Eric Goldberg (film director)

Eric Goldberg (born in 1955) is an American animator and film director. He is best known for his work at Walt Disney Feature Animation.

Born and raised in New Jersey, Goldberg later studied at the Pratt Institute, where he majored in illustration. He first entered the industry in the mid-1970s working on "Raggedy Ann and Andy" for the Richard Williams studio, eventually moving to Williams' London studio and rising through the ranks from assistant to director. During the 1980s, Goldberg started his own London-based studio, Pizazz Pictures, to produce television commercials.

Goldberg moved to California, where he began working as an animator at Walt Disney Feature Animation. While at Disney, Goldberg was the lead animator on the the Genie in "Aladdin" (1992) and "Phil" in "Hercules" (1997). Goldberg is also the co-director of Disney's 1995 feature "Pocahontas".

In 1997, Goldberg began plans to produce an animated short set to the music of George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue". His film eventually became part of Disney's "Fantasia 2000" compilation film, after Goldberg was allowed to use the Disney staff to complete the film during a production hiatus on "The Emperor's New Groove". Goldberg's wife Susan served as art director on the film.

Goldberg not only served as the director of animation for Warner Bros.' 2003 live-action/animated hybrid feature "", but he also provided the voices of Marvin the Martian, Tweety and Speedy Gonzalez. He animated the title sequence of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's 2006 re-make of "The Pink Panther", with Bob Kurtz of Kurtz and Friends.

Recently, Goldberg returned to Disney, where he directed 4 minutes of animation for the Epcot attraction, "Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros" and contributed to the 2007 animated short "How to Hook Up your Home Theater" starring Goofy. He is currently a supervising animator for "The Princess and the Frog", which is scheduled for release in 2009.

External links

*imdb name|id=0325196|name=Eric Goldberg (I)
* [http://www.animatedbuzz.com/journal/05-06/01.html#Anchor-46708 Eric Goldberg's first visit to CalArts' Character Animation Program (Fall'05)]
* [http://www.animatedbuzz.com/journal/05-06/02.html#Anchor-36282 Eric Goldberg's second visit to CalArts' Character Animation Program (Spring '06)]
* [http://www.animated-news.com/archives/00004269.html Animated News' Interview with Goldberg (2005)]
* [http://www.fromscripttodvd.com/eric_goldberg.htm From Script to DVD interview]