Born: Christopher Michael Sanders
Birthday: March 12, 1962
Location: Colorado Springs, CO, U.S.
Alma mater: California Institute of the Arts
Occupation: Animator, Storyboard, Director
Years active: 1984-present
Chris Sanders was born into an artistic household as the middle child of three. Chris remembers, his father provided Blackwing pencils and computer paper from his workplace. He was always drawing and painting. On Friday nights, the family gathered around the dining room table and painted together.
Aside from drawing, Chris typed out short stories. He shared the finished tales with his family. They encouraged him and asked for more.
Chris drew throughout school and was his high school newspaper’s cartoonist. Sanders never considered a career in art until his grandmother shared an article about the California Institute of the Arts from the newspaper. Chris applied for and got accepted to CalArts’ Animation Program.
After graduation, Sanders went to work for Marvel Productions, and then onto Disney Studios. He was as a story artist for “The Rescuers Down Under,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin,” and “The Lion King,” before he became “Mulan’s” head of story.
As production on “Mulan” drew to a close, Disney’s management invited Chris to develop as story of his own. He drew upon an idea he’d tried to write as a children’s book eighteen years earlier, but had abandoned because it became to long for a short story format. It was about an odd forest creature, unaware of his own origins, and rejected by the other animals. Sanders pitched that story, and management liked it, and suggested changing the setting from the forest to the human world. Chris wrote, storyboarded, and directed “Lilo & Stitch” alongside Dean DeBlois.
Chris left Disney Studios in 2006 to join the creatives at DreamWorks Animation. He directed “How to Train Your Dragon,” as well as writing and directing the feature film “The Croods” with Kirk DeMicco.
Chris and his wife, Jessica Steele-Sanders co-authored the young-adult novel “Rescue Sirens: The Search for the Atavist” in 2015. Sanders also designed the characters and illustrated the cover.
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