Joe Ranft Movies and Career Information

Joseph Henry "Joe" Ranft (March 13, 1960 – August 16, 2005) was an American screenwriter, animator, storyboard artist, voice actor, and magician, who worked for Pixar and Disney. His brother, Jerome Ranft, is a sculptor who also worked on several Pixar movies, and voiced Gamma in Up. Joe Ranft was born Joseph Henry Ranft on March 13, 1960 in Pasadena, California, but raised in Whittier, California. As a child, Ranft developed a love for magic, storytelling, film and comedy. At 15, he became a member of the Magic Castle Junior Group. After graduating from Monte Vista High School, Whittier, in 1978, Mr. Ranft began studying in the character animation program at the California Institute of the Arts alongside John Lasseter and Brad Bird. After two years, Ranft's student film Good Humor caught the attention of Disney animation executives, who offered him a job. In 1980, Joe Ranft joined Disney as a writer and storyboard artist. During his first five years with Disney, Joe worked on a number of television projects that never got made. Later in his Disney career, he was bumped up into the Feature Animation department, where he was mentored by Eric Larson. Ranft later said of training