Daniel Chong (born November 19, 1978) is an American animator, storyboard artist, writer, director, and producer. He is best known as the creator of Cartoon Network's We Bare Bears (2015–2019). He also directed, wrote and executive produced We Bare Bears: The Movie (2020). He is also directing the upcoming Pixar film Hoppers (2026).[1]
Daniel Chong | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 19, 1978 Fargo, North Dakota, U.S. |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 2008–present |
| Known for | We Bare Bears |
Early life
editChong was born in Fargo, North Dakota to Singaporean Chinese immigrants. He grew up in Fountain Valley, California, and attended California Institute of the Arts. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California.
Career
editChong began his career as a storyboard artist for numerous animation giants, such as Blue Sky Studios, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Illumination Entertainment, and Pixar Animation Studios.[2] He worked as a storyboard artist on the animated films Bolt (2008), Cars 2 (2011), Dr. Seuss' The Lorax (2012), Free Birds (2013), and Inside Out (2015).
While working at Pixar, Chong worked on the television specials Toy Story of Terror! (2013) and Toy Story That Time Forgot (2014), the former of which won him an Annie Award.[3]
Chong went on to create the animated series We Bare Bears, which premiered in 2015. The initial idea for We Bare Bears came from a webcomic that he had created in 2010 called The Three Bare Bears. The webcomic ended almost a year later, but he carried the idea with him.[2] Chong has cited Seinfeld, Broad City, Peanuts, Aardman Animations and Wes Anderson as inspirations for the style and tone of the show.[4] Chong directed, wrote, and executive produced a film adaptation of the series, We Bare Bears: The Movie, which was released in June 2020, thus ending the series.[5]
In December 2020, Chong revealed on Twitter that he had returned to Pixar and was working on a project there.[6] The film was officially revealed as Hoppers in August 2024 to be released on March 6, 2026.[1][7]
Filmography
editFilm
edit| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Executive Producer |
Story Artist |
Pixar Senior Creative Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Bolt[2] | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| 2011 | Cars 2[2] | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| 2012 | Dr. Seuss' The Lorax[2] | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| 2013 | Free Birds[2] | No | No | No | Additional | No |
| 2015 | Inside Out[2] | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| 2020 | We Bare Bears: The Movie[5] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| 2022 | Turning Red | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Lightyear | No | No | No | No | Yes | |
| 2023 | Elemental | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| 2024 | Inside Out 2 | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| 2025 | Elio | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| 2026 | Hoppers[8] | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Toy Story 5 | No | No | No | No | Yes | |
| TBA | Incredibles 3 | No | No | No | No | Yes |
Television
edit| Year | Title | Creator | Writer | Executive Producer |
Story Artist |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010–2011 | Cars Toon: Mater's Tall Tales | No | Story | No | No | Episodes: "Moon Mater", "Mater Private Eye", "Air Mater" |
| 2013 | Toy Story of Terror![3] | No | No | No | Yes | TV specials |
| 2014 | Toy Story That Time Forgot | No | No | No | Yes | |
| 2015–2019 | We Bare Bears[2] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 141 episodes |
| 2022–present | We Baby Bears | No | No | Yes | No |
Awards and nominations
edit| Year | Association | Category | Work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Annie Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Storyboarding in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production | Toy Story of Terror | Won |
| 2016 | BAFTA Children's Awards | Best International | We Bare Bears | Won |
| 2018 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Short Form Animated Program | Nominated |
References
edit- ^ a b D'Alessandro, Anthony (2024-08-10). "Pixar Unveils New Film At D23: 'Hoppers' With Jon Hamm & Bobby Moynihan". Deadline. Retrieved 2024-08-10.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Interview with Daniel Chong, creator of We Bare Bears". Animac Magazine. Archived from the original on March 9, 2021. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
- ^ a b "49th Annual Annie Awards".
- ^ DeVoe, Elise (July 23, 2015). "A Q&A with We Bare Bears Creator Daniel Chong". Time Warner.
- ^ a b @cartoonnetwork (5 June 2020). "We Bare Bears The Movie will now be available starting Tuesday 6/30... Available on Apple, Google Play, Amazon! (USA and CA only)" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ @threebarebears (10 December 2020). "WELP guess there's no hiding it now- Happy to be back and developing something @Pixar!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (August 13, 2024). "Frozen 3 Gets Official Thanksgiving 2027 Release; Pixar's Hoppers Sets Spring 2026". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on August 13, 2024. Retrieved August 13, 2024.
- ^ Inigo, Joey (August 9, 2024). "D23 2024: Pixar's 2 new projects, a few sequels, and updates on existing lineup". mouseinfo.com. Retrieved August 18, 2024.
External links
edit
- Daniel Chong at IMDb