Kyle Balda
Birthdate: Mar 9, 1971
Birthplace: Tucson, AZ
Kyle Balda (birthname: Kyle J. Balda) is a leading feature animation director, serving as co-director of most of the major films from Illumination Entertainment, including The Lorax (2012), with the voices of Danny DeVito, Ed Helms, Zac Efron, and Taylor Swift; Minions (2015), with the voices of Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton, Allison Janney, and Steve Coogan; Despicable Me (2017), with the voices of Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, and Coogan; and the Minions sequel, Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022), with the voices of Carell, Pierre Coffin, Taraji P. Henson, Michelle Yeoh, Danny Trejo, and Julie Andrews.
Balda was director of the live-action/animated comedy mystery, The Sheep Detectives (2026), adapted by screenwriter Craig Mazin from Leonie Swann’s 2005 novel, Three Bags Full, with the voice cast of Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, Bryan Cranston, Chris O’Dowd, Regina Hall, Patrick Stewart and the live-action cast of Hugh Jackman, Nicholas Braun, Nicholas Galitzine, Molly Gordon and Hong Chau, and which was released wide by Amazon MGM Studios (U.S., Canada)/Sony Pictures Releasing International (International).
After joining Industrial Light & Magic in 1993, Kyle Balda rose through the animation ranks, as graphics animator on The Mask (1994), animation supervisor on Jumanji (1995), and character animator on Tim Burton’s mixed media science fiction comedy, Mars Attacks! (1996). Pixar hired Balda, continuing a track record of working on such box office hits as A Bug’s Life (1998) as an animator, Toy Story 2 (1999) as directing animator, and Monsters, Inc. (2001) as lead animator.
Balda left Hollywood after 2001, lectured at several animation schools (including Paris-based Les Gobelins, Denmark’s The Animation Workshop, and Filmakademie Baden-Wurttemberg), and was hired by Paris-based Illumination Entertainment in 2010. It was then that he began his remarkable run as a key player in production, serving first as layout supervisor on the megahit Despicable Me (2010), which earned a worldwide gross of $543 million, the first entry in the highest-grossing animated movie series ever made, which has grossed over $3.5 billion to date. Balda was elevated to director status on The Lorax in 2012.
Kyle Balda Photos and Videos
Personal life
Tucson-born Kyle Balda was raised by his mother, who was born in Malta. Balda studied animation at the California Institute of the Arts until he was hired by Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light & Magic in 1993, after working at Lucas Arts and Pacific Data Images as an intern. Balda lives in coastal Oregon.
Awards
Nominee, Best Animated Film, BAFTA Awards (2016).
BAFTA Film Award
BAFTA Awards
Kyle Balda Movies
director
Upcoming (1)
- 2026 |
The Sheep Detectives
Every night a shepherd reads aloud a murder mystery, pretending his sheep can understand. When he is found dead, the sheep realize at once that it was a murder and think they know everything about how to go about solving it.
Previous (4)
- 2022 |
Minions: The Rise of Gru
The untold story of one twelve-year-old's dream to become the world's greatest supervillain.
- 2017 |
Despicable Me 3
Gru meets his long-lost, charming, cheerful, and more successful twin brother Dru, who wants to team up with him for one last criminal heist.
- 2015 |
- 2012 |
actor
Previous (1)
Facts About Kyle Balda
Major Influences: Kyle Balda has noted that his major film influences are Charlie Chaplin and comic actor Peter Sellars.
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