Nick Park

Nicholas Wulstan Park CBE RDI (born 6 December 1958) is an English filmmaker and animator best known for creating the beloved Wallace & Gromit series, the groundbreaking Creature Comforts shorts, and pioneering stop‑motion features such as Chicken Run and Early Man. From a modest upbringing in Preston, Lancashire, Park discovered a talent for drawing and making homemade films with his mother’s camera at the age of thirteen, an enthusiasm that was nurtured by his father’s inventive spirit and an encouraging art teacher. After studying Communication Arts at Sheffield City Polytechnic and later at the National Film and Television School, he produced his first Wallace & Gromit adventure, A Grand Day Out, which set the tone for a career built on meticulous clay animation and witty British humour. In 1985 he joined Aardman Animations in Bristol, where his work on commercials, music videos and the Pee‑wee’s Playhouse cartoons quickly earned him a reputation for innovative storytelling and technical mastery. His short film Creature Comforts won his first Academy Award in 1989, and the subsequent Wallace & Gromit shorts The Wrong Trousers (1993) and A Close Shave (1995) each added further Oscars, cementing his status as a leading figure in modern animation. Park’s feature‑length debut, Chicken Run (2000), co‑directed with Peter Lord, became the highest‑grossing stop‑motion film of its time, while Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were‑Rabbit (2005) secured a fourth Oscar for Best Animated Feature. Beyond film, Park has contributed to television series, music videos, and even stage adaptations, earning numerous BAFTAs, a CBE in 1997, and a place among Britain’s cultural icons. He married Mags Connolly in 2016 and remains active in developing new Wallace & Gromit projects, continuing to inspire both audiences and aspiring animators worldwide.