Gini Cruz Santos

Gini Cruz Santos
Born1966 (age 57–58)[1]
Pasay, Rizal, Philippines[2]
NationalityFilipino
Notable works
Dory on Finding Nemo
AwardsAnnie nomination (2003)[3]
VES nomination (2004)[4]

Gini Cruz Santos[5] is a Filipina animator at Pixar studios based in the San Francisco Bay Area.[6][7][8] She worked on numerous Pixar animation films including Toy Story 2,[8] Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo,[9] A Bug's Life,[8] The Incredibles,[8] Ratatouille,[10] Toy Story 3,[9] Up,[2] Lifted[11] and Brave.[12] She was nominated in 2004 for an Annie award for her detailed lifelike animation on Finding Nemo,[13][14] and was nominated by the Visual Effects Society for an award for this project as well.[4]

Santos was born in Pasay in the Philippines.[2] She moved to Guam after age three but returned to study in the Philippines.[8] She studied Fine Arts at the University of Santo Tomas with a major in advertising.[8] She earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Computer Arts from the School of Visual Arts in New York City.[15]

Santos worked as an art director at an advertising agency. In 1996, she was hired by Pixar after submitting her short feature reel entitled The Eclipse without submitting her resume;[9] her reel focused on human relationships. Her animation of Dory, voiced by Ellen DeGeneres, on the film Finding Nemo was praised for integrating "fish movement, human movement, and facial expressions to make them look and feel like real characters".[14] She was the supervising animator on the Pixar short film entitled Lifted.[10][11] She was lauded for her work in Brave.[12] She is sometimes described as a Pixnoy: a Filipino-American or Fil-am artist working at Pixar.[1][2][7]

  1. ^ a b Bert Sulat Jr., July 15, 2007, Philippine Star, There's a rat in my ratatouille, Accessed June 12, 2014
  2. ^ a b c d Janet Nepales, Female Network, June 24, 2010, "Pixnoy" (Pinay Working at Pixar) Animates Toy Story 3: Janet talks to Gini Cruz Santos, a Filipina animator for Pixar's popular sequel, Accessed June 12, 2014
  3. ^ 31st Annual Annie Awards, 31st Annual Annie Award Nominees and Winners (2003), Accessed June 12, 2014, "... Character Animation... Gini Santos Finding Nemo..."
  4. ^ a b Visual Effects Society, 2004, 2nd Annual VES Awards Archived 2014-06-13 at archive.today, (VES= Visual Effects Society), Accessed June 12, 2014, "...Outstanding Character Animation in an Animated Motion Picture... Finding Nemo 'Inside the Whale' ... Gini Santos..."
  5. ^ Philippine Daily Inquirer, August 18, 2003, It's 'Gini' Cruz Santos, Accessed June 12, 2014, "...Her complete name is Virginia 'Gini' Cruz Santos..."
  6. ^ Beck, Jerry (2007). Animated Movie Guide : The Ultimate Illustrated Reference to Cartoon, Stop-Motion and Computer-Generated Feature Films. Chicago, IL, USA: Chicago Review Press. p. 84. ISBN 9781556525919.
  7. ^ a b Staff reporters, July 11, 2012, Asian Week, San Francisco Book Launch of My Filipino Connection – The Philippines in Hollywood Archived 2015-04-01 at the Wayback Machine, Accessed June 12, 2014, "... “Pixnoys” – top Filam talents at Pixar... Gini Cruz Santos..."
  8. ^ a b c d e f Nov 17, 2004, Levent Ozler, Dexigner, Gini Cruz Santos: An Incredible Pinay Animator, Accessed June 11, 2014, "...Virginia "Gini" Cruz Santos ... "Toy Story 2," "A Bug's Life," "Finding Nemo" and "The Incredibles" to life. ..."
  9. ^ a b c Kristine A. Caguiat, July 5, 2011, Juice, The All Stars of Philippine Animation: Gini Cruz Santos, Accessed June 12, 2014, "...Gini Santos ... solely responsible for the lovable Dory character in Finding Nemo..."
  10. ^ a b Gini Santos (Pixar Shorts) Interview Archived 2014-06-13 at archive.today, Accessed June 12, 2014, "...Gini Santos was the supervising animator on the latest Pixar short film, Lifted...."
  11. ^ a b Barbara Robertson, Volume: 30 Issue: 2 (Feb 2007), Computer Graphics magazine, Acorns and Aliens: Despite their focus on feature films, Pixar and Blue Sky Studios once again create Oscar-worthy short animations, Accessed June 12, 2014, "...animator Gini Santos.... "Lifted" supervising animator,..."
  12. ^ a b Ruben V. Nepales, Philippine Daily Inquirer, July 7, 2012, A great ‘Pilipino’ weekend, Accessed June 12, 2014, "... Gini Cruz Santos...first female animation supervisor..."
  13. ^ Rick DeMott, January 9, 2004, ANIMATIONWorld via Animation World Network, [1], Accessed June 12, 2014, "...INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT CATEGORIES Character Animation ... Gini Santos... FINDING NEMO..."
  14. ^ a b Oct 23, 2009, Sean Howell, Yahoo! News, Profile of Gini Santos - Pixar Animator Brings Asian Flare and Female Perspective Archived 2014-06-13 at archive.today, Accessed June 12, 2014, "...she integrates the fish movement, human movement, and facial expressions..."
  15. ^ "Among the Pixnoys at Pixar - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos". Inquirer. Archived from the original on 2010-06-21. Retrieved 2014-06-12.