CARLOS SALDANHA has been one of the principal creative forces at Blue Sky Studios since 1993. Saldanha was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 20, 1968. He left his hometown in 1991 to follow his artistic instinct and passion for animation. With a background in computer science and a natural artistic sensibility, he found New York City the perfect locale to merge these skills and become an animator. He attended the MFA program at New York's School of Visual Arts, where he graduated with honors in 1993, after completing two animated shorts, “The Adventures of Korky, the Corkscrew” (1992) and “Time For Love” (1993). The shorts have been screened at animation festivals around the world. At SVA, Saldanha met Chris Wedge, one of the co-founders of Blue Sky Studios, who invited him to join their growing team of artists.
Saldanha was Blue Sky's supervising animator for the talking and dancing roaches in the feature film “Joe's Apartment” (1996). He was also the director of animation for the computer generated characters in “A Simple Wish” (1997) and “Fight Club” (1999). In addition to feature projects, Saldanha directed and animated a number of television commercials. “Big Deal,” a spot for Bell Atlantic, won numerous awards, including a 1997 Bronze Clio. In 1999, he won a Gold Clio for animation on “Re-Incarnated,” a Tennents Beer commercial for its 1998 Soccer World Cup campaign in Europe.
Saldanha teamed with Chris Wedge to co-direct Blue Sky's first animated features, “Ice Age” (2002) and “Robots” (2005). “Ice Age” was nominated for an Oscar in 2003. In 2002 Saldanha directed the animated short film “Gone Nutty,” which was nominated for an Oscar in 2004. After the success of “Ice Age,” Saldanha took the directorial reins on “Ice Age: The Meltdown” (2006), the third computer-animated feature film from Twentieth Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios, which was the most profitable animated movie of the year and one of the biggest in Fox's history. Next came the even more successful “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs,” which became one of biggest grossing animated films of all time, grossing over $887 million worldwide.
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