Although a veteran of the Chicago theater and music scenes, Ken Fountain cut his teeth as an animator in the cityʼs thriving advertising market – creating character work for well respected studios like Calabash Animation and Radar Studios.

In 2007 he was tapped to join the DreamWorks Animation crew in Glendale California, and given the privilege to contribute animated performances to many worldwide blockbusters, including “Monsters Vs. Aliens”, “Shrek 4”, “Kung Fu Panda 2”, “Megamind”, “Puss in Boots”, as well as parts of the “How to Train Your Dragon” franchise.

Ken briefly stepped away from the studio system in 2011 to pursue a dream of directing animation for education, forming his own brand of animated titles under the banner “Crackerbox”. The animated app “Geo-Me!” (world geography taught through animated, musical characters) launched with much acclaim on Appleʼs App Store, and is still being downloaded and enjoyed in classrooms across the globe.

Since leaving California, Ken has continued working on major studio titles, including:  “The Peanuts Movie” from Blue Sky Studios; the critically acclaimed, and Oscar nominated Google Spotlight Story “Pearl”, directed by Oscar-winning director, Patrick Osbourne (“Feast”); the Annie award winning “The Legend of Crow” and the Emmy award winning “Baba Yaga” for Baobab Studios; and most recently the Emmy award nominated “Entergalactic” and “That Christmas”, and the Oscar nominated “Nimona” for DNEG Animation.

From the smallest commercial houses, to the largest animation studios in the world, Ken has gained a wealth of experience and understanding of just how much it takes to produce all forms of animation. He is proud of having a unique ability to be focused and methodical, while still maintaining a loose and risky sense of creativity. The decades he spent writing music and performing on stage inform every choice he makes as an animator and director. And he hopes to continue to wake up every day and be given the ability to do this thing he loves – bring characters to life!

Ken is currently an Animation Supervisor at DNEG Animation in London UK, and has been teaching advanced animation performance to students since 2010.