Amblimation was the British animation production subsidiary of Amblin Entertainment. It was formed by Steven Spielberg in May 1989, following the success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), and after he parted ways with Don Bluth due to creative differences. It only produced three feature films: An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991), We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story (1993), and Balto (1995), all three of which feature music composed by James Horner and were distributed by Universal Pictures. The company's mascot, Fievel Mousekewitz, appears in its production logo. It was based in what was originally the D. Napier & Son factory in Acton, London, and had 250 crew members from 15 different nations.
Balto is a 1995 live-action/animated adventure film directed by Simon Wells, produced by Amblin Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. It is loosely based on the true story of the eponymous dog who helped save children infected with diphtheria in the 1925 serum run to Nome. The film stars the voices of Kevin Bacon, Bridget Fonda, Phil Collins, and Bob Hoskins. Though primarily an animated film, it uses a live-action framing device that takes place in New York City's Central Park and features Miriam Margolyes as an older version of one of the children. This was the third and final film to be produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblimation animation studio, before the studio's closure in 1997.
DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA) (also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios or simply DreamWorks) is an American animation studio owned by Universal Pictures, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The studio has released a total of 49 feature films, including several of the highest-grossing animated films of all time, with Shrek 2 (2004) having been the highest at the time of its release. Its first film, Antz, was released on October 2, 1998, and its latest film, The Wild Robot, was released on September 27, 2024. They have an upcoming theatrical slate of films, which includes Dog Man on January 31, 2025, The Bad Guys 2 on August 1, 2025, Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie on September 26, 2025, and Shrek 5 on July 1, 2026.
William Damaschke is an American film executive and producer who currently serves as the president of Warner Bros. Pictures Animation. Previously, he had spent 20 years at DreamWorks Animation, most recently as Chief Creative Officer, where he was involved in the creative, artistic, and operational direction of the company. His tenure oversaw the release of some of the company's big franchise films, including Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon and The Croods. He also oversaw all of DreamWorks's live theatrical productions, including the award-winning Shrek the Musical. Damaschke’s other projects as a producer include the Broadway musical The Prom, directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw, which played at the Longacre Theatre from 15 November 2018 to 11 August 2019; the Broadway-bound musical Half Time, directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell, which was presented at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Spring of 2018; and the stage adaptation of Moulin Rouge, directed by Alex Timbers, on which Damaschke serves as executive producer. He was also formerly the president of Skydance Animation.
James Baxter is a British character animator. He was first known for his work on several Walt Disney Animation Studios films, including various characters in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Belle in Beauty and the Beast, Rafiki in The Lion King, and Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Phil Nibbelink is an American animator and film director as well as comic book writer and illustrator known for his work on films as the Academy Award-winning Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the 1991 cult animated sequel An American Tail: Fievel Goes West.
Leslee Feldman is the Head of Casting at Amblin Partners and is the former Head of Casting at DreamWorks, the studio which produced such films as Shrek, The Prince of Egypt, Road to Perdition, Old School, and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, among others. Feldman's old DreamWorks position is currently held by her former colleague Christi Soper Hilt. This change came soon after NBCUniversal acquired DreamWorks in 2016.
Christopher Knights is an English voice actor, film editor, and cinematographer. He is best known for providing the voice of Private the Penguin in the Madagascar film franchise. He worked on several DreamWorks films: Shrek, Shrek 2, Shrek the Third and Shrek 4-D. He started his filming career at Amblimation studios and worked on We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story and Balto. When he joined DreamWorks he not only started his editing career but also his acting career. He worked on the Shrek series as an associate editor and voice of the Three Blind Mice and Thelonious, Lord Farquaad's Henchman. He worked many times with another English cameraman and voice actor, Simon J. Smith.
Mike Mitchell is an American film director, writer, producer, actor and animator. He has directed the films Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999), Surviving Christmas (2004), Sky High (2005), Shrek Forever After (2010), Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (2011), The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015), Trolls (2016), The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019) and Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024).
David Bowers is an English animator, storyboard artist, film director, screenwriter and voice actor.
Nicholas "Nick" Fletcher is a Welsh film editor of animation. He edited the 1998 American film The Prince of Egypt by DreamWorks. He joined DreamWorks in 1995 as a supervising editor on animated features The Prince of Egypt and Shark Tale. He also worked as an editor on Bee Movie. He also worked on Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and Trolls World Tour.
John Stevenson is a British animator, film director and puppeteer with over 40 years of experience in animation. He is best known for directing DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda (2008), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
Kung Fu Panda is an American martial arts comedy media franchise that started in 2008 with the release of the animated film Kung Fu Panda produced by DreamWorks Animation. Following the adventures of the titular Po Ping, a giant panda who is improbably chosen as the prophesied Dragon Warrior and becomes a master of kung fu, the franchise is set in a fantasy wuxia genre version of ancient China populated by anthropomorphic animals. Although everyone initially doubts him, including Po himself, he proves himself worthy as he strives to fulfill his destiny.
Nicolas "Nico" Marlet is a French-American animator and character designer employed by DreamWorks Animation. He is best known for his character design work on films in the Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon franchises, as well as Disney television shows such as TaleSpin and DuckTales. He also worked on an unproduced animated version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats at DreamWorks' predecessor studio, Amblimation. His work has appeared in several "art of" books, including The Art of Kung Fu Panda, The Art of How to Train Your Dragon, The Art of Bee Movie, and his own limited edition sketchbook containing some of his personal works.
Mehrdad Raissi Ardali, born 17 October 1978) is a prolific Iranian voice actor, dubbing director, founder, director, CEO and Quality Control Manager of Glory Entertainment. He has also provided Persian voices for several animation characters, including famous characters such as Donkey in Shrek, Marty in Madagascar, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa and Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, Buck in Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Bolt in Bolt, Carl Fredricksen in Up, Flynn Rider in Tangled, The Once-ler in The Lorax, RJ in Over the Hedge, Francesco Bernoulli in Cars 2, Mr. Ping in Kung fu Panda, Ramon in Happy Feet 2, The Man in the Yellow Hat in Curious George, Raoul in A Monster in Paris, Kevin in Ben 10 Ultimate Alien: Cosmic Destruction, Barry in Bee Movie, Bunnymund in Rise of the Guardians, Guy in The Croods and Kristoff in Frozen.
Kristof Serrand is a French animator. He is a supervising animator of Netflix.
Alessandro Carloni is an Italian film director, writer, animator, and art director, best known for his work with DreamWorks Animation in general, particularly the first three Kung Fu Panda films. He co-directed Kung Fu Panda 3, alongside Jennifer Yuh Nelson.
Steve Hickner is an American animator and director at DreamWorks Animation. He is best known for directing DreamWorks animated films such as The Prince of Egypt and Bee Movie. He won the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Animated Feature and was also nominated for the Satellite Award for Best Animated or Mixed Media Feature for his work on The Prince of Egypt.
Yong Duk Jhun is a director, cinematographer and animator. He is a director at Paramount Animation and was head of layout at DreamWorks Animation. He is best known for his work on Kung Fu Panda (2008), Shrek Forever After (2010) and Trolls (2016).
