Chris Wedge
Chris Wedge received the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, a distinction that marked a significant point in a career built across multiple disciplines within American cinema.
Born on March 20, 1957, in Binghamton, New York, Wedge attended Fayetteville-Manlius High School before going on to study at the University of New Hampshire, Ohio State University, and the State University of New York at Purchase. That progression through several institutions shaped his formation as a filmmaker and animator. Over the course of his career he has worked as a director, animator, voice actor, screenwriter, actor, film producer, and executive producer — a range of roles that reflects sustained engagement with filmmaking at multiple levels rather than a single fixed position within any one production. His work has been conducted in English and is grounded in the American film industry, consistent with his United States citizenship.
The Academy Award placed Wedge among animators recognized at the level of the American film establishment's most prominent honors. His accumulated credits span both the creative and organizational dimensions of production, from performance — as a voice actor and actor — to the broader oversight implied by his work as an executive producer. It is worth noting that the Library of Congress Authorized Heading records his birth year as 1958 rather than the 1957 indicated by other sources, a minor archival discrepancy that occasionally attends careers of this kind. What the record does establish without ambiguity is his Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, which stands as the most formally documented recognition among his credits.
Quotes by Chris Wedge
You win the Oscar, you get to go into just about anybody’s office for a month. I had a lot of meetings.
Animation has always been about technology. You can’t have animation without technology.
For me, part of the fascination with making animation is you go to a place; it’s a complete immersion in someone else’s fantasy.
If anything, it’s a little intimidating because there’s usually a lot of brilliant work and a lot of brilliant ideas out there that you wish you had thought of, or that you just admire for the originality of it or the difference from what you’ve been thinking of.
I grew up watching classic animation, and I have always felt that the roots of animation is in fantasy and taking it in places that you can’t go, any other way.
Someday, I’d like to sit down with a small group of people, in a relaxed environment, and make a film that feels more independent. That way we can be a little more free in terms of storytelling and subject.
What made ‘Ice Age’ work is that it had its shiny candy coatings, but inside was a soft, creamy center.
We can’t worry about competition. Besides, you aren’t competing with anyone but yourself. They have nothing to do with whether you make a good movie or not.
We can't worry about competition. Besides, you aren't competing with anyone but yourself. They have nothing to do with whether you make a good movie or not.
For me, part of the fascination with making animation is you go to a place; it's a complete immersion in someone else's fantasy.