Chris Williams (director)

Chris Williams (born December 19, 1968) is an American-Canadian animation film director, screenwriter and voice actor who is best known for directing the films Bolt (2008) and Big Hero 6 (2014) and co-directing the film Moana (2016) for Walt Disney Animation Studios, and for directing the film The Sea Beast (2022) for Netflix Animation.

Early life

Williams was born on December 19, 1968, in Missouri and spent the first 25 years of his life in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, where his father was the director of Counselling Services at the University of Waterloo. Williams graduated from the University of Waterloo with a degree in Fine Arts and then enrolled in the animation program at Sheridan College, Oakville, Ontario. Upon graduation from Sheridan, he was recruited by Disney and moved to Los Angeles.

Career

Williams previously worked in the story department for Mulan (1998), The Emperor's New Groove (2000) and Frozen (2013), in which he also voiced the character Oaken. In February 2007, it was announced he would direct American Dog, which was re-titled Bolt (2008) and was later joined by Byron Howard, both of them replaced Chris Sanders who was the original director.

In July 2010, it was reported by various sources that Williams would direct King of the Elves based on the story by Philip K. Dick. However, in 2012, it was revealed that Williams had joined another Walt Disney Animation film, Big Hero 6, as a co-director inspired by the Marvel Comics of the same name.

In November 2018, it was reported that Williams had left Disney and he would write and direct The Sea Beast for Netflix. The Sea Beast was released on Netflix on July 8, 2022.

Filmography

Feature films

Year	Film	Credited as
		Director	Writer	Producer	Story Artist	Other	Voice	Notes
1998	Mulan	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2000	The Emperor's New Groove	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2002	Lilo & Stitch	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2003	Brother Bear	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes		Additional Story
2005	Chicken Little	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2007	Meet the Robinsons	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2008	Bolt	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Additional Voices	Disney Story Trust - uncredited
2009	The Princess and the Frog	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No
2010	Tangled	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2011	Winnie the Pooh	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No
2012	Wreck-It Ralph	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2013	Frozen	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Oaken
2014	Big Hero 6	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes		Creative Leadership
2016	Zootopia	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes		Additional Story, Creative Leadership
	Moana	Template:Partial	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes		Creative Leadership
2018	Ralph Breaks the Internet	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes
2019	Frozen II	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Oaken (uncredited)
2021	Raya and the Last Dragon	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes		Additional Story
2022	The Sea Beast	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No		Netflix Original Film

Shorts and TV

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Executive Producer	Other	Voice	Notes
2008	Glago's Guest	Template:Yes	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No
2009	Super Rhino	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
	Prep & Landing	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No		TV special
2015	Frozen Fever	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Oaken
2016	LEGO Frozen: Northern Lights	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes		Episode: "Journey to the Lights"
2017	Gone Fishing	Template:Partial	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No
	Olaf's Frozen Adventure	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes	Oaken	Featurette
2020	Once Upon a Snowman	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Template:Yes		Disney+ Original Short Film

Other credits

Year	Title	Role
2012	Paperman	Special Thanks
2020	The Willoughbys
2022	Strange World	Very Special Thanks
2023	Nimona	Special Thanks

See also

• List of University of Waterloo people

External links

• Template:IMDb name