Film & TV / Visual art
Dan Scanlon
born 1976 · animation director, writer, storyboard artist
Pixar director of Monsters University and the Oscar-nominated Onward, who grew up in Clawson and drew Onward from the loss of his father.
- Born
Clawson, Michigan
age 50- Birth name
- Daniel Scanlon
- Detroit years
- 1976–1990s
- Field
- Film & TV, Visual art
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Dan Scanlon grew up in Clawson, a small Oakland County city north of Detroit. His father died when he was one year old and his brother three; when the boys were teenagers, a relative gave them a short audio recording of their father's voice, just a few words, and that experience became the emotional seed of his later film Onward. He studied at the Columbus College of Art and Design in Ohio, graduating with a BFA in 1998, and joined Pixar in 2001, working as a story artist on Cars and Toy Story 3 and co-directing the short Mater and the Ghostlight. He made his feature directing debut with Monsters University (2013), the prequel to Monsters, Inc., and then wrote and directed Onward (2020), about two elf brothers who get one day with their late father, which earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature. He later created Pixar's series Win or Lose.
Highlights
- Directed Monsters University (2013)
- Wrote and directed Onward (2020); Oscar nomination
- Story artist on Cars (2006) and Toy Story 3 (2010)
- Grew up in Clawson; Onward inspired by his father's early death