Brad Bird
Brad Bird
11.09.1957 (67 years) (Kalispell, Montana, USA)
Phillip Bradley Bird (born September 24, 1957) is an American animation director, voice actor, and screenwriter. He is best known for his animated feature films, The Iron Giant (1999), The Incredibles (2004), Ratatouille (2007), and Incredibles 2 (2018). Bird developed a love for the art of animation at an early age and was mentored by Milt Kahl, one of Disney's reputed Nine Old Men. He was part of one of the earliest graduating classes of the California Institute of the Arts alongside John Lasseter and Tim Burton. Afterward, Bird worked as an animator for Disney in The Fox and the Hound (1981) and The Black Cauldron (1985) and wrote the screenplay for Batteries Not Included (1987). Bird served as a creative consultant on The Simpsons during its first eight seasons, where he helped develop the show's animation style. Bird directed his first animated feature film, The Iron Giant in 1999. Although it fared poorly at the box office, it came to be regarded as a modern animated classic. He rejoined John Lasseter at Pixar in 2000, where he developed his second animated film, The Incredibles (2004). He directed his third film, Ratatouille in 2007. Both films place among Pixar's highest-grossing features and gave Bird two Academy Award for Best Animated Feature wins and Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay nominations. In 2011, Bird directed his first live-action film Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, which was a critical and commercial success. His second live-action film, Tomorrowland, starring George Clooney, was released in May 2015, to some acclaim but less commercial success. In 2018, Incredibles 2 was released, which Bird wrote and directed. Like its predecessor, the film was a critical and box office success.