Peter A. Ramsey (born December 23, 1962) is an American illustrator, storyboard artist, and filmmaker. He is best known for directing

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 ...

's '' Rise of the Guardians'' (2012), becoming the first

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

to direct a computer-animated film and the second to direct a major American animated film ( Bruce W. Smith was the first African-American director with

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

' '' Bebe's Kids'' 992, and co-directing

Sony Pictures Animation Sony Pictures Animation Inc. (also referred to as Sony Animation Studios and abbreviated to SPA) is an American animation studio owned by Sony Entertainment's Sony Pictures Entertainment through their Motion Picture Group division and found ...

's '' Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'' (2018). For ''Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'', he became the first African American to be nominated for and win an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

Early life

Ramsey grew up in the Crenshaw District of South Los Angeles, and graduated in 1980 from Palisades High School. He studied painting at

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

for two years before enrolling in film classes at

Los Angeles City College Los Angeles City College (LACC) is a public community college in East Hollywood, California. A part of the Los Angeles Community College District, it is located on Vermont Avenue south of Santa Monica Boulevard on the former campus of the U ...

. He was raised

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Career

His first job in Hollywood was painting a mural, but soon he was working as a storyboard artist and production illustrator on 26 films including ''

Predator 2 ''Predator 2'' is a 1990 American science fiction film, science fiction action film written by brothers Jim and John Thomas, directed by Stephen Hopkins (director), Stephen Hopkins, and starring Danny Glover, Gary Busey, Ruben Blades, Rubén Bla ...

'', '' Backdraft'', ''

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event memorialization, commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or Sovereign state, statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a milit ...

'', '' Fight Club'' and '' A.I. Artificial Intelligence''. He was a second unit director for ''

Poetic Justice Poetic justice, also called poetic irony, is a literary device with which ultimately virtue is rewarded and misdeeds are punished. In modern literature, it is often accompanied by an ironic twist of fate related to the character's own action, h ...

'', '' Higher Learning'', ''

Tank Girl Tank Girl is a British comic created by Alan Martin (writer), Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett. It first appeared in print in 1988 in the British comics magazine ''Deadline (magazine), Deadline'', and then in the solo comic book series ''Tank Girl' ...

'' and ''

Godzilla is a fictional monster, or ''kaiju'', that debuted in the eponymous 1954 film, directed and co-written by Ishirō Honda. The character has since become an international pop culture icon, appearing in various media: 33 Japanese films p ...

''. Aron Warner, the producer of ''Tank Girl'', suggested he join

. After initially being uninterested, Ramsey joined DreamWorks as a story artist for '' Shrek the Third'' and ''

Shrek the Halls ''Shrek the Halls'' is an American animated Christmas comedy television special that premiered on the American television network ABC on November 28, 2007. The thirty minute Christmas special was co-written and directed by Gary Trousdale and p ...

''. In 2012, he directed '' Rise of the Guardians'', based on

William Joyce William Brooke Joyce (24 April 1906 – 3 January 1946), nicknamed Lord Haw-Haw, was an American-born Fascism, fascist and Propaganda of Nazi Germany, Nazi propaganda broadcaster during the World War II, Second World War. After moving from ...

's ''The Guardians of Childhood'' books, making him the first African-American to direct a big-budget animated feature. In 2018, he co-directed '' Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'', which won the

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. He is set to write and direct ''Blood Count'', a period vampire thriller distributed by

, as well as the

Robert Johnson Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His singing, guitar playing and songwriting on his landmark 1936 and 1937 recordings have influenced later generations of musicians. Although his r ...

movie ''Love is Vain.'' On April 16, 2021, he was set to direct the film adaptation of the Matthew Quick novel ''Boy21''. In April 2022, Ramsey had been hired to direct an episode each of the ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'' streaming series '' The Mandalorian'' season 3, which was released in March 2023, and '' Ahsoka'', which was released in August 2023. Ramsey is a member of AMPAS, the

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of Film director, film and Television director, television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Dir ...

and The Animation Guild.

Filmography

Director

* '' Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space'' (2009) * '' Rise of the Guardians'' (2012) * '' Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'' (2018) (co-director with Bob Persichetti and Rodney Rothman) * '' We the People'' (2021) (Segment: ''Active Citizenship'') * '' Lost Ollie'' (2022) * '' The Mandalorian'' (2023) (Episode: " Chapter 21: The Pirate") * '' Ahsoka'' (2023) (Episode: " Part Four: Fallen Jedi") * ''Blood Count'' (TBA)

Second unit director

Storyboard artist

* '' A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child'' (1989) * ''

'' (1990) * ''

'' (1995) * ''

Mortal Kombat ''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of fighting game, fighting video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The original ''Mortal Kombat (1992 video game), Mortal Kombat'' arcade game spawned Lis ...

'' (1995) * '' Eye for an Eye'' (1996) * ''

'' (1996) * ''

Men in Black In popular culture and UFO conspiracy theories, men in black (MIB) are government agents dressed in dark suits, who question, interrogate, harass, and threaten unidentified flying object (UFO) witnesses to keep them silent about what they have ...

'' (1997) * ''

'' (1998) * '' Being John Malkovich'' (1999) * '' Fight Club'' (1999) * '' How the Grinch Stole Christmas'' (2000) * '' Cast Away'' (2000) * '' A.I. Artificial Intelligence'' (2001) * '' The Affair of the Necklace'' (2001) * '' Panic Room'' (2002) * '' Minority Report'' (2002) * '' Adaptation.'' (2002) * '' The Core'' (2003) * '' Spartan'' (2004) * '' Shark Tale'' (2004) (additional) *'' Shrek the Third'' (2007) *''

'' (2007) * ''

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) (additional) * '' Sausage Party'' (2016) (additional) * '' Duck Duck Goose'' (2018) (additional) * ''

A Wrinkle in Time ''A Wrinkle in Time'' is a young adult science fantasy novel written by American author Madeleine L'Engle. First published in 1962, the book won the Newbery Medal, the Sequoyah Book Award and the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, and was runner-u ...

'' (2018)

Illustrator

* '' Backdraft'' (1991) * '' Far and Away'' (1992) * '' Bram Stoker's Dracula'' (1992) * ''

The Shadow The Shadow is a fictional character created by American magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B. Gibson. Originally created to be a mysterious radio show narrator and developed into a distinct literary character in 1931 by Gibs ...

'' (1994) * '' Batman Forever'' (1995) * '' EDtv'' (1999)

Other

* '' Almost an Angel'' (1990) (continuity artist) * '' Monsters vs. Aliens'' (2009) (head of story) * '' Puss in Boots'' (2011) (creative consultant) * '' Spider-Man: Homecoming'' (2017) (head of story)

Producer

* '' Hair Love'' (2019) (executive producer) *'' Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse'' (2023) (executive producer) *'' Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire'' (2023) (executive producer) *'' Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse'' (2027) (executive producer)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ramsey, Peter African-American film directors African-American illustrators 21st-century American illustrators American animated film directors American storyboard artists Annie Award winners Children's and Family Emmy Award winners Directors of Best Animated Feature Academy Award winners DreamWorks Animation people Film directors from Los Angeles Hugo Award winners Living people People from Crenshaw, Los Angeles Sony Pictures Animation people 1962 births African-American Catholics