Andrew Stanton - Variety500 - Top 500 Entertainment Business Leaders
The two-time Oscar winner (for “Finding Nemo” and “WALL-E,” best animated feature), highly respected director-writer and Pixar vet is arguably the company’s MVP. And he triumphed again in 2016 with the $1 billion-grossing global smash “Finding Dory,” a sequel to the blockbuster “Finding Nemo” (which he also wrote and directed) and the second Pixar film to gross over $1 billion following “Toy Story 3” (which he also co-wrote).
The Massachusetts native joined the studio as its second animator in 1990 and quickly established himself as strong on story and with enough bite to perfectly balance the sunny outlook of Pixar chief creative officer John Lasseter. Since then he’s directed and/or written and produced — and done voice-over work for — such Pixar hits as “A Bug’s Life,” “Monsters, Inc.,” “The Incredibles,” “Cars,” “WALL-E,” “Ratatouille,” “Up,” “Monsters University,” “Inside Out” and all three “Toy Story” films, in addition to various video games and shorts.
Stanton’s incredible run hit just one speed bump — tellingly, when he decided to take a time-out from Pixar and make the transition to live-action directing. His 2012 live-action debut, “John Carter,” a big-budget sci-fi fantasy for Disney, flopped, and Stanton returned to the studio he helped build. He is currently working on “Toy Story 4.”
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