Eric Goldberg- Biography

About Eric Goldberg

He worked abroad with some legendary names in the field and ran his own commercial animation house in London before participating in the ongoing second coming of classic Disney feature animation as a character designer and supervising animator on the Genie in "Aladdin" (1992). Goldberg made his feature directorial debut (co-directing with Disney veteran Mike Gabriel) on the highly touted "Pocahontas" (1995).

Goldberg was drawing pictures of Woody Woodpecker at age four and making his own animated "flip books" soon thereafter. He was drawing and photographing his own animated films by age 13. While a college student, Goldberg won the grand prize in Kodak's Teenage Movie Awards with a short entitled "For Sale" (1974). He caught the attention of renowned British animation producer-director Richard Williams and landed a job as an assistant animator on the beautifully crafted but uninvolving and unsuccessful "Raggedy Ann and Andy" (1977). This began his four-year association with Williams for whom he went on to direct, design and animate commercials while working alongside such luminaries as Art Babbit (of 1940s Disney fame) and Ken Harris (from the glory days of Warner Brothers animation). Goldberg joined forces with Mario Cavalli and Pam Dennis to open his own commercial studio, Pizazz Pictures, which created hundreds of animated ads for European and American products between 1983 and 1990. Disney called in 1990 and made him an offer he couldn't refuse.

Goldberg and Gabriel divided directing chores on "Pocahontas" so that the latter handled layout, backgrounds and color models while the former was mostly in charge of animation and clean-up. Reputedly the first Disney animated feature to be inspired by a real-life historical figure, "Pocahontas" demanded an unprecedented level of realistic animation, emotional complexity and cultural sensitivity while still delivering a crowd-pleasing combination of hummable show tunes and cuddly creatures. Though the film certainly recieved its fair share of criticism, many deemed their efforts quite successful.

Partners

Wife

Susan Goldberg. met while working on a TV special "Ziggy's Gift" (1982) on which Goldberg served as director of animation

Family

Daughter

Jenny Goldberg.

Daughter

Rachel Goldberg.

Education

Pratt Institute, Brooklyn , New York

Career Milestones

Became the first animator assigned to work on "Aladdin"

Began making his own "flip books" to approximate animation

Came to the attention of British producer-director-animator Richard Williams while still a student; offered work on the feature "Raggedy Ann and Andy"

Designed the Genie character and helped establish the film's style

Directed, designed and animated commercials for Williams while working alongside such veteran animation figures as Art Babbit (of 1940s Disney fame) and Ken Harris (from Warner Brothers)

Made Super-8 home movies

Moved to California with his family

Moved to London

Moved with family from Levittown PA to Cherry Hill NJ at age six

Teamed up with Mario Cavalli and Pam Dennis to open his own commercial studio, Pizazz Pictures; created hundreds of animated commercials--including some prize winners--for European and American products (date approximate)

Was drawing and photographing (a frame at a time) his own animated films by age 13

Was drawing pictures of Woody Woodpecker by age four (with the help of his older brother)

Worked briefly as an independent animator

1974

While a college student, entered and won the grand prize in Kodak's Teenage Movie Awards with a short entitled "For Sale"

1977

Began a four-year association with Williams

1977

First professional assignment, served as an assistant animator (to Tissa David) on the character of Raggedy Ann in "Raggedy Ann and Andy"

1982

Reteamed with Williams to serve as director of animation on the Emmy Award-winning ABC cartoon special, "Ziggy's Gift"

1983

Worked for noted commercial animation director Oscar Grillo for six months in London

1990

Invited by Disney to work on their animated feature "Aladdin"

1992

First Disney feature credits, supervising animator (Genie) and character designs for "Aladdin"

1995

Feature directorial debut, co-directed (with Mike Gabriel) Disney's "Pocahontas"