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Andrew L. Schmidt is an Emmy and Annie nominated director whose work is rooted in the discipline of classic character animation and expressed through cinematic, large-scale CG animated storytelling. Over a three-decade career, he has helped shape some of the most influential animated films and series of the modern era, bringing a performance-driven, character-first sensibility to stories of epic scope.
Schmidt began his career as a traditional animator on landmark films including The Iron Giant and The Prince of Egypt before joining Pixar Animation Studios, where he contributed to Academy Award winning features such as Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, WALL-E, Up, and Toy Story 3. Grounded in the discipline of performance and visual storytelling, he developed a directing voice rooted in emotional clarity and cinematic staging.
Transitioning into directing, Schmidt became a key creative leader on Guillermo del Toro’s acclaimed Tales of Arcadia trilogy, directing 25 episodes and co-directing the feature film Tales of Arcadia: Rise of the Titans. His work on the series earned both Annie and Daytime Emmy nominations for Outstanding Directing. He later directed episodes of Star Trek: Prodigy, bringing character-driven storytelling and franchise-scale world-building to a new generation of audiences.
Most recently, Schmidt completed his role as Supervising Director on Skydance Animation’s AppleTV series WondLa, where he led the creative vision across three seasons, guiding story, performance, and visual language to deliver a cohesive, emotionally resonant narrative.
His work consistently explores themes of identity, belonging, and transformation, pairing mythic scale with intimate character journeys. Whether working in feature film or serialized storytelling, Schmidt is drawn to stories about unlikely heroes confronting the worlds, and the selves, they must grow into.
