Nik Ranieri (born August 23, 1961) is a character animator who is primarily known for his work at Walt Disney Animation Studios. He has been supervising animator of many characters, and remained so until his layoff in 2013.

Career

After graduating from the Classical Animation Program at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario, Ranieri went to work for Atkinson Film-Arts animation production studio (in Ottawa, Ontario). He began animating for Disney in 1987 on the London, England-based animation crew of '' Who Framed Roger Rabbit'', working with director Richard Williams. Soon after that he moved to Disney's feature animation studio in Glendale, California, where he animated on '' The Little Mermaid'' (working primarily on the character of

Ursula the sea witch Ursula is a fictional character who appears as the main antagonist in Walt Disney Pictures' 28th animated feature film ''The Little Mermaid'' (1989). Voiced by American actress Pat Carroll, Ursula is a villainous sea witch who offers a mermaid ...

, under directing animator

Ruben Aquino Ruben Aquino (born December 18, 1953) is a Japanese-born Filipino-American animator. A character animator and a supervising animator who has formerly worked on many films at Walt Disney Animation Studios, his work has included the several Disney c ...

). On his next film, Ranieri was promoted to supervising animator on the character of Wilbur in '' The Rescuers Down Under''. In 1995, he won an

Annie Award The Annie Awards are accolades which the Los Angeles branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood, has presented each year since 1972 to recognize excellence in animation shown in cinema and television. Originally desi ...

in the category 'Individual Achievement in Character Animation' for his animation of the raccoon "Meeko" in '' Pocahontas''. In 1997, he won an

in the category 'Individual Achievement in Character Animation' for his animation of

Hades Hades (; grc-gre, ᾍδης, Háidēs; ), in the ancient Greek religion and myth, is the god of the dead and the king of the underworld, with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea, although this also ...

in '' Hercules''. While Ranieri is regarded as one of the modern-day masters of hand-drawn character animation (especially excelling in subtle dialogue scenes and facial expressions) he also successfully made the switch to animating in CG on films such as '' Chicken Little'', '' Meet the Robinsons'' and ''

Bolt The BOLT Browser was a web browser for mobile phones including feature phones and smartphones that can run Java ME applications. The BOLT Browser was offered free of charge to consumers and by license to mobile network operators and handset manuf ...

''. Ranieri returned to his roots in classic hand-drawn animation for the 2009 Disney animated film '' The Princess and the Frog''. On April 6, 2013, The Walt Disney Company announced that Ranieri, along with eight other animators working at Walt Disney Animation Studios, had been laid off in an effort for the company as a whole to cut costs. He later worked at Studio Roqovan, where he worked on the video game ''World War Toons'', up until the studio closed in 2019. Ranieri won the Outstanding Individual Achievement In Animation award in 2021 at the 73rd Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards as Lead Character Layout for '' The Simpsons'' episode Wad Goals.

Filmography

Awards

* 1995 ''Best Individual Achievement: Character Animation'' for 'Hades' in ''Hercules'' * 1997 ''Best Individual Achievement for Animation'' for 'Meeko' in ''Pocahontas'' * 1997 ' NCS Division Award' in ''Feature Animation'' (for Hades) http://www.reuben.org/ncs/archive/divisions/feature.asp * 2021 ''Outstanding Individual Achievement In Animation'', 73rd Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ranieri, Nik American animators Sheridan College animation program alumni Living people Walt Disney Animation Studios people 1961 births Annie Award winners