Carlos Saldanha
Birthdate: Jan 24, 1965
Birthplace: Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Carlos Saldanha is a busy and long-term Brazilian-born animation director, writer, and executive producer for Blue Sky Studios and 20th Century Fox, beginning as a supervising animator on the animated sequence in director-writer John Payson’s musical black comedy for Warner Bros., Joe’s Apartment (1996), with Jerry O’Connell and Megan Ward.
Saldanha was a creative supervisor for the animated sequences in the Michael Ritchie-directed children’s fantasy movie, A Simple Wish (1997), with Martin Short, Amanda Plummer, and Kathleen Turner, and a box-office dud for Universal Pictures. Saldanha stepped up to co-director (with Chris Wedge) on the inaugural feature in the highly successful Ice Age franchise, Ice Age (2002), directed by Chris Wedge, with the voices of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Jack Black, Cedric the Entertainer, Stephen Root, and Jane Krakowski, and grossing $383.2 million worldwide.
Saldanha was director of the subsequent sequels Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006) and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009), and then Saldanha was executive producer of the succeeding sequels, Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) and Ice Age: Collision Course (2016), all of which earned an accumulated global box office return of $2.8 billion.
Carlos Saldanha was director-writer of the animated 20th Century Fox-Blue Sky Studios double-play, Rio (2011) and Rio 2 (2014), both inspired by his hometown and starring the voices of Anne Hathaway, Jesse Eisenberg, Jemaine Clement, Leslie Mann, George Lopez, Jamie Foxx, Kristin Chenoweth, will.i.am, Bruno Mars, Rita Moreno, Tracy Morgan, and Andy Garcia, and grossing a cumulative box office return of $982 million.
Saldanha was director/executive producer of 20th Century Fox/Blue Sky Studio’s underperforming animated comedy, Ferdinand (2017), with the voices of John Cena, Kate McKinnon, Anthony Anderson, Bobby Cannavale, Peyton Manning, Gina Rodriguez, and Miguel Angel Silvestre, and delivering a bland $296 million gross (against $111 million costs).
Saldanha was executive producer on Blue Sky’s next animated features, Spies in Disguise (2019) and Nimona (2023), released after Blue Sky ceased operation in 2021. Saldanha returned to the director’s chair for Harold and the Purple Crayon (2024), his first post-Blue Sky feature produced by Columbia Pictures/Davis Entertainment/Scholastic Entertainment and based on Crockett Johnson’s 1955 children’s book, starring the voices of Zachary Levi, Lil Rei Howery, Jermaine Clement, Alfred Molina, and Zooey Deschanel, and released by Sony Pictures Releasing.
Personal Details
Carlos Saldanha was born and raised by his parents in the working-class neighborhood of Marechal Hermes in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Saldanha studied computer science at university. Saldanha moved to New York from Rio in 1991 to pursue a career in animation. Saldanha studied computer animation at the Manhattan-based School of Visual Arts, from which he graduated with an MFA in Computer Art in 1993. Saldanha is married to Isabella Saldanha (mathematician); the couple has four children, Manoela, Sofia, Julia, and Rafael. Saldanha’s estimated net worth is $10 million.
Awards
Two-time Nominee, Best Animated Short Film/Best Animated Feature Film, Academy Awards (2004, 2018); Three-time Nominee, Best Director, Annie Awards (2003, 2007, 2012); Nominee, BAFTA Kids Vote—Feature Film, BAFTA Awards (2014); Winner, International Filmmaker of the Year, CinemaCon Awards (2014).
BAFTA Children's Award
BAFTA Awards
Filmography
director
Previous (2)
- 2024 | Harold and the Purple Crayon
Harold and the Purple Crayon
Inside of his book, adventurous Harold can make anything come to life simply by drawing it. After he grows up and draws himself off the book's pages and into the physical world, Harold finds he has a lot to learn about real life.
- 2017 |
actor
Previous (13)
- 2023 | 100 Days
- 2020 | The Girl Who Drank the Moon
- 2014 |
- 2011 | Rioas Writer
- 2011 | Rust
- 2011 | Shadows
- 2011 | The Phantom Tollbooth
- 2010 | Iemanjá - Ocean's Goddess
- 2009 | Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
- 2006 | Ice Age: The Meltdownas Director
- 2005 | Robots
- 2002 | Ice Ageas Director
- 1967 | Timeless
Some Facts About Carlos Saldanha
First: Carlos Saldanha is the first Brazilian to receive more than one Oscar nomination.
All in the Family: Saldanha casts his children, Manoela and Sofia, as voice actors in films he directed, including Ice Age: The Meltdown and Rio.
