Kyle Balda

Kyle Balda (born March 9, 1971) is an American animator and film director, best known for co-directing the Illumination films The Lorax (2012), with Chris Renaud; Minions (2015) and Despicable Me 3 (2017), with Pierre Coffin; and Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022), with Brad Ableson and Jonathan del Val. He previously worked as an animator for Industrial Light & Magic before moving to Pixar where he worked on three of their films.

Kyle Balda
Balda in 2015.
Born (1971-03-09) March 9, 1971
Tucson, Arizona, U.S.
Alma materCalifornia Institute of the Arts
Occupations
  • Animator
  • film director
Years active1994–present
EmployerIllumination (2010—present)

Early life

Balda was born in Tucson, Arizona, to a Maltese mother.[1] He studied at the California Institute of the Arts in the early 1990s and dropped out after two years for a job he was offered.[1][2][3]

Career

During his time at CalArts, Balda was hired by LucasArts as an intern to create the animated opening credit sequence for the graphic adventure game Day of the Tentacle.[4]

He started his career as an animator by working at Industrial Light & Magic, in films including The Mask as graphics animator, Jumanji as animation supervisor, and Mars Attacks! as character animator.[2] He also worked at Weta Digital once in New Zealand, on the 1996 film The Frighteners, animating the character of the Grim Reaper for the film.[2] Later Balda started working at Pixar; where he was credited as an additional animator in A Bug's Life, as directing animator in Toy Story 2, and as animator in Monsters, Inc..[2] In 2010, he joined Illumination Entertainment in Paris, and worked in Despicable Me as the head of layout. Balda has also directed several short films and lectured at different animation schools.[2]

In 2012, Balda made his directorial debut at Illumination as co-director of The Lorax, along with Chris Renaud.[3][5] The film was released domestically on March 2, 2012, by Universal Pictures and grossed over $348 million with a budget of $70 million.[6]

In 2015, Balda directed another Illumination animated film, Minions, this time alongside Pierre Coffin.[5][7][8] The film was released domestically on July 10, 2015, by Universal and has grossed over $1.1 billion.[9]

In 2017, Balda co-directed Despicable Me 3. In his role as co-director he pushed for the film to have a more vibrant color palette than its predecessors.[10]

Personal life

Balda currently resides in the Oregon coast.[11]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Notes
1994 The Mask Graphics animator
1995 Jumanji Animation supervisor
1996 Mars Attacks! Character animator
1996 The Frighteners
1998 A Bug's Life Additional animator
1999 Toy Story 2 Directing animator
2001 Monsters, Inc. Animator
2010 Despicable Me Layout supervisor
2012 The Lorax Co-director
Forces of Nature Director
2015 Minions
Competition
2016 Weenie
2017 Despicable Me 3
2022 Minions: The Rise of Gru

References
  1. Molony, Julia (June 22, 2015). "Life amongst Minions... for Kyle Balda". The Irish Independent. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
  2. "Kyle Balda, Illumination Mac Guff, Director". FMX. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
  3. Fraser, Paul (March 9, 2012). "Alumnus Kyle Balda's Co-directed Film The Lorax Opens Strong". Calarts. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
  4. Mackey, Bob (March 7, 2016). "Behind the Art of Day of the Tentacle". USgamer. Archived from the original on March 9, 2016. Retrieved March 7, 2016.
  5. Brew, Simon (June 26, 2015). "Kyle Balda interview: Minions, Day Of The Tentacle". Den of Geek. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
  6. "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
  7. Kourbeti, Kat (June 30, 2015). "Interview: Directors Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda talk Minions". Flickering Myth. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
  8. Cecco, Leyland (July 10, 2015). "Kyle Balda and Peter Coffin". Exclaim!. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
  9. "Minions (2015)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
  10. Grobar, Matt (December 19, 2017). "'Despicable Me 3' Director Kyle Balda On Designing Balthazar Bratt, Failed Child Star-Turned-Supervillain". Deadline. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
  11. Strauss, Bob (June 28, 2022). "Director couldn't resist setting 'Minions: The Rise of Gru' in his beloved Bay Area". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved September 25, 2022.
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