Darren Walsh (born 26 March 1969) is a British director, writer, animator and voice artist. He uses stop-frame animation, live-action, and CG in his work. He lives in London and is represented by production company

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 anima ...

, having worked previously independently and for

Aardman Animations Aardman Animations Limited, known simply as Aardman, is a British animation studio based in Bristol, England, United Kingdom. It is known for films and television series made using stop motion and clay animation techniques, particularly those fe ...

Career

Walsh trained in animation at

West Surrey College of Art and Design Surrey Institute of Art & Design, University College (SIAD) was an Art school, art college in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2005. It was formed from the merger of West Surrey College of Art and Design (1969–1995) and Epsom School of Art and ...

(now the

University for the Creative Arts The University for the Creative Arts is a specialist art and design university in Southern England. It was formed in 2005 as University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester when the Kent Institu ...

), where his graduation film "Oozat" (1993), using pixelation and mask animation, was broadcast on Channel 4 and won awards at the Cork International Film Festival and the Hiroshima Animation Festival. In 1994, Walsh directed a short film called "The Biz", which is currently partially found. He devised, directed, and voiced the four series of '' Angry Kid'' animated short films, which were commissioned by the BBC, produced at Aardman Animations, and won awards including Best Animated Short at the World Comedy Short Film Festival, Toronto in February 2003. In 2001 and 2002, Walsh directed two adverts for

Tennent's lager Tennent Caledonian is a brewing company based in Glasgow, Scotland. It was founded in 1740 on the bank of the Molendinar Burn by Hugh and Robert Tennent. It is owned by C&C Group plc, which purchased the Tennent Caledonian Breweries subsidiar ...

, which won the British Animation Awards in 2002. Walsh devised and directed ''Who Do I Think I Am?'' and also directed commercials, title sequences, and broadcast idents for BBC Television and Channel 4 before moving to London and joining Passion Pictures in 2003. At Passion Pictures Walsh directed campaigns for Sony Bravia "Play-Doh" (with Frank Budgen at Gorgeous Enterprises),

comparethemarket.com Comparethemarket is a UK price comparison website, founded in 2006, that is part of the BGL Group. The website also offers other on-line companies the ability to provide their customers with a co-branded or white labelled comparison service ...

Peperami Peperami is a pork jerky snack manufactured by Jack Link's. It is similar to BiFi and is manufactured in Ansbach, Germany, and sold in the United Kingdom, Mexico and Ireland, across multiples and independent retailers. The snack has multiple ...

, Specsavers, BBC iPlayer, Duracell and National Express Trains. Walsh's animation direction on Sony Bravia "Play-Doh", where hundreds of plasticine rabbits take over Manhattan, won Best Animation at the 2007 D&AD Awards. The comparethemarket.com campaign, featuring the Russian meerkat character, Aleksandr Orlov, won a silver and three gold awards at the 2010

British Television Advertising Awards The British Arrows (formerly the British Television Advertising Awards (BTAA)) is an advertising awards body in London, which honours the best moving image advertising in the UK. Founded in 1976, the British Arrows awards advertising agencies and ...

. The Orlov character was designed by Walsh and he has directed all of the TV advertisements for the campaign. In 2008, he directed the film trailer "Flying Penguins" for An

April Fools' Day April Fools' Day or April Fool's Day (rarely called All Fools' Day) is an annual custom on the 1st of April consisting of practical jokes, hoaxes, and pranks. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fool " at the recipient. ...

Prank on the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. It was filmed to promote the

BBC iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available Over-the-top media service, over-the-top on a wide range of devices, including Mobile phone, mobile phones and Tablet computer ...

. In total, his commercials have picked up over 50 industry and animation awards since 2006. In 2011, Walsh animated the clockwork mouse for '' Hugo'', which was nominated for 11 Oscars, and he was also awarded an honorary MA from University of the Creative Arts, Farnham. In 2011, Walsh was awarded an honorary degree from the

. His most recent work includes being Animation Director on the first part of His Dark Materials, the adaptation of Philip Pullman's trilogy for TV.

Personal life

Walsh lives in Bray, Ireland and has two children.

References

External links

Campaign Big Awards 2009 BTAA Gold Awards 2010 Sony "Play Doh"BTACA Best AnimationBritish Animation Awards''Hugo''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walsh, Darren Living people 1969 births Aardman Animations people Alumni of the University for the Creative Arts British animated film directors British animators British television directors People from Frimley Stop motion animators