Brad Bird

Brad Bird (b. September 11, 1957) is the Academy Award-winning writer-director of The Incredibles and Ratatouille. He also performed the voices of Edna Mode and Ambrister Minion in their respective films.

Early Years
Bird became interested in filmmaking at a young age. He made his first short film, The Tortoise and the Hare, at the age of 13. The quality of the film caught the attention of Disney, who invited him to come to their studios in Burbank anytime he wanted.

Pre-Pixar
After graduating from Corvallis High School in Oregon, he went to school at CalArts where he was classmate with John Lasseter. He dropped out of CalArts to go work at Disney but was let go. He went on to work on shows such as The Simpsons and King of the Hill. Bird then went on to write and direct The Iron Giant, an animated film that received wide critical acclaim, but did not do as well at the box office. It does, however, have a cult following.

Pixar
John Lasseter started courting Bird during the production of A Bug's Life when he realized it would require multiple directors to reach the goal of creating a film every year. At the time Bird was already committed to making The Iron Giant but was eventually hired in May 2000 to write and direct The Incredibles, a movie he had wanted to make for many years.

After The Incredibles, Brad was brought in to finish the screenplay and direct Ratatouille. He is now working on 1906, the studio's first all live-action movie. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name written about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

Bird has been honored with many awards for The Incredibles and Ratatouille, including Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature Film of the Year for both movies. In addition, in 2008 he was awarded the Animation Writing Award for lifetime achievement from the Writer’s Guild of America, West's Animation Writers Caucus (AWC). According to the WGAW's website, the AWC Animation Writing Award is given to that member of the Animation Writers Caucus or Writers Guild who has advanced the literature of animation in film and/or television through the years, and who has made outstanding contributions to the profession of the animation writer.

Director

 * The Incredibles (2004)
 * Jack-Jack Attack (2005)
 * Ratatouille (2007)

Writer

 * The Incredibles (2004)
 * Jack-Jack Attack (2005)
 * Ratatouille (2007)