Tim Johnson

Tim Johnson was born in Chicago in August 1961. He attended Northwestern University where he earned a degree in English Literature. Johnson's career spanned the genesis of computer-animated films and the first twenty years of DreamWorks Animation. After producing a couple of animated films in college, Johnson's introduction to computer animation came in 1985 on staff at Post Effects in Chicago. He joined PDI (Pacific Data Images) in 1988 and directed the first computer generated Pillsbury Doughboy ad. In 1995, he directed a segment of "The Simpsons" (Fox, 1989-), part of a "Treehouse of Horror" episode featuring a three-dimensional Homer Simpson. In 1998 Johnson directed "Antz," the first film released by DreamWorks Animation. The leads were voiced by Woody Allen and Sharon Stone, and the film went on to gross $171 million worldwide. His next film, the traditionally animated "Sinbad: The Legend of The Seven Seas" (2003) starred Brad Pitt and Catherine Zeta-Jones, and was a critical and commercial bust. The film's failure is widely seen as a major reason studios abandoned traditional animation in favor of computer animation. Next up was the computer animated "Over the Hedge" (2006), followed by an Executive Producer position on "How to Train Your Dragon" (2010). In 2015, he returned to directing with "Home," an adaptation of the kids book The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex.