Biography

After graduating from Chouinard Art Institute in 1940, Chris Ishii went to work for Disney as an assistant animator on Fantasia, Dumbo, The Reluctant Dragon, and numerous Disney cartoons. At the start of World War II he was he was interned at the Assembly Center at Santa Anita and then transferred to the Granada Relocation Center in Amache, Colorado. In both places, he worked on the camp newspapers as a cartoonist. Volunteering to join the U.S. Army from Amache in 1943, he served in the Military Intelligence Service as an illustrator for the Office of War Information, assigned to the India/China/Burma theater of war. He met and married his wife, Ada Suffiad in Shanghai, bringing her to the U.S. with him at demobilization.

After the war he briefly studied art in Paris, France. In 1952, he settled with his family in New York, and became a successful artist, known best for his film work. He worked at UPA Studios on "A Unicorn in the Garden" and "Madeline," and on Gerald McBoing Boing and Mr. Magoo cartoons.

Joining with two partners in 1965, he formed Focus Productions, a film production company. He became a freelance artist in 1975, and contributed the animated sequence in Woody Allen's Annie Hall, among other projects. During his long career, he garnered two Clio "best" and four "runner-up" awards for his television commercials. He lived in Dobbs Ferry, New York from 1955 to 2001. His wife, Ada, passed away in 1988. He is survived by sisters Kiyo and Sumi, brother Jack, three children, Christopher, Naka and Jonathan, and four grandchildren.
- IMDb mini biography by: Naka Ishii

Father of Christopher Ishii.