Edwin Catmull Success Story

Early Life

Some geniuses have marked their names on the creative canvases. A man who changed the world of cinema with his fantastic imagination and genius, Edwin Catmull, the co-founder and president of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios, bags the entire credit for bringing in tremendous evolution in the field of film animation. He is responsible for some major advances in the animation techniques.

Catmull had a very regular childhood, born to a school principal. His imagination and vision however, were anything but regular. His fascination with animation began right from the time when he was a kid. After watching the movies like Disney’s Peter Pan and Pinocchio, little Edwin was completely smitten by the magic of films.As he grew older, Edwin felt like he could not draw and paint well enough for studying animation and started pursuing higher education in computer sciences. He got his Bachelor’s in computer sciences and worked as a computer programmer for a while before returning to the university to get his graduation.

It is often said that when someone really wants something, fate has a way of making it happen. This was true with Edwin Catmull. Back at the University of Utah, he was placed under the famous Ivan Sutherland, the world renowned computer graphics expert. Catmull was fascinated by Sutherland’s idea that computer graphics are the future of the animation. This meant that he could start working for what he always loved - animation.