Eric Darnell (born August 21, 1961) is an American

animator An animator is an artist who creates 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 games. Animat ...

storyboard artist A storyboard artist (sometimes called a story artist or visualizer) creates storyboards for advertising agencies and film productions. Work A storyboard artist visualizes stories and sketches frames of the story. Quick pencil drawings and mar ...

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates 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 genre and film scoring. ...

and occasional

voice actor Voice acting is the art of Acting, performing a character or providing information to an audience with one's voice. Performers are often called voice actors/actresses in addition to other names. Examples of voice work include animation, animated, ...

best known for co-directing ''

Antz ''Antz'' is a 1998 American animated adventure comedy film directed by Eric Darnell and Tim Johnson from a screenplay written by Todd Alcott and the writing team of Chris and Paul Weitz. It was produced by DreamWorks Pictures, DreamWorks An ...

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

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

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

Penguins of Madagascar ''Penguins of Madagascar'' is a 2014 American animated spy comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and PDI/DreamWorks and distributed by 20th Century Fox. A spinoff of the ''Madagascar'' film series, it was directed by Eric Darnell and ...

'' (2014) with Simon J. Smith. Darnell now serves as co-founder and

chief creative officer The title Chief Creative Officer (CCO) typically describes the highest-ranking position of a creative team within a media company. Depending on the type of company, this position may be responsible for the overall look and feel of marketing, media, ...

of Baobab Studios.

Life and career

Darnell was born in

Prairie Village, Kansas Prairie Village is a city in Johnson County, Kansas, United States, and located within 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 Coun ...

. He attended

Shawnee Mission East High School Shawnee Mission East High School is a public high school in Prairie Village, Kansas, United States, for grades 9 through 12. It is one of five high schools operated by the Shawnee Mission USD 512 school district. Shawnee Mission East High Sc ...

, 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 university, public research university in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a Federated state, state, it is the fla ...

. 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 university, private art school in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for ...

. Meanwhile, he directed the

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for the 1989

R.E.M. R.E.M. was an American alternative rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the fir ...

song "

Get Up Get Up may refer to: Film and television * Get Up! (film), ''Get Up!'' (film), a 2003 Japanese film directed by Kazuyuki Izutsu * Get Up (film), ''Get Up'' (film), a 2008 South Korean television film directed by Lee Jae-dong * Get Up! (TV program ...

". After graduating in 1991, Darnell joined

Pacific Data Images Pacific Data Images (PDI) was an American computer animation and visual effects 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. ...

, where he worked as a character animator on the 1991

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ; formerly known as H-B Enterprises, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. and H-B Production Co.), simply and commonly known as Hanna-Barbera, was an American animation studio and production company, which was acti ...

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 Christianity, Western Christian f ...

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 b ...

Special Jury Prize. In 1995, he left PDI to join

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios or simply DreamWorks) is an American animation studio, owned by Comcast's NBCUniversal as part of Universal Pictures, a division of Universal Studios, Inc, Universal Stud ...

, where he helped with research and development for ''

The Prince of Egypt ''The Prince of Egypt'' is a 1998 American animated musical drama film directed by Brenda Chapman, Steve Hickner, and Simon Wells, and written by Philip LaZebnik, from a story by Kelly Asbury and Lorna Cook. Produced by DreamWorks Pictur ...

''. 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 (), doing business as Pixar Animation Studios, is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Pixar is a subsidiary of Walt Disney ...

's ''

Toy Story ''Toy Story'' is a 1995 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is the first installment in the Toy Story (franchise), ''Toy Story'' franchise and the Firsts in animation, firs ...

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

Shrek ''Shrek'' is a 2001 American animated fantasy comedy film directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, and written by Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman, and Roger S. H. Schulman, loosely based on the 1990 children's picture boo ...

'', 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 director, producer, writer, storyboard artist and voice actor, best known for his work on the DreamWorks Animation, DreamWorks animated film series ''Shrek (franchise), Shrek'' as well as other fil ...

, which was released on June 8, 2012. He co-directed, with Simon J. Smith, a ''

'' spin-off, titled ''

'' 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 video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher known for its social video game services. It was founded in April 2007, with headquarters in San Mateo, California. The company primarily focuses on mobile an ...

, a

Redwood City, California Redwood City is a city on the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area of Northern California, approximately south of San Francisco and northwest of San Jose, California, San Jose. The city's population was 84,292 accor ...

-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 Roth/Kirschenbaum Films (formerly Roth Films) is an American production company formed in 2007 by producer Joe Roth, the founder of Revolution Studios and co-founder of Morgan Creek Entertainment and Caravan Pictures. History Joe Roth announce ...

. 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, and pianist. He began his musical career working behind the scenes for other artists, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Every ...

Constance Wu Constance Wu (; born March 22, 1982) is an American actress. Wu's breakthrough role came with the ABC sitcom '' Fresh Off the Boat'' (2015–2020), which earned her four nominations at the Critics' Choice Television Awards. For leading the roma ...

Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American television presenter, talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show' ...

Diego Luna Diego Dionisio Luna Alexander (; born 29 December 1979) is a Mexican actor, director, and producer, best known for his portrayal of Cassian Andor in ''Rogue One, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story'' (2016) and the Disney+ series ''Andor (TV series), ...

and

Liza Koshy Elizabeth Shaila Koshy (born March 31, 1996) is an American YouTuber and actress. Her main YouTube channel has amassed almost 17 million subscribers, and her two channels have a combined total of over 3 billion views. She has received four Str ...

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

People The term "the people" refers to the public or Common people, common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. I ...

'', 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. ''VentureBeat'' is a tech news source that publishes news, analysis, long-form features, interviews, and videos. The ''VentureBeat'' company was fou ...

, 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 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census, Campbell's population is 43,959. Campbell is home to the Pruneyard Shopping Center, a sprawling open-ai ...

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

Filmography

Feature film

Short film

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 of animated series People from Prairie Village, Kansas Princess Grace Awards winners DreamWorks Animation people Nickelodeon Animation Studio people Nickelodeon people People from Campbell, California Film directors from California Film directors from Kansas