John Andrew Overtoom is an American animation director, writer, photographer, and cinematographer. Recent credits include Nickelodeon’s The Patrick Star Show as well as the animated feature film The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, where he served as CG animation director and head of character animation. He was supervising animation director on the Cartoon Network series Clarence, as well as Disney XD’s animated television series Billy Dilley's Super-Duper Subterranean Summer where he was a writer and animation supervisor. In 1999, after two years as an animation timer on The Angry Beavers, Overtoom was hired as an animation director on the Nickelodeon animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants,[1] for which he was nominated for Emmy Awards in 2004, 2007 and 2011.[2][3] My Life with Morrissey is Overtoom's first award-winning live action feature as a writer/director/cinematographer and is distributed by MVD.[4][5] Other credits include Family Guy and American Dad for Fox TV, and Phineas and Ferb and Dave the Barbarian for Disney.

Andrew Overtoom
Born
John Andrew Overtoom
Alma materVancouver Film School
Fordham University
Occupation(s)Animation director, writer, photographer, cinematographer
Years active1993–present
Known forSpongeBob SquarePants
Clarence
My Life with Morrissey
All in the Bunker
Billy Dilley's Super-Duper Subterranean Summer

Career

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After graduating, Overtoom attended Pasadena's yearly Animation Celebration, where his feature film No Parachute caught the attention of producer Mike Girard. Girard hired Overtoom onto Nickelodeon's The Angry Beavers, where he worked as an animation timer.[6]

Overtoom moved as an animation director over to another Nickelodeon series, SpongeBob SquarePants, since the show had begun in 1999.[7] Laura Fries of Variety praised his work on the 2002 special "SpongeBob's House Party": "Overtoom has created a very stylistic and vivid animated world that smacks of retro pastiche."[8]

In August 2001, Overtoom began the production of his first feature film My Life with Morrissey, which he wrote, directed and photographed. The film premiered in 2003.[9] Critic Stephen Dalton of The Times, in a positive review, wrote that "[B]ehind its high-camp, irreverent tone, Overtoom's film is clearly a twisted tribute."[7] The film won the Audience Award at the 2003 Black Point Film Festival in Wisconsin.[10]

In 2009 Overtoom and Vancouver Film School classmates Trent Noble and Yann Trembley animated the CG short film All in the Bunker.[11] The offbeat comedy, written and directed by Overtoom, is a satire of modern day sitcom-culture and network television and stars Kurtwood Smith, Cheryl Hines and Don Novello.

Overtoom has served as an Timing Director on Family Guy episodes,[12][13] a sheet timer for The Mighty B! and Timing Director on the Disney Channel animated series Phineas and Ferb.[14] He served as the supervising animation director on the Cartoon Network series Clarence and the Disney XD animated series Billy Dilley's Super-Duper Subterranean Summer. In early 2018, Overtoom returned to SpongeBob SquarePants to work on season 12 as an animation director. He was subsequently hired as CG Animation Director at Paramount Pictures for the first all CG SpongeBob feature The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, where he created a CG animation style constructed from commonly used techniques of 2D and stop-motion animation, relying heavily on his past work on SpongeBob and also Nick Park's Oscar winning Wallace and Gromit short films The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave. Overtoom was then promoted to Head of Character Animation (HOCA) by Paramount in the summer of 2018. In 2019, he headed to Montreal to continue production on the new SpongeBob feature film at Mikros Image, continuing his duties as CG Animation Director and Head of Character Animation (HOCA). The SpongeBob feature released in theaters in Canada on August 14, 2020.

Personal life

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Overtoom graduated from the Vancouver Film School,[10] and also studied at Fordham University.[15]

Filmography

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Television

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Year Show Role Notes
1996 Quack Pack Assistant director
1997 Nightmare Ned Sheet timer
1999 The Angry Beavers Animation timer
Oh Yeah! Cartoons Director
1999-2012; 2018–present SpongeBob SquarePants Animation director, Sheet timer, Footage provider, Songwriter
2004 Dave the Barbarian Timing director
2005 Family Guy Animation timer
2006-2007 The Emperor's New School Timing director
2007 Squirrel Boy Sheet timer
Ni Hao, Kai-Lan
2007-2008 Random! Cartoons Director, Sheet timer
2008-2009 The Mighty B! Sheet timer
2012-2013 Phineas and Ferb Animation timer/Timing director
2013-2014 Adventure Time Sheet timer
2014-2015 Clarence Supervising Animation Director, Title Art and Photography, Stop Motion Animation, Live Action Sequences
2016–2018 Pickle and Peanut Director
2017 Billy Dilley's Super-Duper Subterranean Summer Supervising Timing Director, writer, Storyboard Artist, Dialogue director
Spider-Man Timing director
2021 The Patrick Star Show Animation director

Film

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Year Film Role Notes
2001 Constant Payne Animation director Animated short film
2002 Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring Animation timing director Direct-to-video
2003 My Life with Morrissey Director
Writer
Producer
Music supervisor
Cinematographer
Real Life With Morrissey Director
Writer
Producer
Editor
Cinematographer
Documentary film
2004 The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie Animation timing director
2005 Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story Animation timer Direct-to-video
The Proud Family Movie Timing director
2007 SpongeBob's Atlantis SquarePantis Animation director Television movie
2009 All in the Bunker Director
Writer
Producer
Animator
Cinematographer
Animated short film
SpongeBob's Truth or Square Animation director Television movie
2015 Jammers Animatic director Animated short film
2020 The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run Head of character animation

References

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  1. ^ Lerman, Laurence (October 6, 2003). "Meeting Mr. Smiths". Video Business. 23 (40): 21.
  2. ^ "SpongeBob SquarePants nominations for the Emmy Awards". Emmy Awards. Retrieved October 23, 2012.
  3. ^ "Andrew Overtoom's crew page". My Life With Morrissey. Archived from the original on November 19, 2008. Retrieved October 22, 2012.
  4. ^ "My Life With Morrissey (2003)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved October 23, 2012.
  5. ^ "Interview: From SpongeBob to Morrissey –Andrew Overtoom works with the Best". Film Threat. Retrieved October 22, 2012.
  6. ^ "Successful Animation School Graduates". Animation School. September 23, 2011. Archived from the original on January 20, 2013. Retrieved October 22, 2012.
  7. ^ a b Dalton, Stephen (February 26, 2005). "My Life with Morrissey". The Times. p. 11.
  8. ^ Fries, Laura (May 16, 2002). "SpongeBob's House Party". Variety. Retrieved December 3, 2012.
  9. ^ "Interview with Andrew Overtoom". Film Threat. Retrieved October 22, 2012.
  10. ^ a b Burroughs, Alexandra (October 2, 2003). "Cult of Morrissey fodder for feature". Calgary Herald. p. F6.
  11. ^ "All in the Bunker". Archived from the original on August 28, 2012. Retrieved October 23, 2012.
  12. ^ "Overtoom Bio". IN.com. Archived from the original on April 15, 2014. Retrieved October 23, 2012.
  13. ^ "Overtoom listing on New York Times". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 30, 2013. Retrieved October 22, 2012.
  14. ^ "Overtoom – Comic Con 2010 TV Panels Schedule". TV Equals. Retrieved October 23, 2012.
  15. ^ "Andrew Overtoom". LinkedIn. Retrieved October 22, 2012.
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