Shane Acker

Shane Acker
Born	Shane Richard Acker 1971 (age 45–46) Wheaton, Illinois, U.S.
Alma mater	University of California, Los Angeles
Occupation	Animator, film director, screenwriter, animation teacher
Years active	1999–present

Shane Richard Acker (born 1971 in Wheaton, Illinois) is an American filmmaker known for directing 9, which is based on his 2005 Academy Award-nominated short film, of the same title. He is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles.

As a child Acker was hyperactive, so his parents encouraged him to draw. Acker originally set a goal of becoming an architect; he earned a bachelor's degree in architecture from the University of Florida in 1994 as well as a master's degree from the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture.

Upon graduating in 1999, he decided to become a film-maker and went to study at UCLA's Animation Workshop. There he created The Hangnail, The Astounding Talent of Mr. Grenade, and 9, and earned in 2004 a master's degree in animation. His original short titled 9 took him four and a half years to complete and was released in 2005.

Acker wrote, directed, and co-animated the award-winning animated short film 9, which won a student award and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film and was shown at SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater. Tim Burton (Beetlejuice, Batman and The Nightmare Before Christmas) saw Acker's short film and, with the help of Timur Bekmambetov (director of Wanted) from Focus Features, made the feature film with Attitude Studios in Luxembourg and Starz Animation in Toronto.

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