Andrew Stanton

Biography:  Andrew Christopher Stanton Jr. is a two-time Academy Award-winning American animated films director, screenwriter, producer, and occasional voice actor for Pixar Studios. His most notable film work includes writing and directing Finding Nemo and WALL-E, both of which earned him Academy Awards. Stanton was born in Rockport, Massachusetts. He studied character animation at CalArts and graduated from the school in 1987. In an interview with World Magazine\'s Megan Basham, Stanton explained his singular vision for WALL-E: "(W)hat really interested me was the idea of the most human thing in the universe being a machine because it has more interest in finding out what the point of living is than actual people. The greatest commandment Christ gives us is to love, but that\'s not always our priority. So I came up with this premise that could demonstrate what I was trying to say—that irrational love defeats the world\'s programming. You\'ve got these two robots that are trying to go above their basest directives, literally their programming, to experience love..." Stanton has started working on his next film, John Carter of Mars, set for release early 2012 by Disney. He has a son named Ben and a daughter named Audrey. He lives in Mill Valley.