Stig Bergqvist

Swedish animator-director Stig Bergqvist originally followed a much different career path, majoring in Mechanical Engineering at Stockholm's Royal Institute of Technology. However, Bergqvist was unable to shake his passion for drawing, and before long, he and his school friend Lars Ohlson co-founded FilmTecknarna, an animation and design company that allowed the entrepreneur a chance to follow his true passions. Early on, Bergqvist found most of his animation work in commercials and short films, but in 1997, he found his first major gig in American animation, helping create three episodes of the Emmy-nominated, Jason Alexander-starring animated series "Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man." For the remainder of the decade, Bergqvist continued to develop and refine his technique, utilizing at various points live action, computer animation, and standard cel animation. In 2000, he landed what would be his highest profile gig, working as co-director on the highly successful Nickelodeon project "Rugrats in Paris: The Movie," a sequel that followed the zany adventures of baby Tommy Pickles and his gang of diaper-bound misfits. That film would be his one true smash in the U.S. before returning to Stockholm to focus on commercial projects. In 2003, he did co-direct another animated family feature--the pirate adventure "Captain Sabertooth."