Rex Grignon (born June 11, 1962) is a Canadian-American animation director and entrepreneur. Grignon received his animation training at

Sheridan College Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, formerly Sheridan College of Applied Arts and Technology, is a public polytechnic institute partnered with private Canadian College of Technology and Trades operating campuses ...

where he graduated in 1984. He then earned his bachelor's degree in 1985 from

New York Institute of Technology The New York Institute of Technology (NYIT or New York Tech) is a Private university, private research university, research university founded in 1955. It has two main campuses in New York (state), New York—one in Old Westbury, on Long I ...

. He worked in Europe for two years as a staff animator and Art Director in Frankfurt and Paris, mostly working on early 3D commercials and broadcast graphics. Grignon moved to the U.S. in 1988 where he worked for

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. ...

as a Senior Animator and co-founded PDI's Character Animation Group with Tim Johnson. After founding the Character Animation Group, he worked for two years with

Jim Henson James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, animator, actor, and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notability as the creator of the Muppets. Henson was also well known for creating ''Fraggle Rock'' ( ...

and

Frank Oz Frank Richard Oznowicz (born May 25, 1944), known professionally as Frank Oz, is an American puppeteer, filmmaker and actor. He is best known for his involvement with Jim Henson and George Lucas through ''The Muppets'', ''Sesame Street'', and '' ...

at the

Jim Henson Company The Jim Henson Company, Inc., formerly known as Muppets, Inc., Henson Associates, Inc., and Jim Henson Productions, Inc. (commonly referred to as Henson), is an American entertainment company located in Los Angeles, California. The company is kn ...

as lead animator. Grignon briefly left

PDI PDI may refer to: Organizations * Investigations Police of Chile () * Party for Justice and Integration (), an Albanian political party * Pacific Data Images, former US computer animation company * Paul Drude Institute for solid state electroni ...

to work at

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 ...

as an animator on

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 ...

. After PDI was bought by

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 ...

, Grignon worked as the Head of Character Animation on such films as ''

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 ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', ''Madagascar'', '' Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa'', and '' Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted''. In 2006 Grignon was accepted into the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., with the stated goal of adva ...

—

the Oscars The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in ...

—for his contributions to the field of animation. He was awarded the first ever Distinguished Alumnus Award, Animation from

in 2007 and won the 2013 Premier's Award for Creative Arts and Design. Grignon was the lead designer of Premo, the animation software developed at DreamWorks Animation. In 2018 Premo won a Technical Achievement Award from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Grignon is currently the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of Nimble Collective, which he co-founded in 2014 with DreamWorks alumni

Jason Schleifer Jason Schleifer is an American animator, character technical director, and entrepreneur. Schleifer started his career at Alias/Wavefront where he was a product specialist during the development of Maya. His technical expertise in character riggi ...

, Bruce Wilson and Scott LaFleur.

Filmography

References

External links

* *
Rex Grignon, Reading Between the 'Toons
on

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

Rex Grignon
(trustee) at

SETI Institute The SETI Institute is a not-for-profit research organization incorporated in 1984 whose mission is to explore, understand, and explain the origin and nature of life in the universe, and to use this knowledge to inspire and guide present and futu ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grignon, Rex American animators Canadian animators Living people 1962 births Pixar people DreamWorks Animation people