British animator and filmmaker
Nick Park was educated at Sheffield Hallam University , formerly Sheffield City Polytechnic. This is where he started making the first Wallace and Gromit film.
In 1986, shortly after joining Aardman Animations, he animated the dancing chickens and the bumper cars in the music video Peter Gabriel: Sledgehammer , which is widely considered to be one of the best music videos ever made and was voted number two in The 100 Greatest Pop Videos .
He made international news when he lost the figures of Wallace and Gromit in New York City. The clay models were left in the back of a cab by mistake when Park visited New York on a promotion tour for the release of A Close Shave . The original motorcycle and sidecar with Wallace and Gromit on-board were priceless and it would cost at least US$20,000 to replace them. Park appealed through the New York media for their return and this soon became a national and international news story; in the UK it was front page news and covered extensively on radio and television. They were returned 36 hours later when the cab driver read the news in the New York Post and decided to check his trunk. He was offered a reward of US$500 but refused to take it.
In a radio interview, he said that Wallaces references to Wensleydale cheese in the film A Close Shave unintentionally saved a small British cheese maker from bankruptcy. Interest in the cheese was sparked by the film, and one of the few makers of that cheese suddenly found itself with numerous requests for the cheese, saving it from financial ruin.
In a radio interview, he stated that he based his character Wallace, albeit quite loosely, after his own father, who was an incurable tinkerer. One of the most unusual items he built, completely from scratch, was a small trailer the family would take on trips to the beach. Nick Park described it as "a living room on wheels," complete with wallpapered interior walls and wooden furniture bolted to the floor.
Supporter of Preston North End football club.
Two of the birds in Chicken Run , Ginger and Rocky, were the names of pet chickens he had as a boy.
25 November 1997) Awarded CBE by HM Queen Elizabeth II.
(30 October 1996) Awarded honorary Doctor of Arts degree by Bath University, England, UK.
He is a big fan of the Ealing comedies, particularly The Ladykillers and The Lavender Hill Mob , and the films of Alfred Hitchcock , with particular favourites being Rebecca and Rear Window .
Nick Park said in an interview that Wallace & Gromit were the first characters he really put his heart into.
The works of H.G. Wells , Rube Goldberg , and Heath Robinson are all his influences.
(30 October 1996) Awarded honorary Doctor of Arts degree by Bath University, England, UK
(25 November 1997) Awarded CBE by HRH Queen Elizabeth II
In 2005, a fire at Aardmans Bristol warehouse has destroyed most of his artwork, sets, archives and his three Oscar statuettes won at the time.
We can do things that we never could before. Stop-motion lets you build tiny little worlds, and computers make that world even more believable. .
