John A. Davis
Born
John Alexander Davis

(1961-10-26) October 26, 1961
Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Other namesJohn Davis
Alma materSouthern Methodist University[1]
Occupations
  • Film director
  • producer
  • screenwriter
  • animator
  • composer
  • voice actor
Years active1981–2016
Known forJimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius
SpouseKim Davis[2]

John Alexander Davis (born October 26, 1961) is an American film director, writer, animator, voice actor and composer known for his work both in stop-motion animation as well as computer animation, live action and live-action/CGI hybrids. Davis is best known for creating Nickelodeon's Jimmy Neutron franchise, which enjoyed popularity in the early to mid 2000s.

Early life

Davis began animating as a child using his parents' 8 mm camera to film action figures in stop motion. His interest in animation began when he watched a stop motion film called Icharus at a film festival.[3] He worked on the stop motion film The Bermuda Triangle in 1981 while still attending Southern Methodist University, where he graduated in 1984.

Career

Soon after his graduation Davis joined the animation company K&H Productions, working with 2-D animator Keith Alcorn. Soon, Davis made the transition from claymation to 2-D animation with Alcorn's help. K&H did production work for commercials, public-access television cable TV animation, and film festivals. K&H Productions declared bankruptcy in early 1987; that same year DNA Productions was founded.[3]

Davis came up with the idea for Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (originally named Johnny Quasar) sometime during the 1980s and wrote a script titled Runaway Rocketboy (later the name of the second pilot) which was later abandoned. While moving to a new house in the early 1990s he stumbled upon the script and re-worked it as a short film titled Johnny Quasar and presented it in SIGGRAPH where he met Steve Oedekerk and worked on a television series as well as the film.

In 2006, he directed the film The Ant Bully after being approached by Tom Hanks to direct the film. Production on the film made Davis resign from production of Jimmy Neutron in January 2003. He gave his position away as executive in charge of production to Steve Oedekerk. He also directed the film's video game.

Davis was set to direct an upcoming feature film based on Neopets with Warner Bros., together with producer Dylan Sellers and writer Rob Lieber.[4] It was originally set to release on April 20, 2009, but was changed to 2011 and later changed to winter of 2012, before finally being cancelled with no other projects announced.

Nominations

In 2000, Davis was up for an Emmy along with 8 others in the category Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming More Than One Hour) for Olive, the Other Reindeer, but lost to Discovery Channel's Walking with Dinosaurs.

In 2002, Davis was nominated for an Academy Award along with Steve Oedekerk in the category of Best Animated Feature for Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.

Filmography

Year Film Job
1981 Bermuda Triangle Director, Animator as John Davis
1984 Bloodsuckers from Outer Space Visual Effects
Uncredited
1989 Scaredy Cat! Special Thanks as John A. D.
1990 Macon County War Composer
1992 The Tale of Nippoless Nippleby[5] Actor
Voice of Nippoless Nippleby
Frog Baseball Sound Recordist, Special Thanks as John Davis
1993 Basic Values: Sex, Shock & Censorship in the 1990s[6] Composer
1995 The Adventures of Johnny Quasar (Jimmy Neutron prototype) Director, Writer, Animator
1997 Santa vs. The Snowman TV special
Director, Producer, Writer, Animation Supervisor, Technical Director
1998 Cartoon Sushi TV series
Additional Voices
1999 Olive, the Other Reindeer TV special
Animation Director, Animation Executive Producer, as John Davis
2001 Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius Director, Producer, Writer, Animation Director, Actor
Voice of Octapuke Kid, Guard and Bennie
The Making of 'Jimmy Neutron' Self
2002 Santa vs. the Snowman 3D Director, Producer, Writer, Animation Supervisor
2002–06 The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius TV series
Creator, Producer, Story writer
2004 The Jimmy Timmy Power Hour TV film
Creator: The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius, Producer
Jimmy Neutron: Win, Lose and Kaboom TV film
Creator, Producer
2006 The Ant Bully Director, Producer, Screen-Writer, Actor (voice of Ant #19)
The Ant Bully Video game
Director
2010–13 Planet Sheen TV series
Creative consultant
Based on characters created by, as John A. Davis

Internet

Year Title Role
2016 Cartoons VS Cancer Himself
2016 Nickelodeon Animation Podcast Himself

Astrophotography

Since about 2007, Davis has become a recognized astrophotographer, publishing high-resolution, generally wide-field images in astronomy magazines,[7][8][9] and in NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day.[10][11][12]

In 2009, Davis largely founded and continues to lead APSIG, the Astrophotography Special Interest Group,[13] associated with the Texas Astronomical Society of Dallas.

See also

  • Category:Films directed by John A. Davis

References

  1. ↑ Chattaway, Peter (July 25, 2006). "An Animation Bug's Life". Christianity Today. Archived from the original on February 11, 2009. Retrieved September 16, 2008.
  2. ↑ DNA Productions Info and Bios
  3. 1 2 Einhorn, Max (July 25, 2006). "An Interview with John A. Davis, Director of The Ant Bully". Maximum Movies. Archived from the original on September 29, 2015. Retrieved September 16, 2008.
  4. ↑ McClintock, Pamela (February 6, 2006). "WB taps NeoPets pic scribe". Variety. Archived from the original on November 7, 2012. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  5. ↑ The Tale of Nippoless Nippleby (1992) at IMDb
  6. ↑ Basic Values: Sex, Shock & Censorship in the 1990s (1993) at IMDb
  7. ↑ photograph: "The Deep Sky in Orion" in Astronomy (magazine), May 2013, p. 72.
  8. ↑ photograph: "Dusty Cepheus" Sky and Telescope (magazine), August 2012, p. 78.
  9. ↑ photograph: "Clouds of Polaris" Sky and Telescope (magazine), July 2013, p. 73.
  10. ↑ Nemiroff, R.; Bonnell, J., eds. (April 19, 2013). "NGC 1788 and the Witch's Whiskers". Astronomy Picture of the Day. NASA. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
  11. ↑ Nemiroff, R.; Bonnell, J., eds. (January 19, 2013). "Barnard Stares at NGC 2170". Astronomy Picture of the Day. NASA. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
  12. ↑ Nemiroff, R.; Bonnell, J., eds. (May 25, 2012). "Scorpius in Red and Blue". Astronomy Picture of the Day. NASA. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
  13. ↑ "APSIG". Archived from the original on August 11, 2011. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
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