From the prairies to the Magical Kingdom, one Saskatchewan animator has been working hard bringing Disney’s stories to life.
Andrew Ford, who hails from Humboldt, took a fine arts class at the University of Saskatchewan and then went out west to Vancouver to study at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design.
He worked at EA games and on a couple of TV shows before landing the job at Disney.
“Just kept working and working and kept applying to Disney and then, I guess over time I kind of wore them down,” Ford said. “I had super high expectations about what it would be like to work at Disney and I think it was even better than that once I got here.”
Two of the films he has worked on, Zootopia and Moana, have been nominated for Best Animated Feature Film at the 2017 Oscars.
Ford mentioned he was just a small part of a very large team that helped create the movie, but it’s still exciting.
“It’s like icing on the cake, it’s not why we make these films, but the awards, they’re fun.”
Ford said he won’t be going to the ceremony but they are setting up an atrium to have their own Oscars party at the studios.
Ford is currently working on Wreck-It Ralph 2.
The Oscars takes place on Sunday.