Jonas Rivera | |
---|---|
Born | Jonas H. Rivera May 2, 1971 |
Education | Film Production [1] |
Alma mater | San Francisco State University [1] |
Occupation | Film producer |
Years active | 1994–present |
Employer | Pixar Animation Studios (1994–present) |
Notable work | Up, Inside Out, Toy Story 4 |
Spouse | Michele Rivera |
Children | 3 |
Awards |
Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Inside Out (2015) Toy Story 4 (2019) |
Jonas H. Rivera [2] (born May 2, 1971) [3] is an American film producer. He produced the animated films Up (2009), Inside Out (2015), and Toy Story 4 (2019), all of which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Rivera is an alumnus of San Francisco State University and has worked with Pixar Animation Studios since 1994. [4]
Rivera was born and raised in Castro Valley, California. His father is of Mexican descent, while his mother is of English Canadian descent. [5] As a boy, he wanted to become an animator, but according to him, he could not draw: "I was a terrible artist, and I still am." [4] Rivera graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in Film Production. [1]
In 1994, in the last year of making Toy Story, he joined Pixar as their first production intern: [4] "I saw Luxo Jr. in a class and liked it so much I cold-called Pixar." [6] Since then he worked on almost every Pixar film, at first as a coordinator and manager. [1] In 2009, as the producer of Up, he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Picture. [7] Rivera also produced Inside Out (2015) and Toy Story 4, both of which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. [8] He was the Development Producer on Soul.
During the making of the first Toy Story, he was collecting things used in the production of the movie, a collection which would eventually be known as the Pixar Archives, now counting thousands of objects and stored in a climate-controlled building. He was inspired by Disney, which also saved objects from the studio productions. [9]
Rivera is married to Michele. [10] They have three children: daughters Ava and Elsa [3] and son William. [10]