Early life

Saldanha was born in Brazil, growing up in Rio de Janeiro. Though he loved cartoons and drawing from an early age, by the time he was an adult, he initially considered a career in computer science, because he did not think a career in art was a viable option. This changed when he became aware of how computer-generated imaging was revolutionizing animation, and discovered the continuing education program at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. He entered that program to major in computer animation, saying, "I knew from the first day in class that this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life". One of his instructors, recognizing his talent, convinced him to enroll in the school's MFA program. Though Saldanha and his wife, Isabella Scarpa, thought this was a risk, they opted to stay in Manhattan so that Saldanha could do so. While at SVA, he completed two prizewinning film shorts that were featured in film festivals around the world. It was also at SVA that Saldanha met MFA instructor and future film directing partner Chris Wedge, who invited Saldanha to join Wedge's company Blue Sky Studios. Saldanha graduated from SVA with a Master's degree in Computer Art in 1993.

Career

During its fledgling years, Blue Sky Studios provided special effects and produced animated TV commercials. In 2002, Saldanha and Wedge co-directed the animated feature film Ice Age. The movie was a success, with an opening weekend gross of $46.3 million, the best March opening ever. After co-directing the 2005 film Robots, he broke his previous March opening record with the 2006 Ice Age sequel, Ice Age 2: The Meltdown, which Saldanha directed by himself. He would later direct the 2009 sequel, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. Desiring a change of location after directing three films set in icy locales, Saldanha's next project was the 2011 film Rio, which is set in Saldanha's hometown of Rio de Janeiro. Saldanha, who felt that Rio had never been fully portrayed on film, felt a responsibility to travel to the city with the other animators, so that they could accurately capture Rio's unique environment and habitats. The movie grossed a reported $484 million worldwide.

In October 2012, Saldanha signed a five-year exclusive deal with 20th Century Fox to develop and produce animated and live-action projects. For this purpose, he formed in June 2013 a Fox-based production company, named BottleCap Productions. In 2014, Rio 2 was released, which he directed and co-wrote. For 2017, he is directing an animated feature film adaptation of The Story of Ferdinand. Saldanha is also directing for Fox a live-action adaptation of Royden Lepp's graphic novel Rust: Visitor in the Field, which he plans to make before Ferdinand. He is also developing an animated feature film based on a book Alienology from the Ologies fantasy book series.

Personal life

Saldanha and his wife, mathematician Isabella Scarpa, initially lived in a studio apartment in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, but after their second daughter was born, they moved to Hoboken, New Jersey, where they had friends. They continue to live there with their children, Manoela, Sofia, Julia and Rafael. Saldanha, Isabella and their oldest daughter compete in the HOHA (Hoboken Harriers Running Club), a 5k race. Manoelo and Sofia voiced a "porcupine-like critter" called "Molehog" in the film Ice Age: The Meltdown, directed by their father. In Rio, Sofia voiced Linda Gunderson as a child.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Director	Producer	Animation Department	Actor	Role	Notes
1997	A Simple Wish			Yes			Creative supervisor: Blue Sky Studios
1998	Bunny			Yes			Animator short film
1999	Fight Club			Yes			Creative supervisor: Blue Sky Studios
2002	Ice Age	Yes					Co-director
2002	Gone Nutty	Yes					Short film
2005	Robots	Yes					Co-director
2006	Ice Age: The Meltdown	Yes			Yes	Dodo
2006	No Time for Nuts		Yes				Executive producer Short film
2008	Surviving Sid		Yes				Executive producer Short film
2009	Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs	Yes			Yes	Dinosaur Babies Flightless Bird
2011	Rio	Yes			Yes	Second Waiter	Also writer: story
2011	Scrat's Continental Crack-up: Part 2		Yes				Executive producer Short film
2012	Ice Age: Continental Drift		Yes				Executive producer
2014	Rio 2	Yes			Yes	Amazon Quail	Also writer: story
2014	Rio, I Love You	Yes					Segment "Pas de Deux"
2016	Ice Age: Collision Course		Yes				Executive producer
2017	Ferdinand	Yes

Video games

Year	Title	Director	Notes
2006	Ice Age 2: The Meltdown	Yes

Critical reception

Film	Rotten Tomatoes	Metacritic	IMDb
	Overall
Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)	57%	58%	6.9
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)	45%	50%	7.0
Rio (2011)	72%	63%	7.0
Rio 2 (2014)	48%	49%	6.4

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Film	Result
2003	Annie Award	Outstanding Directing in an Animated Feature Production	Ice Age	Nominated
	DVD Exclusive Award	Best Audio Commentary, New Release		Nominated
		Best New, Enhanced or Reconstructed Movie Scenes		Nominated
2004	Academy Award	Best Animated Short Film	Gone Nutty	Nominated
	Annecy International Animated Film Festival	The Annecy Cristal		Nominated
2007	Annie Award	Best Directing in an Animated Feature Production	Ice Age: The Meltdown	Nominated
2012		Directing in a Feature Production	Rio	Nominated
	Cinema Brazil Grand Prize	Best Foreign-Language Film (Melhor Filme Estrangeiro)		Nominated
		Best Foreign-Language Film (Melhor Filme Estrangeiro) - Audience Award		Won
	Italian Online Movie Award	Best Animated Feature Film (Miglior film d'animazione)		Nominated
	St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association	Best Animated Feature Film		Nominated
2014	BAFTA Children's Awards	BAFTA Kids Vote - Feature Film	Rio 2	Nominated
	CinemaCon Award	International Filmmaker of the Year		Won
2015	Visual Effects Society Award	Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture	Rio 2	Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]