi recalls that "My Chinese mom was always making sure I never wandered away too far, that I was safe." During her childhood, Shi watched many

Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Koganei, Tokyo."Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment". ''Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment''. Retrieved 2020-12-14. It is best known for its animated feature films, and ha ...

and

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

films, which exposed her to Asian cinema and

animation Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...

. As a high school student, Shi watched anime, read manga, and became the Vice President of her school's anime club. She joined online art communities and uploaded her fan artwork to

DeviantArt DeviantArt (historically stylized as deviantART) is an American online art community that features artwork, videography and photography, launched on August 7, 2000 by Angelo Sotira, Scott Jarkoff, and Matthew Stephens among others. DeviantArt, ...

. This became her first exposure to an environment of like-minded people that helped her establish a network with other artists. "I could follow artists, and I could email them. In the past, you'd have to be in California or know a guy who was friends with this other guy that worked at Disney or something," said Shi. Thus Shi was inspired to enroll at

Sheridan College Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning (formerly Sheridan College of Applied Arts and Technology) is a public polytechnic institute of technology located in the west-Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, Canada. Founded in ...

for her post-secondary education. At Sheridan, Shi studied animation, graduating in 2011. During her second year at Sheridan, she enrolled in a course taught by

Nancy Beiman Nancy Beiman is a director, character designer, teacher, and animator. She attended the Character Animation program at CalArts. Career Animation In 1986, Beiman cofounded Caged Beagle Productions with business partner Dean Yeagle. She then move ...

, whose class she credits for her pursuit of

storyboard A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding process, i ...

ing. Shi created a short film for an assignment during her last year at Sheridan. In 2009, she undertook an internship with Chuck Gammage Animation as a clean-up artist, inbetweener, storyboard artist, and animator.

Career

After graduating, Shi worked briefly as a cartooning instructor with an emphasis on character design and comic book creation. In 2011, she accepted a three-month internship at

as a storyboard artist. This was her second attempt, having initially been turned down by the animation studio and others, such as

and

DreamWorks DreamWorks may refer to: * DreamWorks Pictures, an American film production company of Amblin ** DreamWorks Television, an American television production company and division of the film studio ** DreamWorks Records, an American record label and f ...

. Shi wrote an animated

webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on a website or mobile app. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or comic books. Webcomics can be co ...

series titled ''My Food Fantasies'' in 2014, in which she drew "outlandish" situations involving food. Shi later said that she developed her interest in writing stories about food while making ''My Food Fantasies''. The first feature film she worked on with Pixar was ''

'' (2015), on which she served as a

storyboard artist A storyboard artist (sometimes called a story artist or visualizer) creates storyboards for advertising agencies and film productions. Work A storyboard artist visualizes stories and sketches frames of the story. Quick pencil drawings and marke ...

. After briefly working on ''

The Good Dinosaur ''The Good Dinosaur'' is a 2015 American computer-animated adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The film was directed by Peter Sohn (in his feature directorial debut) and p ...

'', Shi began working on ''

'' in 2015. She also drew storyboards for the 2018 film ''

'', where she worked on a sequence featuring the characters Jack-Jack and Edna Mode.

Directing

The short film '' Bao'' (2018) was developed as a "side-project" before and during Shi's full-time work on ''Inside Out''. ''Bao'', alongside two other projects, was eventually pitched to her mentor,

Pete Docter Peter Hans Docter (born October 9, 1968) is an American animator, film director, screenwriter, producer, voice actor, and chief creative officer of Pixar. He is best known for directing the Pixar animated feature films ''Monsters, Inc.'' (2001) ...

, and Pixar for support. ''Bao'' was approved in 2015, making Shi the first woman to direct a short film for the studio. The eight-minute short debuted at the 2018

, where it preceded ''Incredibles 2'' in theaters. Shi won the

for ''Bao'', becoming the first woman of color to win the award. On May 8, 2018, it was reported that Shi was directing a feature film at Pixar. On November 26, 2018, Shi confirmed that she was working on a film at the studio. Shi also said that the film was in early stages of development, with the story still being worked on, and that she was "really excited to play in this new 90-minute film format." On January 1, 2019, Shi said that she planned the film to be "entertaining and emotional." On December 9, 2020, Shi's film was announced with the title ''

''. It was originally scheduled to be released in theaters on March 11, 2022, but due to rising cases of

SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant Omicron (B.1.1.529) is a variant of SARS-CoV-2 first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) by the Network for Genomics Surveillance in South Africa on 24 November 2021. It was first detected in Botswana and has spread to become the ...

, it was instead released direct-to-streaming on

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and deligh ...

on the same date. Disney said ''Turning Red'' was the number one streaming title on Disney+, and in early April 2022, Pixar promoted Shi to vice president of creative, alongside

Andrew Stanton Andrew Ayers Stanton (born December 3, 1965) is an American filmmaker and voice actor based at Pixar, which he joined in 1990. His film work includes co-writing and co-directing Pixar's ''A Bug's Life'' (1998), directing ''Finding Nemo'' (2003) an ...

Peter Sohn Peter Sohn (born October 18, 1977) is an American animator, voice actor, storyboard artist, and film director. He is known for his work at Pixar Animation Studios as the director of 2015's ''The Good Dinosaur''. He has also been the voice of Emil ...

and

Dan Scanlon Dan Scanlon (born June 21, 1976) is an American animator, storyboard artist, director, and screenwriter, working for Pixar, for whom he has directed ''Monsters University'' and '' Onward''. Early life Scanlon grew up in Clawson, Michigan. When ...

. On October 5, 2022, Shi was confirmed to be developing another original Pixar feature film.

Influences

Shi is influenced by her father's art, as he was her art teacher while growing up. "Like, I asked him what he thought

f the film F, or f, is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounced ), and the plural is ''efs''. Hist ...

and he said, 'I really liked it, but I also have notes for you.' And I was like, Ah, that's my classic dad," Shi said. In an interview with '' Now Magazine'', Shi said that the animated films ''

My Neighbors the Yamadas is a 1999 Japanese animated comedy film written and directed by Isao Takahata, animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network, Hakuhodo and Buena Vista Home Entertainment, and distributed by Shochiku.

'' (1999) and ''

Spirited Away is a 2001 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Tohokushinsha Film, and Mitsubishi and distribut ...

'' (2001) were her influences when creating ''Bao''. Shi says that most of her ideas come from specific cultures around her. Because audiences started to appreciate other stories with different background and culture after '' Sanjay's Super Team'' and '' Coco'', Shi thinks it important to draw upon various sources and background in order to create uniqueness in film.

Filmography

Feature Films

Short Films

Television

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and deligh ...
Original Specials

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shi, Domee 1989 births Artists from Chongqing Artists from Toronto Asian-Canadian filmmakers Canadian animated film directors Canadian animators Canadian women animators Chinese animated film directors Chinese animators Chinese emigrants to Canada Chinese women animators Chinese women film directors Canadian expatriate film directors in the United States Canadian women film directors Directors of Best Animated Short Academy Award winners Film directors from Chongqing Film directors from Toronto Living people Pixar people Sheridan College alumni Canadian storyboard artists Chinese storyboard artists