Sheridan grad up for an Academy Award

Dean DeBlois, a 1990 Sheridan animation graduate, has been nominated for an Oscar in the best animated feature film category...

For Immediate Release: January 26, 2011
Oakville, Ontario

Dean DeBlois, a 1990 Sheridan animation graduate, has been nominated for an Oscar in the best animated feature film category for How to Train Your Dragon, which he co-wrote and co-directed with Chris Sanders.

He is the eighth Sheridan alumnus to receive an Academy Award nomination. Past nominees include Chris Williams, Steve Williams, James Straus, Michael Thurmeier, Erin Faith Young, and winners Jon Minnis and Eric Armstrong (Best Animated Short Film - 1986 and 2003, respectively). The Academy Awards will be presented on February 27.

After graduating from Sheridan, DeBlois moved to Ireland to work with renowned director Don Bluth on such films as Thumbelina and Troll in Central Park. He joined Disney in 1994, where he contributed to Mulan (1998), and then went on to co-direct Lilo and Stitch (2002) with Chris Sanders. Produced by Dreamworks, How to Train Your Dragon has grossed close to $500 million worldwide.

Sheridan is world-renowned for its animation programs, which attract students from around the world to the Trafalgar Road Campus in Oakville, Ontario. In addition to a four-year degree in animation which blends traditional and contemporary approaches to the discipline, Sheridan also offers one-year graduate certificate programs in computer animation, computer animation - digital visual effects and digital character animation.