- Born
- Nicknames
- Illumination Entertainer
- Illuminationist
- Chris Meledandri is an American animated film producer and executive who worked at Blue Sky Studios and founded Illumination. The various films he produced included Ice Age, Robots, Horton Hears a Who, Despicable Me, Minions, The Lorax, The Grinch, Sing, The Secret Life of Pets and The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
- IMDb mini biography by: Christian Frates
- Global strategy inspired by a Brazilian director: Meledandri founded Illumination in France specifically because he noticed that Brazilian director Carlos Saldanha (on Ice Age (2002)) prioritized visual storytelling over dialogue. This lead him to believe animation should be a "visual first" medium that transcends language barriers.
- He didn't grow up watching cartoons: His parents were "disruptors" who had an aversion to Disney and Saturday morning television. Instead of animated classics, a nine-year-old Meledandri was taken to see R-rated films like Easy Rider (1969) and Midnight Cowboy (1969).
- A "late bloomer" in animation: He didn't professionally engage with animation until his 30s. His interest only sparked when he started watching films like The Lion King (1994) and Shrek (2001) with his own young son.
- Live-action beginnings: Before founding Illumination, he spent 15 years in live-action film. He actually produced the Disney movie Cool Runnings (1993) and worked as an assistant on the scenery of Footloose (1984).
- He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6357 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on June 10, 2026. Dame Donna Langley, chairperson of the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group (Ufeg), and Walk of Fame inductee Steve Carell were guest speakers at the ceremony.
- Hop (2011) - $2,500,000
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
