Joaquim Aranha dos Santos is a Portuguese-American animator, storyboard artist, director, producer, and writer. He is best known for his directing work on the television series Justice League Unlimited, Avatar: The Last Airbender, G.I. Joe: Resolute, The Legend of Korra, and Voltron: Legendary Defender, the latter of which he was also a co-showrunner. He co-directed the films Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) and its sequel Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse (2024).
Joaquim Dos Santos | |
|---|---|
 Dos Santos in 2012 | |
| Born | Joaquim Aranha dos Santos[1] July 22, 1977 |
| Citizenship |
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| Occupation(s) | Animator, storyboard artist, director, producer, writer |
| Notable work | Justice League Unlimited Avatar: The Last Airbender G.I. Joe: Resolute The Legend of Korra Voltron: Legendary Defender Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse |
Career
editHe was a storyboard artist for the animated series Justice League before being promoted in the show's renamed third season. He went on to direct half of the episodes of Justice League Unlimited alongside fellow DC Animated Universe director Dan Riba, including the final episode "Destroyer". He joined the staff of Avatar: The Last Airbender in the middle of the show's second season as a storyboard artist, and began directing episodes in the third season, including the last two parts of the four-part series finale. He would later go on to work on Avatar's sequel series The Legend of Korra, as he co-directed all of the first season alongside Ki Hyun Ryu and served as co-executive producer for the entire series.[citation needed]
He also served as supervising director on the mini-series G.I. Joe: Resolute. After that project, he moved back to Warner Bros. Animation, where he directed two DC Showcase short films: The Spectre (accompanying the Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths direct-to-video movie) and Jonah Hex (on Batman: Under the Red Hood). He also worked as an executive producer and co-showrunner on the animated series Voltron: Legendary Defender with Lauren Montgomery.[3] He directed Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, alongside Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson.[4][5]
Personal life
editDos Santos was born in Lisbon, Portugal and moved to the United States when he was four years old, though he spent his summers in Portugal.[2] He currently resides in Woodland Hills, California with his wife and son.[2]
Filmography
edit| Year | Film | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | The Invincible Iron Man | additional storyboard artist |
| Superman: Doomsday | storyboard artist (as Joaquim Dos Santas) | |
| 2008 | Justice League: The New Frontier | storyboard artist |
| Batman: Gotham Knight | storyboard artist (segment Deadshot) | |
| 2010 | The Spectre | director, producer, storyboard artist, character designer |
| Jonah Hex | director, producer, storyboard artist, character designer | |
| Green Arrow | director, producer, storyboard artist, character designer | |
| Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam | director, producer, storyboard artist, character designer | |
| 2011 | Green Lantern: Emerald Knights | storyboard artist |
| 2023 | Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse | director |
| Year | TV-series | Role |
| 2000-2001 | Max Steel | storyboard artist, storyboard clean-up artist, 4 episodes |
| 2001 | Heavy Gear: The Animated Series | storyboard artist, 4 episodes |
| 2001-2004 | Justice League | storyboard artist, 22 episodes |
| 2002 | He-Man and the Masters of the Universe | storyboards, 1 episode |
| 2004 | Justice League: Starcrossed | storyboard, TV movie |
| Teen Titans | storyboard artist, 4 episodes | |
| 2004-2006 | Justice League Unlimited | director, storyboard artist, 20 episodes |
| 2006 | Legion of Super Heroes | storyboard artist, 1 episode |
| 2006-2008 | Avatar: The Last Airbender | director, storyboard artist, additional storyboard artist, background designer, character designer, 12 episodes |
| 2008 | The Spectacular Spider-Man | storyboard artist, 2 episodes |
| 2009 | G.I. Joe: Resolute | supervising director, art director, character designer, 11 episodes |
| 2012 | Tron: Uprising | storyboard artist, 1 episode |
| 2012-2014 | The Legend of Korra | director, co-executive producer, art director, storyboard artist, main character designer, Mako's Fan (voice, uncredited), 52 episodes |
| 2016-2018 | Voltron: Legendary Defender | director, executive producer, writer, storyboard, 76 episodes |
| 2021 | Invincible | storyboard artist, 1 episode |
| 2022 | The Legend of Vox Machina | main title layout (uncredited), 11 episodes |
References
edit- ^ "Exclusivo: Joaquim Aranha dos Santos é um dos realizadores da nova aventura animada do Homem-Aranha e é português" [Exclusive: Joaquim Aranha dos Santos is one of the directors of the new Spider-Man animated adventure and he's Portuguese]. CNN Portugal (in Portuguese). June 1, 2023. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
- ^ a b c "Sony Pictures Animation". Archived from the original on March 25, 2023. Retrieved March 25, 2023.
- ^ "DreamWorks and Netflix reveal Voltron: Legendary Defender animated series showrunners". Nerd Reactor. March 10, 2016. Archived from the original on March 12, 2016. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
- ^ Kit, Borys (November 27, 2018). "'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse' Sequel and All-Female Spinoff in the Works From Sony (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on November 27, 2018. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
- ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (April 20, 2022). "'Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse' Heads To Summer 2023; Sony Dates 'Madame Web', 'Equalizer 3' Among Other Release Changes". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on April 21, 2022. Retrieved April 20, 2022.
External links
edit- Joaquim Dos Santos at IMDb
- Joaquim Dos Santos at DeviantArt
- Joaquim Dos Santos' blog
- Interview with Joaquim Dos Santos about his work on Avatar: The Last Airbender Archived January 21, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
- More information about G.I. Joe: Resolute Archived January 21, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
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