Peter Ramsey

This article is about the American film director. For the New Zealand academic, see Peter Ramsay.

Peter A. Ramsey (born December 23, 1962) is an American illustrator, storyboard artist, and filmmaker. He is best known for directing DreamWorks Animation's Rise of the Guardians (2012), becoming the first African American to direct a computer-animated film and the second to direct a major American animated film (Bruce W. Smith was the first African-American director with Paramount Pictures' Bebe's Kids [1992]), and co-directing Sony Pictures Animation's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018). For Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, he became the first African American to be nominated for and win an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

Peter Ramsey
Ramsey at the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con
Born	Peter A. Ramsey (1962-12-23) December 23, 1962 (age 62)[1] Crenshaw, California, U.S.
Alma mater	University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles City College
Occupations	Illustrator storyboard artist filmmaker
Years active	1988–present
Known for	Rise of the Guardians Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Early life

Ramsey grew up in the Crenshaw District of South Los Angeles, and graduated in 1980 from Palisades High School. He studied painting at University of California, Los Angeles for two years before enrolling in film classes at Los Angeles City College.^[2] He was raised Catholic.^[3]

Career

His first job in Hollywood was painting a mural, but soon he was working as a storyboard artist and production illustrator on 26 films including Predator 2, Backdraft, Independence Day, Fight Club and A.I. Artificial Intelligence. He was a second unit director for Poetic Justice, Higher Learning, Tank Girl and Godzilla. Aron Warner, the producer of Tank Girl, suggested he join DreamWorks Animation.^[4] After initially being uninterested, Ramsey joined DreamWorks as a story artist for Shrek the Third and Shrek the Halls.

In 2012, he directed Rise of the Guardians, based on William Joyce's The Guardians of Childhood books, making him the first African-American to direct a big-budget animated feature.^[1] In 2018, he co-directed Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which won the 2019 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.^[5] He is set to write and direct Blood Count, a period vampire thriller distributed by Paramount Pictures, as well as the Robert Johnson movie Love is Vain.^[6][7] On April 16, 2021, he was set to direct the film adaptation of the Matthew Quick novel Boy21.^[8]

In April 2022, Ramsey had been hired to direct an episode each of the Star Wars streaming series The Mandalorian season 3, which was released in March 2023, and Ahsoka, which was released in August 2023.^[9][10]

Ramsey is a member of AMPAS, the Directors Guild of America and The Animation Guild.^[11]

Filmography

Director

• Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space (2009)
• Rise of the Guardians (2012)
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) (co-director with Bob Persichetti and Rodney Rothman)^[12]
• We the People (2021) (Segment: Active Citizenship)
• Lost Ollie (2022)
• The Mandalorian (2023) (Episode: "Chapter 21: The Pirate")
• Ahsoka (2023) (Episode: "Part Four: Fallen Jedi")
• Blood Count (TBA)^[6]

Second unit director

Year	Title	Director
1993	Poetic Justice	John Singleton
1995	Higher Learning
	Tank Girl	Rachel Talalay
1998	Godzilla	Roland Emmerich

Storyboard artist

• A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)
• Predator 2 (1990)
• Tank Girl (1995)
• Mortal Kombat (1995)
• Eye for an Eye (1996)
• Independence Day (1996)
• Men in Black (1997)
• Godzilla (1998)
• Being John Malkovich (1999)
• Fight Club (1999)
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
• Cast Away (2000)
• A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
• The Affair of the Necklace (2001)
• Panic Room (2002)
• Minority Report (2002)
• Adaptation. (2002)
• The Core (2003)
• Spartan (2004)
• Shark Tale (2004) (additional)
• Shrek the Third (2007)
• Shrek the Halls (2007)
• Penguins of Madagascar (2014) (additional)
• Sausage Party (2016) (additional)
• Duck Duck Goose (2018) (additional)
• A Wrinkle in Time (2018)

Illustrator

• Backdraft (1991)
• Far and Away (1992)
• Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
• The Shadow (1994)
• Batman Forever (1995)
• EDtv (1999)

Other

• Almost an Angel (1990) (continuity artist)
• Monsters vs. Aliens (2009) (head of story)
• Puss in Boots (2011) (creative consultant)
• Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) (head of story)

Producer

• Hair Love (2019) (executive producer)^[13]
• Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) (executive producer)^[14]
• Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire (2023) (executive producer)^[15]
• Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse (2027) (executive producer)^[16]

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Title	Category	Result	Ref(s)
2023	Children's and Family Emmy Awards	Lost Ollie	Outstanding Directing for a Single Camera Program	Won
2022		We the People	Outstanding Short Form Program	Won
2019	Academy Awards	Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse	Best Animated Feature	Won	[17]
2019	Annie Awards		Directing in a Feature Production	Won	[18]
2019	British Academy Film Awards		Best Animated Film	Won	[19]
2019	Critics' Choice Movie Awards		Best Animated Feature	Won	[20]
2013	Golden Globe Awards	Rise of the Guardians	Best Animated Feature Film	Nominated	[21]
2019		Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse		Won	[22]
2019	Hugo Awards		Best Dramatic Presentation	Won	[23]
2012	Visual Effects Society Awards	Rise of the Guardians	Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature	Nominated	[24]