Andrew Ayers Stanton (born December 3, 1965) is an American animator, writer, director, producer, and voice actor best known for his work at Pixar.
The lone east coaster of the Pixar Regulars (a native of Boston, MA), Andrew Stanton became the second animator hired by Pixar in 1990, after briefly working on the 1980s Mighty Mouse cartoon and screening a few shorts at Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Animation Festival. He worked as a writer for the Toy Story films, Monsters, Inc., and A Bug's Life (which he also co-directed) before directing Finding Nemo. For the next few years, he worked on his next film as a director, WALL•E. Like Finding Nemo, WALL•E was a critical and financial success. Also like Nemo, it ranks as one of Pixar's most... er... emotional films, so tissues are highly recommended.
Like other Pixar crew members, Andrew Stanton has provided voice work for many Pixar productions. He most notably voiced Crush the turtle in Finding Nemo and Zurg in Toy Story 2.
Stanton made his live-action debut in 2012 with Disney's John Carter, which bombed hard enough to take his Protection from Editors with it. His live-action career survived, however, as he would later direct two episodes of the second season of Stranger Things, "Dig Dug" and "The Spy."
Works he's directed/written:
- A Story (1987)
- Toy Story (screenwriter, 1995)
- A Bug's Life (co-director/writer, 1998)
- Toy Story 2 (screenwriter, 1999)
- Monsters, Inc. (screenwriter, 2001)
- Finding Nemo (2003)
- WALL•E (2008)
- John Carter (2012)
- Finding Dory (2016)
- Stranger Things (director of the season 2 episodes "Dig Dug" and "The Spy," 2017)
Tropes associated with films he has directed/written:
- Author Appeal: Both Finding Nemo and Wall-E have a certain "ambient" aesthetic.
- Central Theme: Most of his films are about Love and family.
- Crossover: He reprised his role as Crush for the FETCH! with Ruff Ruffman episode "The Ol' Shell Game".
- Old Shame: In his youth, Stanton was an actor in an Afterschool Special, Dear Diary: A Film About Female Puberty. When the subject turned to Afterschool Specials in the DVD Commentary for Finding Nemo, Unkrich and Peterson were quick to bring it up, and to remember the special's title after Stanton pretended to have forgotten it, much to his embarrassment.
