Stephen Michael "Steve" Martino
(born July 21, 1959)
is an American designer and film director. He is best known for directing the films ''
Horton Hears a Who!'' (2008), ''
Ice Age: Continental Drift'' (2012), and ''
The Peanuts Movie'' (2015).
Early life
Martino went to
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...
where he studied design.
After graduation, he heard computer animation pioneer
Chuck Csuri speak. "I was absolutely blown away. No one was doing what he was showing us. I hadn't seen images like that anywhere before," Martino said. He returned to the university and earned in 1989 a master's degree,
studying at the Computer Graphics Research Group (later renamed to Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design), founded by Csuri.
Career
After graduation, Steve went to Los Angeles, where he worked in animation and visual effects.
In 2001, he joined
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the ...
-based
Blue Sky Studios
Blue Sky Studios, Inc. was an American computer animation studio based in Greenwich, Connecticut. It was founded on February 22, 1987 by Chris Wedge, Michael Ferraro, Carl Ludwig, Alison Brown, David Brown, and Eugene Troubetzkoy after their e ...
.
There he co-directed computer-animated ''
Horton Hears a Who!'' and ''
Ice Age: Continental Drift''.
He directed ''
The Peanuts Movie'' (2015), an animated feature film adaptation of
Charles M. Schulz's comic strip ''
Peanuts
''Peanuts'' is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. ''Peanuts'' is among the most popular and inf ...
''.
In February 2018, it was reported that Martino and
Karen Disher would direct an upcoming animated fantasy musical, under the working title ''The Fright Stuff'', for Blue Sky Studios. The film was originally scheduled for release in 2023, but was moved to an unknown date.
The production studio was closed in 2021.
Filmography
Director
Film
* ''
Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!'' (2008)
* ''
Ice Age: Continental Drift'' (2012)
* ''
The Peanuts Movie'' (2015)
Short film
* ''Scrat's Continental Crack-up'' (2010)
* ''Scrat's Continental Crack-up - Part 2'' (2011)
Art director
Film
* ''
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'' (2005)
Short Films
* ''
Gone Nutty
''Gone Nutty'' (also known as ''Scrat's Missing Adventure'') is a 2002 American computer-animated short film directed by Carlos Saldanha for Blue Sky Studios. The short features the character Scrat from ''Ice Age'', who is yet again having troubles ...
'' (2002)
Television
* ''World of Discovery'' (1990) (Main title designer)
Other roles
* ''
Ice Age: The Meltdown'' (2006) (Pre-Production Consultant)
* ''
Spies in Disguise'' (2019) (Senior Creative Team)
Critical reception
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
American animated film directors
Living people
Blue Sky Studios people
1959 births
People from Dayton, Ohio
Film directors from Ohio
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