Sheridan College Graduates are up for Oscars This Year

Published January 29, 2019 at 8:21 pm

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The Oscars are quickly coming up.

And this year, the 91st year of the Academy Awards, multiple Sheridan College graduates have been nominated according to a recent press release.

Sheridan College currently operates campuses in Oakville, Brampton and Mississauga. 

Trevor Jimenez, who graduated from the college with a Bachelor of Animation in 2007, a story artist with Pixar, was nominated for the animated short Weekends– a story that follows a young boy as he shuffles between the homes of his divorced parents.

Another Pixar storyboard artist Domee Shi, who graduated with a Bachelor of Animation in 2011, was nominated in the Best Animated Short Film category for her short Bao – a film that tells the story of an aging Chinese-Canadian mother who gets an unexpected second chance at motherhood.

Craig Henighan, a 1995 Media Arts graduate, is part of the team that has been nominated in the Best Sound Mixing category for Roma. In addition to this Oscar nomination, Henighan has worked on sound for other award-winning productions such as the Black Swan13th and Hidden Figures. Henighan has won two Emmys for his work on the popular Netflix series Stranger Things.

Animal Behaviour, produced by Michael Fukushima, a 1985 Animation graduate, was also nominated for Best Animated Short Film.

Furthermore, Animation graduates also worked on four of the five projects nominated for Best Animated Feature, including Incredibles 2, Isle of Dogs, Ralph Breaks the Internet and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

These nominations have not gone unnoticed by the college.

“To see our alumni recognized in this significant way speaks to their skills as storytellers as well as animators,” Janet Morrison, President and Vice Chancellor of Sheridan, said in the release. 

“We are thrilled to celebrate their successes, made all the more notable as Sheridan celebrates the 50th anniversary of its Animation Program.”

The Academy Awards is an annual event that recognizes excellence in cinematic achievements. The event is being held on Feb. 24 in Los Angeles.

This, however, is not the first time there has been Sheridan representation at the Oscars.

In 1985, John Minnis, an Animation graduate from 1983, won Best Animated Short Film for Charade. In 2003, Eric Armstrong, a 1988 Computer Animation graduate, won for his work on The Chubbchubbs! In 2015, according to the release, three of the five films nominated for Oscars in the Best Animated Feature category were directed by Sheridan-trained animators, including Chris Williams, who won that year for Big Hero 6. And, in 2017, Alan Barillaro, a 1996 Animation graduate won for his short film, Piper.

Will you be watching the Oscars this year?

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