Eric Darnell (born August 21, 1961) is an American animator, storyboard artist, director,

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

and occasional

voice actor Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talen ...

best known for co-directing ''

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 ...

'' with Tim Johnson, as well as co-directing and co-writing ''

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

'', '' Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa'' and '' Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted'' with Tom McGrath, as well as the spin off '' Penguins of Madagascar'' (2014) with

Simon J. Smith Simon James Smith (born 16 September 1968) is a British animator, film director, and voice actor. He is best known for his work at DreamWorks Animation. Smith came to PDI/DreamWorks in 1997 as head of layout for the company's feature film divisi ...

Life and career

Darnell was born in

Prairie Village, Kansas Prairie Village is a city in Johnson County, Kansas, United States. It is part of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 22,957. History After the successful development of the Country Cl ...

. He attended Shawnee Mission East High School in

, where he was a writer for the school newspaper the ''Harbinger''. He studied broadcast journalism at the

University of Colorado at Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado s ...

. After graduating in 1983, he spent four years working on experimental films in his basement, which helped him get accepted into the Experimental Animation program study at the

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of bo ...

. Meanwhile, he directed the

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devi ...

for the 1989 R.E.M. song "

Get Up Get or GET may refer to: * Get (animal), the offspring of an animal * Get (divorce document), in Jewish religious law * GET (HTTP), a type of HTTP request * "Get" (song), by the Groggers * Georgia Time, used in the Republic of Georgia * Get AS, a ...

". After graduating in 1991, Darnell joined

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 ...

, where he worked as a character animator on the 1991

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer t ...

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. ...

special '' The Last Halloween''. He also animated and directed the short film ''Gas Planet'', which won the

Ottawa International Animation Festival The Ottawa International Animation Festival is an annual animated film and media festival that takes place in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The OIAF was founded in 1975, with the first festival held from August 10 to 15 in 1976. Initially organized by ...

Special Jury Prize. In 1995, he left PDI to join DreamWorks Animation, where he helped with research and development for '' The Prince of Egypt''. Shortly after DreamWorks merged with PDI the following year, he was assigned to direct his first feature film, ''

'', co-directing alongside fellow PDI-turned-DreamWorks employee Tim Johnson. The film, released in 1998, marked the studio's first computer-animated feature film, and the second computer-animated feature film after

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, Californ ...

's ''

Toy Story ''Toy Story'' is a 1995 American computer-animated comedy film directed by John Lasseter (in his feature directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's fi ...

''. He then worked as a storyboard artist on the 2001 film ''

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 Jen ...

'', for which he also wrote the song "Welcome to Duloc." Darnell and Tom McGrath directed ''

'' in 2005 and its sequel, '' Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa'' in 2008. He was co-writer for the Christmas TV special, '' Merry Madagascar''. Darnell also co-directed '' Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted'' with McGrath and

Conrad Vernon Conrad Vernon (born July 11, 1968) is an American voice actor, director, writer, and storyboard artist best known for his work on the DreamWorks animated film series ''Shrek'' as well as other films such as ''Monsters vs. Aliens'', '' Madagascar ...

, which was released on June 8, 2012. He co-directed, with

, a ''

'' spin-off, titled '' Penguins of Madagascar'' and released on November 26, 2014. In 2015, Darnell co-founded with Maureen Fan, a former vice president of games at

Zynga Zynga Inc. () is an American developer running social video game services. It was founded in April 2007, with headquarters in San Mateo, California. The company primarily focuses on mobile and social networking platforms. Zynga states its missio ...

, a

Redwood City, California Redwood City is a city on the San Francisco Peninsula in Northern California's Bay Area, approximately south of San Francisco, and northwest of San Jose. Redwood City's history spans its earliest inhabitation by the Ohlone people to being a ...

-based virtual reality studio Baobab Studios to create animated virtual reality short films. Darnell serves as Baobab's chief creative officer, while Fan serves as its CEO. For the studio, Darnell wrote and directed short VR films, ''Invasion!'' (2016) and its follow-up ''Asteroids!'' (2017), featuring two comedic aliens, Mac and Cheeze. Plans for a feature-length film based on the characters were announced in 2016 by Baobab and Roth Kirschenbaum Films. Darnell also wrote and directed an animated VR short film, ''Crow: The Legend'', inspired by the Lenape myth. Released in 2018, it features the voices of

John Legend John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and record producer. He began his musical career by working behind the scenes, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Eve ...

, Constance Wu, Oprah Winfrey,

Diego Luna Diego Dionisio Luna Alexander (; born 29 December 1979) is a Mexican actor, director, and producer. He is known for his portrayal of Cassian Andor in '' Rogue One: A Star Wars Story'' and the Disney+ series ''Andor''. Following an early ca ...

and Liza Koshy.Russian, Ale
"John Legend Ventures in VR with Oprah Winfrey and More in ''Crow: The Legend'' – Watch Here!"
''

People A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of proper ...

'', November 29, 2018; and Takahashi, Dean
"Baobab's Crow: The Legend debuts as a free short film on Oculus and YouTube"

VentureBeat ''VentureBeat'' is an American technology website headquartered in San Francisco, California. It publishes news, analysis, long-form features, interviews, and videos. History The ''VentureBeat'' company was founded in 2006 by Matt Marshall, ...

, November 15, 2018, accessed November 19, 2018

Personal life

Darnell lives in

Campbell, California Campbell is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, Campbell's population is 43,959. Campbell is home to the Pruneyard Shopping Center, a sprawling open-air retail complex which was i ...

with his wife, Laura, and their son, Rex, and daughter, Leah.

Filmography

Feature films

Short films

Television series

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Darnell, Eric 1961 births Animators from Kansas American animated film directors American animated film producers American storyboard artists California Institute of the Arts alumni University of Colorado Boulder alumni Living people Showrunners People from Prairie Village, Kansas Princess Grace Awards winners DreamWorks Animation people Nickelodeon people People from Campbell, California Film directors from California Film directors from Kansas