Christopher Jenkins
Birthplace: Ton Pentre, Wales, United Kingdom
Chris Jenkins (birth name: Christopher Jenkins) is a veteran animator who has worked mainly at the Walt Disney Animation unit at Disney Studios and at DreamWorks Animation, where he became a director and writer. Jenkins was effects animator, layout artist, special effects animator, development artist, visual effects supervisor and animator and/or artistic coordinator on many animated Disney movies from the late 1980s to the early 2000s, including Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), Pocahontas (1995), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (1997) and Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001).
Jenkins was co-writer/producer of the Sony Pictures Animation/Sony Pictures Imageworks animated comedy, Surf’s Up (2007), starring the voices of Shia LaBeouf, Jeff Bridges, Zooey Deschanel, Jon Heder, and James Woods, and released to a disappointing $152 million return by Columbia/Sony Pictures Releasing.
Jenkins was producer only (with producers Mireille Soria and Suzanne Buirgy) of DreamWorks Animation’s sci-fi comedy, Home (2015), adapted from Adam Rex’s 2007 children’s book, The True Meaning of Smekday by screenwriters Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember, and directed by Tim Johnson, and grossing a solid $386 million for distributor 20th Century Fox.
Chris Jenkins made his directorial debut for the Chinese-American-British animated co-production, Duck Duck Goose (2018), which was pulled from U.S. theatrical release and streamed on Netflix, and then Jenkins was director/co-writer of his second consecutive animated international co-production (UK/Canada/France/US), 10 Lives (2024), starring the voice cast of Mo Gilligan, Sophie Okonedo and Bill Nighy, and released in the US by Briarcliff Entertainment after premiering at the Sundance Film Festival.
Jenkins joined veteran animation feature writer Rob Edwards as co-director of the basketball-themed animated comedy, Sneaks (2025), with Laurence Fishburne as lead producer and a voice cast member along with Anthony Mackie, Martin Lawrence, Swae Lee, Chloe Bailey, Macy Gray, Keith David and former NBA star Chris Paul, and which was released in the US by Briarcliff.
Jenkins was co-story writer only (with Richie Chavez and Larry Leker) on the US/Canada animated adventure comedy, The Ark and the Aardvark (date to be announced), produced by Unified Pictures/ReDefine Animation and directed by John Stevenson, starring the voice cast of Miles Teller, Aubrey Plaza, Jenny Slate, Rob Riggle, Craig Robinson and Stephen Merchant.
Personal life
Chris Jenkins was born and raised in the Welsh village of Ton Pentre in the Rhondda Valley by his parents. Jenkins attended Ton Pentre Junior School and Upper Rhondda Comprehensive School, from which he graduated in 1982. Jenkins graduated from Middlesex University in England in 1987, earning a BA in Scientific Illustration.
