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 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 ...

as the director of 2015's ''

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 ...

''. He has also been the voice of Emile in ''

Ratatouille Ratatouille ( , ), oc, ratatolha , is a French Provençal dish of stewed vegetables which originated in Nice, and is sometimes referred to as ''ratatouille niçoise'' (). Recipes and cooking times differ widely, but common ingredients include ...

'', Squishy in ''

Monsters University ''Monsters University'' is a 2013 American computer-animated monster comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Dan Scanlon (in his feature directorial debut) and produced by Kori ...

'', and Sox in ''

Lightyear A light-year, alternatively spelled light year, is a large unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equivalent to about 9.46 trillion kilometers (), or 5.88 trillion miles ().One trillion here is taken to be 1012 ...

''.

Early life

Sohn was raised in New York City, where he was born in

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

. His parents were

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

immigrants. He graduated from high school in 1995. While attending

CalArts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of bot ...

, he landed a summer job working on

Brad Bird Phillip Bradley Bird (born September 24, 1957) is an American film director, animator, screenwriter, producer, and voice actor. He has had a career spanning forty years in both animation and live-action. Bird was born in Montana and grew up in ...

's animated feature film, ''

The Iron Giant ''The Iron Giant'' is a 1999 American animated science fiction film produced by Warner Bros. Feature Animation and directed by Brad Bird in his directorial debut. It is based on the 1968 novel '' The Iron Man'' by Ted Hughes (which was publish ...

''.

Career

After graduating from school, he worked at

The Walt Disney Company 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 ...

and

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

before coming to Pixar in the art and story departments for ''

Finding Nemo ''Finding Nemo'' is a 2003 American computer-animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by Andrew Stanton with co-direction by Lee Unkrich, the screenplay was writ ...

''. He also worked on ''

The Incredibles ''The Incredibles'' is a 2004 American computer-animated superhero film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Written and directed by Brad Bird, it stars the voices of Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah V ...

'', ''

'' and ''

WALL-E ''WALL-E'' (stylized with an interpunct as ''WALL·E'') is a 2008 American computer-animated science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed and co-written by Andrew Stanton, pro ...

''. Sohn performed the voice of Remy's brother, Emile in ''Ratatouille''. He made his directorial debut with the short film ''

Partly Cloudy ''Partly Cloudy'' is a 2009 American computer animated comedy short film, written and directed by Peter Sohn and produced by Kevin Reher. It was shown in theaters before Pixar's feature film '' Up'' and is a special feature on its DVD and Blu-ra ...

'' in 2009 which he also wrote. ''Partly Cloudy'' was included in the Animation Show of Shows in 2009. Sohn co-directed the English-language version of ''

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea is a 2008 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, animated by Studio Ghibli for the Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Mitsubishi, and distributed by ...

'' in 2009 with

John Lasseter John Alan Lasseter (; born January 12, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, animator, voice actor, and the head of animation at Skydance Animation. He was previously the chief creative officer of Pixar Animation Studios, ...

and

Brad Lewis Bradford Clark Lewis (born April 29, 1958) is an American film producer, animation director, and politician. He produced ''Antz'', the Oscar-winning ''Ratatouille,'' and '' How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World''. He also co-directed ''Cars ...

(fellow Pixar workers). Russell, the boy in ''Up'', was based off of Sohn's appearance. He voiced Russell in the corresponding short, '' George & A.J.'', and Squishy in the feature ''

''. Sohn directed ''

'', which was released in November 2015. He voiced its ''

Styracosaurus ''Styracosaurus'' ( ; meaning "spiked lizard" from the Ancient Greek / "spike at the butt-end of a spear-shaft" and / "lizard") is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsian dinosaur from the Cretaceous Period (Campanian stage), about 75.5 to 74.5&nbs ...

'' character Forrest Woodbush. Sohn was set to voice the

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 ...

character Ganke Lee in the

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 Son ...

feature film '' Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'', but his lines were ultimately deleted from the final film. In 2022, Sohn provided the voice of Sox, a robotic kitten, in the Pixar film ''

''. That same year, it was announced he was directing Pixar's next original film, ''

Elemental An elemental is a mythic being that is described in occult and alchemical works from around the time of the European Renaissance, and particularly elaborated in the 16th century works of Paracelsus. According to Paracelsus and his subsequent fo ...

'', which was based on his experience growing up in New York. The film will incorporate the

classical elements Classical elements typically refer to earth, water, air, fire, and (later) aether which were proposed to explain the nature and complexity of all matter in terms of simpler substances. Ancient cultures in Greece, Tibet, and India had simil ...

of fire, water, air, and earth as the sentient residents of a city, and is set to release June 16, 2023 as the 27th feature film made by the Emeryville-based studio. In addition, it will be the only Pixar film that year, before they revert back to two for 2024.

Personal life

Sohn is married to artist Anna Chambers, whom he met at CalArts.

Filmography

Feature films

Short films and TV specials

Video games

Other credits

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sohn, Peter American animated film directors 1977 births Animators from New York (state) American male screenwriters American male voice actors American storyboard artists American people of Korean descent California Institute of the Arts alumni Living people People from the Bronx Pixar people Animation screenwriters Screenwriters from New York (state)