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Peter Hans Docter was born in Bloomington, Minnesota. he's the son of Rita Margaret (Kanne) and David Reinhardt Docter. Growing up he was socially proficient, preferring to work alone and having to remind himself to connect with others. He often played in the creek besides his house pretending to be Indiana Jones and acting out scenes.
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Pete Docter has been interested in animation since childhood, starting with creating flip books at age eight. Dave and Rita Docter watched their little boy make cartoon flip books and wreck the family movie camera shooting animated shorts without realizing that they were witnessing something extraordinary. "With your firstborn, you don't realize it's unusual," Dave said. -
Then later around 1982 attended John F. Kennedy High School in Bloomington. He taught himself cartooning, making flip books and homemade animated shorts with a family movie camera. He later described his interest in animation as a way to "play God", making up nearly living characters. Cartoon director Chuck Jones, producer Walt Disney, and cartoonist Jack Davis were major inspirations.
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After spending a year at the University of Minnesota studying both philosophy and making art before transferring to the California Institute of the Arts where he made his first student film "Winter" which is about a little boy being excited for his first winter. -
Pete Docter would later make his next student film "Palm Springs" which is about a dinosaur that wanted to have fun, so he finds a way to do it. But a caveman who is jealous of him having fun at the bouncy palm tree tries to stop him from playing. -
He would make his final student film “Next Door” which is about a old man who tries to watch TV while a little girl makes a playful ruckus outside. Which he won the Student Academy Award and later would graduated in 1990 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. All of his three shorts would be preserved by the Academy Film Archive. -
He Join Pixar in 1990 at the age of 21 after John Lasseter asked his former classmate the Joe Ranft, who was one of Docter's teachers at Calarts, to recommend any students who would be a good fit for the studio. -
In 1992 Pete Docter married to Amanda Docter and has two children, Nicholas and Elie. Elie was the inspiration for the character of Riley in Inside Out.
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Development for Monsters, Inc began in 1996, following an idea conceived in a lunch meeting in 1994 whenToy Story was nearing completion, and wrote the story withJill Culton,Jeff PidgeonandRalph Eggleston, while Andrew Stanton wrote the screenplay with Daniel Gerson. The characters went through many incarnations over the film's five-year production process. -
Pete Docter made his first directorial debut with Monsters, Inc. upon its release, it received critical acclaim and was a huge success, grossing over $528 million worldwide to become the third-highest-grossing film of 2001. The film won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "If I Didn't Have You" as well as Best Original Score and Best Sound Editing and it was one of the first animated films to be nominated for the new category of Best Animated Feature. -
Docter conceived the outline forUpin 2004 when he developed the fantasy of a flying house based on the idea of escaping from life when it becomes too irritating. Docter selected an old man for the main character after drawing a picture of a grumpy old man with smiling balloons. -
Up earned $735.1 million worldwide, finishing its theatrical run as the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2009. It received acclaim for its screenplay, animation, characters, themes, narrative, emotional depth, humor, Asner's performance, Giacchino's musical score. It won for multiple awards including Best Animated Feature and it was one the rare animated films in history to nominated for Best Picture since Beauty and the Beast. -
Development on Inside Out started around October 2009 after Pete Docter noticing his daughter Elie becoming "more quiet and reserved". and began to wonder what was happening internally. The project was subsequently green-lit, and Pete Docter and co-director Ronnie del Carmen developed the story, while consulting psychologists and neuroscientists in an effort to accurately portray the mind. -
It received critical acclaim for its craftsmanship, screenplay, subject matter, plot, and vocal performances It grossed $858.8 million worldwide, becoming the seventh-highest-grossing film of 2015 and it won for best best animated feature -
Docter conceivedSoulin January 2016, examining the origins ofhuman personalitiesand the concept ofdeterminism. During his first meeting with Jones, he pitched the idea about spacetime involving souls with personalities. The film's producers consulted various jazz musicians, includingHerbie HancockandTerri Lyne Carrington, and animated its musical sequences using the sessions of musicianJon Batisteas a reference. -
Pete Docter became the studio's new Chief Creative Officer (CCO), following after John Lasseter stepping down from the role due to sexual misconduct.
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Though originally scheduled for a theatrical June 19 and the later November 20 ultimately the release date got push back to December and release on Disney+ due because of COVID-19. In early 2024 Soul along with two other Pixar movies that were released on Disney+ Luca and Turing Red were release in theaters. This would also be his final directing role (for now at least) since he's now running at Pixar. -
Pete Docter received the Winsor McCay Award at the 2023 Annie Awards ceremony along with other fellow animators Craig McCracken and Everlyn Lambart, for his career contributions to animation.