Biography

Even at an early age Mr. Tim Burton was interested in art. He spent most of his time painting, drawing and watching Vincent Price movies. (He was a big fan of Vincent Price and Ray Harryhausen.) Tim Burton was a shy and introverted child; said to be a "recluse". His artistic career took off when he was in 9th grade and won a drawing competition for a local garbage company. His anti-liter poster was displayed on all of their trucks for a whole year. Tim Burton went on to study art and animation at California Institute for the Arts, and he recieved a fellowship from Disney. He went on to work for Disney. In his time there he was a part of the films The Fox and the Hound and The Black Cauldron. He tended to have different visions for the films than his colleagues, and his stay at Disney was not exactly the most enjoyable for him. Despite this fact, Disney saw Tim Burton's talent and let him make the short film "Vincent". A film about a boy who loved Vincent Price and lived in an alternate reality of Vincent Price films and Edgar Allan Poe poems. The film was narrarated by Vincent Price himself, and won several awards. Tim Burton's next work was a short film called "Frankenweenie". It was a twist on Frankenstein, but Disney deemed it to scary to be viewed by children and did not want it to be released. But, actor Paul Reubens (Pee Wee Herman) happened upon the film and decided that Tim Burton would be the perfect director to do his film "Pee Wee Herman's Big Adventure." So, Mr. Burton went on to work for Warner Brothers and directed his first feature length film "Pee Wee Herman's Big Adventure" in 1985. The film was a sucess and Tim Burton's career took off. He stayed with Warner Brothers and three years later began working on Beetlejuice, which was another hit. Tim Burton was now popular in Hollywood. Warner Brothers then gave him the responsibility of directing Batman, which he did in 1989. Since the film was another great success, Warner Bros gave him the opportunity to do his next film, which was an original Tim Burton film, Edward Scissorhands. It became his most "emotional, esteemed and artistic film to date." This was also Tim Burton's first film with Johnny Depp. Mr. Burton's next film was Batman Returns, slightly darker and quirkier than the first, it was not as well recieved by audiences. At the same time he was doing Batman Returns, Tim Burton produced another original Burton film The Nightmare Before Christmas. TNBC was directed by  his former fellow Disney animator, Henry Selick (who recently directed the film Coraline). The Nightmare Before Christmas ended up being a hit film and remains, probably, his most famous film to date. He went on to work with Johnny Depp again in his film, Ed Wood. The film was a flop in box office, but is more popular today. Martin Landau won an acadamy award for his performance in  Ed Wood and Johnny Depp's friendship with Tim Burton grew. Mr. Burton's next film was Mars Attacks! Originally intended to be Dinosaurs Attack! but since Jurassic Park had recently come out, he tried something different. The film had a star cast with Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close and Danny DiVito, but ended up flopping in the box office. (Jack Black can also be seen in this film!) After this film, Tim Burton went back to directing darker films with Sleepy Hollow in 1999. This film starred Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane and Christina Ricci as Katrina Van Tassel. Sleepy Hollow was praised for its artistic direction and was a financial hit in the box office. In 2001, Tim Burton went on to direct a remake of the classic film Planet of the Apes. The film was not well recieved by the critics, but did well in the box office. Also, it was on this film where Tim Burton met actress Helena Bonham Carter and the two dated and got engaged! Next for Mr. Burton was the critically acclaimed film Big Fish in 2003. This film has a wonderland-ish feel about it and captures Tim Burton's lighter side. This filmed starred Ewan McGregor. He then went on to work again with Johnny Depp in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The film did very well in the box office and was well received by the public. His next film was another Burton original Corpse Bride. The movie was a stop motion animated movie, like TNBC. It was released in 2005 and starred Johnny Depp as Victor Van Dort, Helena Bonham Carter as Emily, the Corpse Bride and Emily Watson as Victoria Everglot. It was nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Movie, and though not as popular as TNBC, did very well in the box office. Tim Burton’s next film came out in 2007 and was a remake of the dark and gory Stephen Sondheim musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. It was a box office smash hit and was very well received with the public. It starred Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd, Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett, Alan Rickman as Judge Turpin, Timothy Spall as the Beadle, and Sacha Baron Cohen as Pirelli. It won an Oscar for Best Art Direction, and was nominated for Oscars for Best Costume Design and Best Actor – Johnny Depp. It won two Golden Globe awards for Best Motion Picture and Best Actor – Johnny Depp. It was also nominated for two Golden Globes – Best Director – Tim Burton and Best Actress – Helena Bonham Carter. His upcoming films are: 9 – as a producer and Alice in Wonderland (live action) – as the director. Tim Burton has influenced and inspired people by creating movies and art that take us away from our average every day lives and place us into a world where imagination and creativity thrives.