Andrew James Knight (November 23, 1961 – April 11, 2008) was a 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 ...

, film and television director, voice actor, and creator of '' Ned's Newt'', '' Pig City'' and ''

Get Ed ''Get Ed'' is a computer-animated television series about a genetically engineered teenage delivery boy who fights industrial crime in Progress City. The show aired as a part of the Jetix programming block on the United States cable television ...

''.

Life and career

Andy Knight was born in

Pembroke, Ontario Pembroke is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario at the confluence of the Muskrat River (Ontario), Muskrat River and the Ottawa River in the Ottawa Valley. Pembroke is the location of the administrative headquarters of Renfrew County, thoug ...

, the son of Geoffrey and Betty Knight, and has two older siblings, Fiona Knight-Gagné and Peter Knight. Knight's entry into the animation industry was with the

Gaumont Film Company The Gaumont Film Company (, ), often shortened to Gaumont, is a French film studio headquartered in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. Founded by the engineer-turned-inventor Léon Gaumont (1864–1946) in 1895, it is the oldest extant film company in ...

in Paris. During his time in France he worked on a number of film and television projects, including the '' Inspector Gadget'' series. In 1989 he moved to London, as Creative Director of the

Passion Pictures Passion Pictures is a British film production company established by Andrew Ruhemann in 1987. The company has studios in London, Melbourne, Paris, Toronto, and New York City. Film production The company's core business is in commercial and anim ...

studio. In 1992 he and his wife, Linzi, struck out on their own, founding

Red Rover Studios House of Cool Studios is a boutique animation studio based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and founded as a pre-production studio in 2004 by animation veteran Ricardo Curtis and finance expert Wes Lui, specializing in designing and storyboarding ...

in London. In 1996 they were persuaded to open the

Disney Canada ''Club Penguin'' was a massively multiplayer online game (MMO), involving a virtual world that contained a range of online games and activities. It was created by New Horizon Interactive (now known as Disney Canada Inc.). Players used carto ...

studio in Toronto, to which they agreed on condition that The Walt Disney Company finance the move of Red Rover to Toronto, as well. Over the years, among a large body of work, he contributed to three ''

Asterix ''Asterix'' or ''The Adventures of Asterix'' (french: Astérix or , "Asterix the Gaul") is a '' bande dessinée'' comic book series about a village of indomitable Gaulish warriors who adventure around the world and fight the Roman Repub ...

'' films as a

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, in th ...

artist and supervisor, was animation director for the 2000 DreamWorks production '' Joseph: King of Dreams'', directed the Disney animated film '' Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas'', and was the writer and director of the BAFTA- and

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 d ...

-nominated 2003

short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...

''Plumber''. In addition, he created, developed, wrote, animated and directed many award-winning commercial and television projects, including the

animated series An animated series is a set of Animation, animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can ...

'' Ned's Newt'', '' Pig City'', and ''

''. He died of a stroke on April 11, 2008. According to the

Canadian Film Centre The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) is a charitable organization founded by filmmaker Norman Jewison in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1988. Originally launched as film school, today it provides training, development and advancement opportunities for pr ...

, his wife and partner, Linzi, was a 2010 alumnus of its film director program, has also passed away.

References

External links

* Film directors from Ontario Canadian storyboard artists Canadian television directors Canadian animated film directors People from Pembroke, Ontario 2008 deaths 1961 births Canadian animators Walt Disney Animation Studios people {{canada-film-director-stub