Conrad Vernon | |
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Born |
Lubbock, Texas, U.S. |
July 11, 1968
Occupation | Director, storyboard artist, writer, voice actor |
Years active | 1991–present |
Conrad Vernon IV (born July 11, 1968) is an American director, storyboard artist, writer, and voice actor, best known for his work on the DreamWorks animated film series Shrek as well as other films such as Monsters vs. Aliens, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, and Penguins of Madagascar. He also co-directed the adult animated film, Sausage Party, which is a spoof of his notable works in DreamWorks.
Vernon, a native of Lubbock, Texas, studied at CalArts and worked as a storyboard artist on Cool World, 2 Stupid Dogs, Rocko's Modern Life, Nightmare Ned, and Morto the Magician.
In 1996, he joined DreamWorks, where he worked as a storyboard artist on Antz. After Antz proved a success as the first animated feature film to be produced by DreamWorks Animation, Vernon signed on as a writer for Shrek, where he was responsible for the Gingerbread Man, and eventually voiced that character. He also appeared in Shrek 4-D and Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas. In 2004, he made his feature film directorial debut with the Academy Award-nominated Shrek 2. He voiced Mason the chimpanzee for the DreamWorks Animation films Madagascar, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted and its television series. He also provided the voice for Insectosaurus and directed the 3D animated film, Monsters vs. Aliens. Follow the release of MVA, Vernon was brought on by one of the aforementioned movie's stars Seth Rogen to direct his raunchy, adult animated comedy Sausage Party. He accepted the offer and the latter film was released on August 12, 2016 to critical and commercial success. A month after the film's premiere, Vernon is helmed to direct a Toxic Avenger remake.