Peter Hans "Pete" Docter is an American film director, animator, screenwriter, producer, and voice actor from Bloomington, Minnesota. He directed the film and also voiced Mr. Andersen's Anger.
Pete is also known for directing the Pixar animated films Monsters, Inc. and Up, and as a key figure and collaborator in Pixar Animation Studios. The A. V. Club has called him "almost universally successful". He has been nominated for six Academy Awards (one win thus far for Up - (Best Animated Feature), three Annie Awards (winning two), a BAFTA children's Film Award (which he won), and a Hochi Film Award (which he won). He has described himself as a "geeky kid from Minnesota who likes to draw cartoons".
Biography[]
Docter was born in Bloomington, Minnesota, growing up introverted and socially isolated, preferring to work alone and having to remind himself to connect with others. He often played in the creek beside his house, pretending to be Indiana Jones and acting out scenes. A junior-high classmate later described him as "this kid who was really tall, but who was kind of awkward, maybe getting picked on by the school bullies because his voice change at puberty was very rough".
Both his parents worked in education: his mother, Rita, taught music and his father, Dave, was a choral director at Normandale Community College. He attended Nine Mile Elementary School, Oak Grove Junior High, and John F. Kennedy High School in Bloomington. Unlike his two sisters, Kirsten Docter, who is now the violist of the Cavani String Quartet, and Kari Docter, a cellist with the Metropolitan Opera, Docter was not particularly interested in music. Nevertheless, he can be seen playing on Michael Giacchino's score on the Up Blu-ray extra features. He taught himself cartooning, making flip books and homemade animated shorts with a family movie camera. He later described his interest in animation as a way to "play God", making up nearly living characters. Cartoon director Chuck Jones and producer Walt Disney and cartoonist Jack Davis were major inspirations.
He spent about a year at the University of Minnesota studying both philosophy and making art before transferring to the California Institute of the Arts, where he won a Student Academy Award for his production "Next Door" and graduated in 1990. Although Docter had planned to work for the Disney Corporation, his best offers came from Pixar and from the producers of The Simpsons. He did not think much of Pixar at that time, and later considered his choice to work there a strange and unusual one.
Career[]
Filmography[]
- Inside Out 2 (2024)
- Pixar Short Films Collection 3 (2018)
- Riley's First Date? (2015)
- Inside Out (2015)
- Up (2009)
- Mr. Incredible and Pals (2005)
- The Incredibles (2004)
- Monsters, Inc. (2001)
- Palm Springs (short) (1989)
- Winter (short) (1988)
Director[]
- Wolf and the Mysterious Island (2023)
- Soul (2020)
- The 19th Annual Animation Show of Shows (2017)
- Inside Out (2015)
- The 82nd Annual Academy Awards (2010)
- Up (2009)
- Pixar Short Films Collection: Volume 1 (2006)
- Mike's New Car (2002)
- Monsters, Inc. (2001)
- Next Door (short) (1990)
- Palm Springs (short) (1989)
- Directors' Student Films (1988)
- Winter (short) (1988)
Writer[]
- Carl's Date (short) (2023)
- Toy Story 2 Redialed (2022)
- Dug Days (2021)
- Soul (2020)
- Riley's First Date? (2015)
- Inside Out (2015)
- Black Friday: The Toy Story You Never Saw (2010)
- Up (2009)
- WALL·E (2008)
- Pixar Short Films Collection: Volume 1 (2006)
- Mike's New Car (2002)
- Monsters, Inc. (2001)
- Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2000)
- Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins (2000)
- Toy Story 2 (1999)
- Toy Story (1995)
- Winter (short) (1988)
Producer[]
- Elio (2025)
- Inside Out 2 (2024)
- Win or Lose (2024)
- Carl's Date (2023)
- Elemental (2023)
- Cars on the Road (2022)
- Lightyear (2022)
- Turning Red (2022)
- Ciao Alberto (2021)
- Dug Days (2021)
- Luca (2021)
- Pixar Popcorn (2021)
- Dory's Reef Cam (2020)
- Onward (2020)
- Lamp Life (2020)
- Forky Asks a Question (2019-2020)
- Toy Story 4: Carnival Prizes (2019)
- Toy Story 4 (2019)
- Bao (2018)
- Lou (2017)
- Riley's First Date? (2015)
- Party Central (2013)
- Monsters University (2013)
- Brave (2012)
- George and A.J. (2009)
- Dug's Special Mission (2009)
- Winter (1988)
External Links[]
Pete Docter on Wikipedia
Pete Docter on IMDb