Lee Unkrich

Director, Pixar -USA

Lee Unkrich is an Academy Award®-winning director at Pixar Animation Studios and the vice president, editorial & layout. He was executive producer on “Monsters University” and Disney•Pixar’s Fall 2015 feature film, “The Good Dinosaur,” and is the director of the Academy Award®-winning “Coco.”

Unkrich co-directed the studio’s first-ever Oscar® winner for Best Animated Feature, the 2003 film “Finding Nemo.”

As the director of Disney•Pixar’s critically-acclaimed box office hit, “Toy Story 3,” Unkrich was awarded an Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature. He was also nominated by the Academy in the category of Best Adapted Screenplay for his story credit on the film. In addition to his Oscar® win, Unkrich received the Golden Globe® for Best Animated Feature, and the award for Best Animated Film from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).

Unkrich joined Pixar in April 1994, and has played a variety of key creative roles in nearly every animated feature film since his arrival. Before co-directing “Finding Nemo,” he was the co-director of “Monsters, Inc.” and the Golden Globe®-winning “Toy Story 2.”

He began his Pixar career as a film editor on “Toy Story” and was supervising film editor on “A Bug's Life.” Unkrich also contributed his editing skills to numerous Pixar films, including his role as supervising film editor on “Finding Nemo”.

In 2009 Unkrich and his fellow directors at Pixar were honored at the 66th Venice International Film Festival with the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement award.

Prior to joining Pixar, Unkrich worked in television as an editor and director. He graduated from the University of Southern California's School of Cinema/Television in 1991, where he directed several award-winning short films.

A native of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, Unkrich spent his youth acting at the Cleveland Playhouse. He lives in Marin County, California, with his wife and three children.