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Tim Burton

Biography:
Timothy William Burton was born in Burbank, California on August 25^th, 1958.  After struggling through high school he went on to study animation at the California Institute of the Arts on a grant from Disney.  He went on to work for the Walt Disney Studios on various animation projects including The Fox and the Hound and The Black Caldron.

After a few years Disney funded his first solo project, a short animated film titled “Vincent”.  The short won Burton acclaim on the film festival circuit which in turn got him funding for his next project, a half hour live action short titled “Frankenweenie” which was a quirky spoof on the Frankenstein story. 

While “Frankenweenie” didn’t immediately take off, Paul Reubens, also known as Pee-wee Herman, liked it enough to offer Burton the role of director for his film Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.  The film was an unsuspected hit and Burton found himself flooded with offers.  The one he accepted was for the movie adaptation of Bob Kane’s comic book, Batman. 

While the film was still in pre-production, he filmed Beetlejuice which was another surprising hit.  When Batman was released it was such a tremendous success that Burton could pretty much do as he pleased from then on.  Burton went on to create such mega-hits as Edward Scissorhands,Sleepy Hollow, and The Nightmare Before Christmas. 

Films:

Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985)

Bettlejuice (1988)

Batman (1989)

Edward Scissorhands (1990)

Batman Returns (1992)

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Cabin Boy (1994)

Ed Wood (1994)

Batman Forever (1995)

James and the Giant Peach (1996)

Mars Attacks! (1996)

Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Planet of the Apes (2001)

Big Fish (2003)

The Corpse Bride (2004)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) 

Upcoming Projects:

None 

Other Film Credits:

The Lord of the Rings (1978) (inbetweener)

The Fox and the Hound (1981) (uncredited animator)

Tron (1982) (uncredited animator)

The Black Cauldron (1985) (conceptual artist)

Trick or Treat (1986) (conceptual artist)

Veronica Guerin (2003) (uncredited technical assistant) 

Short Films:

The Island of Doctor Agor (1971) (writer and director)

Stalk of Celery (1979) (writer, director, and producer)

Vincent (1982) (writer and director)

Frankenweenie (1984) (writer and director)

The World of Stainboy (2000) (writer, director, and producer) 

Music Video Projects:

none

Television Projects:

Faerie Tale Theatre (series 1982-1987) (directed the episode “Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp”)

Hansel and Gretel (1982) (director and creator)

Alfred Hitchcock Presents (series 1985) (directed the episode “The Jar”)

Amazing Stories (series 1985-1987) (animated the episode “Family Dog”)

Beetlejuice (series 1989-1991) (executive producer)

Family Dog (series 1993) (executive producer)

Lost in Oz (2000) (executive producer) 

Non Film Projects:

Authored the book of short stories The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Short Stories.

 Production and Other Companies:

Tim Burton Animation Company 

Film Award Ratios (wins/nominations):

Academy Awards – 5/16 (31.3%)

Golden Globes – 1/11 (9.1%)

Sundance Film Festival – 0/0 (0.0%)

Cannes Film Festival – 0/1 (0.0%)

Writers Guild of America – 0/1 (0.0%)

Directors Guild of America – 0/0 (33.3%)

AFI Top One Hundred Films of All Time – 0 

Quote:
“I’m like Ed Wood in that I go into every movie with the same mixture of optimism, enthusiasm, and denial.  You have to because you’re devoting your time to it, so you get close to things and the movie becomes like one of you children.  It may be ugly, but it’s your child.”  Playboy Interview, August 2001

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