Chris Sanders (director)

Chris Sanders
Chris Sanders at the 2014 Golden Globe Awards
Born	Christopher Michael Sanders (1962-03-12) March 12, 1962 (age 54) Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States
Other names	Christopher Sanders
Occupation	Director, illustrator, voice actor
Years active	1984–present
Known for	Directing/writing Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon; creating and voicing Stitch
Notable work	Lilo & Stitch How to Train Your Dragon The Croods
Spouse(s)	Jessica Steele-Sanders
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Christopher Michael "Chris" Sanders (born March 12, 1962) is an American animation director, illustrator and voice actor. He is best known for co-writing and directing the Disney animated feature film Lilo & Stitch (2002) and DreamWorks Animation's How to Train Your Dragon (2010), both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with Dean DeBlois, and for creating and voicing Stitch in Lilo & Stitch and almost every work in its franchise. His recent work was serving as director and co-writer on The Croods, along with Kirk DeMicco.

Sanders was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He went to Arvada High School in Arvada, Colorado. He is a 1984 graduate of the California Institute of the Arts.

Sanders began his career as a character designer for Muppet Babies. He soon became the head storyboard artist for Walt Disney Feature Animation. He also served as a storyboard artist, artistic director, production designer, and character designer on Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, and Mulan.

In 1985, Sanders created a character named "Stitch" for an unsuccessful children's book pitch. When Sanders was the head storyboard artist for Disney Feature Animation, then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner decided that, in the wake of a number of high-profile and large-budget Disney animated features during the mid-1990s, the studio might try its hand at a smaller and less expensive film. Chris Sanders was approached by Thomas Schumacher to pitch that idea, and Sanders reused the "Stitch" character he came up with. The story line required a remote, non-urban location, so Sanders chose Kauaʻi as the location. Stitch became the central character of the 2002 film Lilo & Stitch, which Sanders co-directed and co-wrote with Dean DeBlois. Sanders would also end up voicing the character he created for the film. The film's commercial and critical success spawned a franchise with three sequel films and two television series, with Sanders reprising his role of Stitch throughout most of the franchise (only being replaced by Benjamin Diskin for the English dub of the anime Stitch!).