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Carlos Saldanha (; born 24 January 1965) is a Brazilian animator, director, producer, and voice actor of animated films who worked with
Blue Sky Studios Blue Sky Studios, Inc. was an American visual effects and computer animation animation studio, studio, which was active from 1987 to 2021. It was based in Greenwich, Connecticut, and was founded on February 22, 1987, by Chris Wedge, Michael F ...
until its closure in 2021. He was the director of '' Ice Age: The Meltdown'' (2006), '' Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs'' (2009), ''
Rio Rio or Río is the Portuguese and Spanish word for "river". The word also exists in Italian, but is largely obsolete and used in a poetical or literary context to mean "stream". Rio, RIO or Río may also refer to: Places United States * Rio, Fl ...
'' (2011), ''
Rio 2 ''Rio 2'' is a 2014 American animated musical comedy film produced by Blue Sky Studios and directed by Carlos Saldanha. It is the sequel to the 2011 animated film and the second installment of the ''Rio'' franchise. The title refers to the ci ...
'' (2014), ''
Ferdinand Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "courage" or "ready, prepared" related to Old High German "to risk, ventu ...
'' (2017), and ''
Harold and the Purple Crayon ''Harold and the Purple Crayon'' is a 1955 Children's literature, children's picture book written and illustrated by Crockett Johnson. Published by HarperCollins Publishers, it is Johnson's most popular book, and has led to a series of other rel ...
'' (2024), and the co-director of ''
Ice Age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...
'' (2002) and ''
Robots" \n\n\n\n\n\n\nrobots.txt is the filename used for implementing the Robots Exclusion Protocol, a standard used by websites to indicate to visiting web crawlers and other web robots which portions of the website they are allowed to visit.\n\nThe sta ...
'' (2005). Saldanha was nominated in 2003 for 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 ...
for ''
Gone Nutty ''Gone Nutty'' (also known as ''Scrat's Missing Adventure'') is a 2002 American 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 with co ...
'' and in 2018 for Best Animated Feature for ''
Ferdinand Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "courage" or "ready, prepared" related to Old High German "to risk, ventu ...
''.


Early life

Saldanha was born in Brazil, growing up in
Marechal Hermes Marechal Hermes is a planned working-class neighborhood located in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, founded on May 1, 1913. Surrounding neighborhoods include Bento Ribeiro, Campo dos Afonsos, Deodoro and Guadalupe. It takes its nam ...
,
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...
."What's in Store". ''Visual Arts Journal''. Fall 2011.
School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by Silas ...
. Page 18
Though he loved cartoons and drawing from an early age, by the time he was an adult, he initially considered a career in
computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...
, because he did not think a career in art was a viable option. This changed when he became aware of how
computer-generated imaging Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is a specific-technology or application of computer graphics for creating or improving images in art, printed media, simulators, videos and video games. These images are either static (i.e. still images) or d ...
was revolutionizing animation, and discovered the continuing education program at the
School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by Silas ...
in
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
. He entered that program to major in computer animation, saying, "I knew from the first day in class that this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life". One of his instructors, recognizing his talent, convinced him to enroll in the school's MFA program. Though Saldanha and his wife, Isabella Scarpa, thought this was a risk, they opted to stay in Manhattan so that Saldanha could do so. While at SVA, he completed two prizewinning film shorts that were featured in film festivals around the world. It was also at SVA that Saldanha met MFA instructor and future film directing partner
Chris Wedge John Christian Wedge (born March 20, 1957) is an American filmmaker, animator, and voice actor. He is best known for being the lead animator of the sci-fi action film ''Tron'' (1982), co-founding the now defunct animation studio Blue Sky Studios ...
, who invited Saldanha to join Wedge's company
Blue Sky Studios Blue Sky Studios, Inc. was an American visual effects and computer animation animation studio, studio, which was active from 1987 to 2021. It was based in Greenwich, Connecticut, and was founded on February 22, 1987, by Chris Wedge, Michael F ...
. Saldanha graduated from SVA with a master's degree in
Computer Art Computer art is art in which computers play a role in the production or display of the artwork. Such art can be an image, sound, animation, video, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, video game, website, algorithm, performance or gallery installation. Many traditio ...
in 1993.


Career

During its fledgling years, Blue Sky Studios provided special effects and produced animated TV commercials. In 2002, Saldanha and Wedge co-directed the animated feature 2002 film ''
Ice Age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...
''. The movie was a success, with an opening weekend gross of $46.3 million, the best March opening ever. After co-directing the 2005 animated film ''
Robots" \n\n\n\n\n\n\nrobots.txt is the filename used for implementing the Robots Exclusion Protocol, a standard used by websites to indicate to visiting web crawlers and other web robots which portions of the website they are allowed to visit.\n\nThe sta ...
'', he broke his previous March opening record with the sequel, '' Ice Age: The Meltdown'', which Saldanha directed by himself. He would later direct the 2009 sequel, '' Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs''. Desiring a change of location after directing three films set in icy locales, Saldanha's next project was the 2011 film ''
Rio Rio or Río is the Portuguese and Spanish word for "river". The word also exists in Italian, but is largely obsolete and used in a poetical or literary context to mean "stream". Rio, RIO or Río may also refer to: Places United States * Rio, Fl ...
'', which is set in Saldanha's hometown of Rio de Janeiro. Saldanha, who felt that Rio had never been fully portrayed on film, felt a responsibility to travel to the city with the other animators so that they could accurately capture Rio's unique environment and habitats. The movie grossed a reported $484 million worldwide. In October 2012, Saldanha signed a five-year exclusive deal with
20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...
to develop and produce animated and
live-action Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a live-action animated feature film. Live action is used to define film, video games or ...
projects. For this purpose, he formed in June 2013 a Fox-based production company named BottleCap Productions. In 2014, ''
Rio 2 ''Rio 2'' is a 2014 American animated musical comedy film produced by Blue Sky Studios and directed by Carlos Saldanha. It is the sequel to the 2011 animated film and the second installment of the ''Rio'' franchise. The title refers to the ci ...
'' was released, which he directed and co-wrote. For 2017, he directed an animated feature film adaptation of ''
The Story of Ferdinand ''The Story of Ferdinand'' (1936) is the best-known work by the American author Munro Leaf. Illustrated by Robert Lawson, the children's book tells the story of a bull who would rather smell flowers than fight in bullfights. He sits in the ...
''. Saldanha is also directing for Fox a live-action adaptation of Royden Lepp's graphic novel ''Rust: Visitor in the Field'', which he planned to make before ''Ferdinand''. He was also developing an animated feature film based on a book ''Alienology'' from the '' Ologies'' fantasy book series. In January 2022, it was announced that Saldanha would direct ''Harold and the Purple Crayon'' for
Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...
and
Davis Entertainment Davis Entertainment (also known as Davis Entertainment Company) is an American independent film and television production company, founded by John Davis in 1984. Davis's three divisions–feature film, independent film, and television–develo ...
. The film, which is also the first to be directed by Saldanha since 2017, was released on August 2, 2024.


Personal life

Saldanha and his wife, mathematician Isabella Scarpa, initially lived in a studio apartment in Manhattan's
Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...
, but after their second daughter was born, they moved to
Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; ) is a City (New Jersey), city in Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Hoboken is part of the New York metropolitan area and is the site of Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub. As of the ...
, where they had friends. They continue to live there with their children, Manoela, Sofia, Julia and Rafael. Saldanha, Isabella and their oldest daughter compete in the HOHA (Hoboken Harriers Running Club), a 5k race. Manoela and Sofia voiced a "porcupine-like critter" called "Molehog" in the film '' Ice Age: The Meltdown'', directed by their father. In ''
Rio Rio or Río is the Portuguese and Spanish word for "river". The word also exists in Italian, but is largely obsolete and used in a poetical or literary context to mean "stream". Rio, RIO or Río may also refer to: Places United States * Rio, Fl ...
'', Sofia voiced Linda Gunderson as a child.


Filmography


Feature films


Short films


Television


Critical reception


Awards and nominations


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saldanha, Carlos Living people 1965 births Brazilian animated film directors Mass media people from Rio de Janeiro (city) Blue Sky Studios people Sony people Sony Pictures Entertainment people Sony Pictures Animation people American animated film directors Brazilian emigrants to the United States