Nicholas Wulstan Park (born on December 6, 1958) is a four-time Academy Award-winning English film maker best known as the creator of Wallace & Gromit.
Early life[]
Nick Park was born in Preston, Lancashire, England, and attended Cuthbert Mayne High School (now Our Lady's Catholic High School).
as a child, Park was a big fan of The Beano and The Adventures of Tintin. he also says to have taken inspiration from Tex Avery, Chuck Jones and Terry Gilliam as well as Aardman Animations. at age 13, he borrowed some materials (cotton-bobbins and off-cuts) and a camera from his seamstress mother Mary Cecilia-Park to produce his first two stop-motion animated films Walter the Rat Goes Fishing and Walter & The Beanstalk. at the age of 15, he entered a BBC competition for best film by young animators with a homemade short entitled Archie's Concrete Nightmare. although his film did not win, a clip was broadcasted on BBC Two.
He studied Communication Arts at Sheffield Polytechnic and then went to the National Film and Television School, where he started making the first Wallace & Gromit film, A Grand Day Out.
Career[]
In 1985, he joined the staff of Aardman Animations in Bristol, where he worked as an animator on commercial products with his partner. Along with all this, he finally completed A Grand Day Out, which was released in 1989.
Two more Wallace and Gromit shorts, The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave, followed, both winning Oscars. He then made his first feature-length film, Chicken Run and Peter Pan co-directed with Aardman founder Peter Lord. He also supervised a series of "Creature Comforts" films for British television in 2002.
His second theatrical feature-length film and the first Wallace and Gromit feature, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, was released on October 5, 2005, to much critical acclaim. The film was rewarded with the Best Animated Feature Oscar at the 29th Annual Awards.
Nick Park with the Wallace & Gromit statue, located in Preston.
In September 2007, it was announced that Nick Park has been commissioned to design a bronze statue of Wallace and Gromit, which will be placed in his home town of Preston.