Rex Grignon (born June 11, 1962) is a Canadian-American animation director and entrepreneur. Grignon received his animation training 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 ...

where he graduated in 1984. He then earned his bachelor's degree in 1985 from

New York Institute of Technology The New York Institute of Technology (NYIT or New York Tech) is a private research university founded in 1955. It has two main campuses in New York—one in Old Westbury, on Long Island, and one in Manhattan. Additionally, it has a cybersecu ...

. He worked in Europe for two years as a staff animator and Art Director in Frankfurt and Paris, mostly working on early 3D commercials and broadcast graphics. Grignon moved to the U.S. in 1988 where he worked for

Pacific Data Images Pacific Data Images (PDI) was an American computer animation production company based in Redwood City, California, that was bought by DreamWorks SKG in 2000. It was renamed PDI/DreamWorks and was owned by DreamWorks Animation. Founded in 1980 by ...

as a Senior Animator and co-founded PDI's Character Animation Group with Tim Johnson. After founding the Character Animation Group, he worked for two years with

Jim Henson James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, animator, cartoonist, actor, inventor, and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notice as the creator of The Muppets and '' Fraggle Rock'' (1983–1987) and ...

and

Frank Oz Frank Oz (born Frank Richard Oznowicz; May 25, 1944) is an American actor, puppeteer, and filmmaker. He began his career as a puppeteer, performing the Muppet characters of Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and Sam Eagle in ''The Muppet Show ...

at the

Jim Henson Company The Jim Henson Company (formerly known as Muppets, Inc., Henson Associates, Inc., and Jim Henson Productions, Inc.; commonly referred to as Henson) is an American entertainment company located in Los Angeles, California. The company is known for ...

as lead animator. Grignon briefly left PDI to work at

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 ...

as an animator on

Toy Story ''Toy Story'' is a 1995 American computer-animated comedy film directed by John Lasseter (in his feature directorial debut), produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The first installment in the '' Toy Story ...

. After PDI was bought by

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 ...

, Grignon worked as the Head of Character Animation on such films as ''

Antz ''Antz'' is a 1998 American computer-animated adventure comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation (in its debut film) and Pacific Data Images and released by DreamWorks Pictures. It was directed by Eric Darnell and Tim Johnson (in their fe ...

'', ''

Shrek ''Shrek'' is a 2001 American computer-animated comedy film loosely based on the 1990 book of the same name by William Steig. It is the first installment in the ''Shrek'' franchise. The film was directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenso ...

'', ''Madagascar'', '' Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa'', and '' Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted''. In 2006 Grignon was accepted into the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motio ...

—

the Oscars 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 his contributions to the field of animation. He was awarded the first ever Distinguished Alumnus Award, Animation from

in 2007 and won the 2013 Premier's Award for Creative Arts and Design. Grignon was the lead designer of Premo, the animation software developed at DreamWorks Animation. In 2018 Premo won a Technical Achievement Award from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Grignon is currently the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of Nimble Collective, which he co-founded in 2014 with DreamWorks alumni

Jason Schleifer Jason Schleifer is an American animator, character technical director, and entrepreneur. Schleifer started his career at Alias/Wavefront where he was a product specialist during the development of Autodesk Maya, Maya. His technical expertise in ch ...

, Bruce Wilson and Scott LaFleur.

Filmography

References

External links

* *
Rex Grignon, Reading Between the 'Toons
on

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

Rex Grignon
(trustee) at

SETI Institute The SETI Institute is a not-for-profit research organization incorporated in 1984 whose mission is to explore, understand, and explain the origin and nature of life in the universe, and to use this knowledge to inspire and guide present and futu ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grignon, Rex Living people 1962 births Pixar people DreamWorks Animation people