Nik Ranieri

Nik Ranieri (born August 23, 1961) is a Canadian character animator who is primarily known for his work at Walt Disney Animation Studios. He has been supervising animator of many characters and remained so until his layoff in 2013.

Career After graduating from the Classical Animation Program at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario, Ranieri went to work for Atkinson Film-Arts animation production studio (in Ottawa, Ontario).

He began animating for Disney in 1987 on the London, England-based animation crew of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, working with director Richard Williams. Soon after that he moved to Disney's feature animation studio in Glendale, California, where he animated on The Little Mermaid (working primarily on the character of Ursula the sea witch, under directing animator Ruben Aquino). On his next film, Ranieri was promoted to supervising animator on the character of Wilbur in The Rescuers Down Under.

In 1995, he won an Annie Award in the category 'Individual Achievement in Character Animation' for his animation of the raccoon Meeko in Pocahontas.

In 1997, he won an Annie Award in the category 'Individual Achievement in Character Animation' for his animation of Hades in Hercules.

While Ranieri is regarded as one of the modern-day masters of hand-drawn character animation (especially excelling in subtle dialogue scenes and facial expressions) he also successfully made the switch to animating in CG on films such as Chicken Little, Meet the Robinsons and Bolt. Ranieri returned to his roots in classic hand-drawn animation for the 2009 Disney animated film The Princess and the Frog.

On April 6, 2013, The Walt Disney Company announced that Ranieri, along with eight other animators working at Walt Disney Animation Studios, had been laid off in an effort for the company as a whole to cut costs.

He later worked at Studio Roqovan, where he worked on the video game World War Toons, up until the studio closed in 2019. Ranieri won the Outstanding Individual Achievement In Animation award in 2021 at the 73rd Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards as Lead Character Layout for The Simpsons episode "Wad Goals".

Filmography Year Title Credits Characters Notes 1980 The All-Night Show (TV Series) Animator 1985 The Body Electric (TV Movie) The Raccoons (TV Series) Animator - 7 Episodes 1988 Who Framed Roger Rabbit Animator Roger Rabbit 1989 Cranium Command (Short) The Little Mermaid Character Animator Ursula 1990 The Rescuers Down Under Supervising Animator Wilbur 1991 Beauty and the Beast Lumiere 1992 Aladdin Animator Jafar 1994 Chariots of Fur (Short) 1995 Pocahontas Supervising Animator / Additional Story Development Artist Meeko 1997 Hercules Supervising Animator Hades 2000 Fantasia 2000 Character Designer - Segment "Piano Concerto No. 2, Allegro, Opus 102" The Emperor's New Groove Supervising Animator Kuzco/Kuzco Llama 2002 Treasure Planet Animator Doctor Delbert Doppler 2005 Chicken Little Supervising Animator Buck "Ace" Cluck 2007 Meet the Robinsons Lewis 2008 Bolt Animator 2009 The Princess and the Frog Supervising Animator Charlotte "Lottie" La Bouff 2010 Tangled Animator Mother Gothel 2011 Winnie the Pooh Additional Animator 2014 The Prophet Hand-Drawn Animation Supervisor 2016 World War Toons (Video Game) Animation Director 2023 Once Upon a Studio (Short) Animator

Awards 1995 Annie Awards for Best Individual Achievement for Animation for 'Meeko' in Pocahontas 1997 Annie Awards for Best Individual Achievement: Character Animation for 'Hades' in Hercules 1997 'NCS Division Awards' in Feature Animation (for Hades) 2021 Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards for Outstanding Individual Achievement In Animation for "Wad Goals" from The Simpsons 2023 Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards for Outstanding Individual Achievement In Animation for "Lisa the Boy Scout" from The Simpsons