Chris Wedge

Early life Wedge was born in Binghamton, New York. During his teenage years, Wedge lived in Watertown, New York which was rumored to be the inspiration for the town where his film Robots takes place, however he later dismissed this in an interview. He became interested in animation when he was 12 years old: "Back then, there was a TV special about kids making cut-out animation in a workshop—as I recall it was Yellow Ball Workshop—it was a clear technique to follow and I followed it. That fascinated me and it got me started. It was so simple, effective and magical in outcome and I stuck with creating things throughout my childhood, teenage years and then college."

He attended Fayetteville-Manlius High School, graduating in 1975. He received his BFA in Film from State University of New York at Purchase in Purchase, New York in 1981, and subsequently earned his MA in computer graphics and art education at the Ohio State University. He has taught animation at the School of Visual Arts in New York City where he met his future film directing partner, Carlos Saldanha.

Career In 1982, Wedge worked for MAGi/SynthaVision, where he was a principal animator on the Disney film Tron, credited as a scene programmer. Some of his other works include The Brave Little Toaster.

Wedge is one of the founders of Blue Sky Studios, once one of the exclusive computer animation studios, and was its Vice President of Creative Development until the studio was closed by The Walt Disney Company in 2021. He is the owner of WedgeWorks, a film production company founded by Wedge.

In the 1990s, he and his studio worked on CGI visual effects for the movies Alien Resurrection and Titan A.E.

In 1998, he won an Academy Award for the short animated film Bunny. Wedge later directed Blue Sky Studios' first computer-animated film, 2002's Ice Age, and served as executive producer for its sequels. He also voices Scrat in the film series, performing the character's "squeaks and squeals." In 2005, Wedge directed Robots, based on a story he created with William Joyce. In 2013 followed Epic, loosely based on Joyce's book, The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs.

In 2008, it was announced that Wedge would direct Hugo, though he was subsequently replaced by Martin Scorsese. In 2009, it was reported that Wedge would direct an animated feature film adaptation of Will Wright's Spore, but since then there has been no further news about the film.

Wedge directed the science fiction/action film Monster Trucks (2016). Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger wrote the script for the film,

Wedge reprised the role of Scrat in a series of shorts for Disney+ titled Ice Age: Scrat Tales. The shorts premiered on the streaming platform on April 13, 2022.

In 2023, it was announced that Wedge had joined Annapurna Animation, which had revived Nimona after it had been initially canceled following the closure of Blue Sky Studios, where he would direct a new animated film called FOO about "the first fish ever to climb out of the water and onto land."

Personal life Wedge lives in Katonah, New York They have two children, Sarah and Jack.

Filmography

Feature films Year Title Director Writer ExecutiveProducer Other Voice/Role Notes 1982 Tron Scene Programmer: MAGi / SynthaVision (as "Christian Wedge") 1996 Joe's Apartment Animation Director 1997 A Simple Wish Executive Creative Supervisor: Blue Sky Studios Alien Resurrection Creative Supervisor: Blue Sky Studios Senior Staff 2002 Ice Age Scrat / Dodo 2005 Robots Wonderbot / Phone Booth 2006 Ice Age: The Meltdown Scrat 2008 Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! 2009 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs Scrat 2011 Rio Adventures in Plymptoons! Himself Documentary 2012 Ice Age: Continental Drift Scrat 2013 Epic 2014 Rio 2 2015 The Peanuts Movie Uncredited role 2016 Ice Age: Collision Course Scrat Monster Trucks 2017 Ferdinand 2019 Spies in Disguise Senior Creative Team 2023 Nimona Blue Sky Studios; Special Thanks FOO

Short films Year Title Director Writer Animator ExecutiveProducer Other Voice Role Notes 1982 The Daymaker 1985 Tuber's Two-Step 1987 Balloon Guy 1990 The Mind's Eye 1998 Bunny 2002 Gone Nutty Scrat 2005 Aunt Fanny's Tour of Booty Hacky 2006 No Time for Nuts Scrat 2008 Surviving Sid 2010 Scrat's Continental Crack-Up Act as Ice Age: Continental Drift Teaser Trailers #1 & #2 2011 Scrat's Continental Crack-Up Part 2 2015 Cosmic Scrat-tastrophe Acts as extended Ice Age: Collision Course Teaser Trailer 2016 Scrat: Spaced Out Ice Age: Collision Course archive and deleted footage 2022 Ice Age: Scrat Tales Disney+ Original Short Films; Ice Age Creative Trust

Television episodes and specials Year Title CharacterDesigner PropDesigner ExecutiveProducer Other Voice Role Notes 1996 Quack Pack Episode: "Heavy Dental" 2006 Family Guy Scrat Episode: "Sibling Rivalry" 2011 Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas Television Special 2015 The Simpsons Episode: "Treehouse of Horror XXVI" (as Chris "Scrat" Wedge) 2016 Ice Age: The Great Egg-Scapade Television Special

Video games Year Title Voice Role 2006 Ice Age 2: The Meltdown Scrat 2009 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs 2012 Ice Age: Continental Drift - Arctic Games 2015 Ice Age Avalanche 2019 Ice Age: Scrat's Nutty Adventure

Critical reception Film Rotten Tomatoes Metacritic Ice Age (2002) 77% 61% Robots (2005) 64% 64% Epic (2013) 64% 52% Monster Trucks (2016) 32% 41%

Awards and nominations Year Award Category Work Result 1996 Ottawa International Animation Festival Award Best Production Under 10 Minutes in Length Joe's Apartment 1999 Academy Award Best Animated Short Film Bunny Drama International Short Film Festival Award Special Prize for Animation Nashville Film Festival Award Best Animation Jury Award Best Short Oberhausen International Short Film Festival Award Prize of the Children's Short Film Competition 2003 Academy Award Best Animated Feature Ice Age Annie Award Outstanding Directing in an Animated Feature ProductionShared with Carlos Saldanha (co-director) DVD Exclusive Award Best Audio Commentary, New ReleaseShared with Carlos Saldanha (co-director) ShoWest Convention Award Animation Director of the Year 2013 Behind the Voice Actors Award Best Vocal Ensemble in a Feature Film Shared with Ray Romano, Denis Leary, John Leguizamo, Queen Latifah, Keke Palmer, Seann William Scott, Josh Peck, Wanda Sykes, Jennifer Lopez, Alan Tudyk, Joy Behar, Patrick Stewart, Simon Pegg & Rebel Wilson Ice Age: Continental Drift 2014 Annie Award Outstanding Achievement in Directing in an Animated Feature Production Epic