John A. Davis

John Alexander Davis (born October 26, 1961) is an American film director, screenwriter, animator, voice actor, composer, and astrophotographer known for his work both in stop-motion animation as well as computer animation, live action and live-action/CGI hybrids. Davis is best known for directing the Nickelodeon animated film Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for the Best Animated Feature, and creating its sequel television series The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius.

Early life Davis began animating as a child using his parents' 8 mm camera to film action figures in stop motion. His interest in animation began when he watched a stop motion film called Icharus at a film festival. He worked on the stop motion film The Bermuda Triangle in 1981 while still attending Southern Methodist University, where he graduated in 1984.

Career Soon after his graduation Davis joined the animation company K&H Productions, working with 2-D animator Keith Alcorn. Soon, Davis made the transition from claymation to 2-D animation with Alcorn's help. K&H did production work for commercials, public-access television cable TV animation, and film festivals. K&H Productions declared bankruptcy in early 1987; that same year DNA Productions was founded. It was originally set to release on April 20, 2009, but was changed to 2011 and later changed to winter of 2012, before finally being cancelled with no other projects announced.

In 2014, Davis announced that Xing Xing Digital Corporation and Pelagius Entertainment had been selected to co-produce his upcoming animated film Smart, with writers Joel Cohen (writer) and Alec Sokolow. . However, the film was cancelled when Xing Xing went defunct in 2018 due to a small bit of controversy back in July 26th, 2016, in the Fireman Sam episode Troubled Waters, where Elvis trips over a piece of paper with Surah Mulk, Verses 13–26 from the Quran on it, resulting to HiT Entertainment and Mattel cutting ties with them completely, and WildBrain (former name DHX Media Inc.) being brought in to take over the animation.

Nominations In 2000, Davis was up for an Emmy along with 8 others in the category Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming More Than One Hour) for Olive, the Other Reindeer, but lost to Discovery Channel's Walking with Dinosaurs.

In 2002, Davis was nominated for an Academy Award along with Steve Oedekerk in the category of Best Animated Feature for Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.

Filmography Short film Year Title Director Writer Producer Animator Notes 1992 Captain Weirdbeard and His Merry Swabs 1995 The Adventures of Johnny Quasar 1997 Santa vs. The Snowman Also technical director 2002 Santa vs. the Snowman 3D

Feature film Year Title Director Writer Producer 2001 Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius 2006 The Ant Bully

Television Year Title Writer Producer Creator 2002–06 The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius

Voice actor Year Title Role 1991-2004 Nanna & Lil' Puss Puss Puss Puss 1992 The Tale of Nippoless Nippleby Nippoless Nippleby 1998 Cartoon Sushi Additional Voices 2001 Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius Octapuke Kid, Guard and Bennie 2006 The Ant Bully Ant #19

Other roles

Astrophotography Since about 2007, Davis has become a recognized astrophotographer, publishing high-resolution, generally wide-field images in astronomy magazines, and in NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day.

In 2009, Davis largely founded and continues to lead APSIG, the Astrophotography Special Interest Group, associated with the Texas Astronomical Society of Dallas.