Nick Park

Nick Park is the creator of Wallace & Gromit and Creature Comforts, among other projects at Aardman Animations.

He also happens to be my childhood hero. I wrote to Park when I was eleven years old and aspired to work at Aardman one day. I still feel just as inspired by his creations and look to his example to find the right sense of atmosphere and character comedy.

'A Grand Day Out' (1989)

Nick Park started working on his first Wallace & Gromit film, 'A Grand Day Out', when he was a film student in 1982. Peter Lord and David Sproxton, the co-founders of Aardman, invited him to join the Bristol studio in 1985, where Park would go on to complete his student film.

For Aardman's 'Lip Synch' series, Park created 'Creature Comforts'; a brilliant idea to match real people's voices to animals in a zoo. It's brilliantly animated with a signature sensitivity and comic timing. Remarkably, Park was Oscar nominated for both 'A Grand Day Out' and 'Creature Comforts' in 1990, winning for the latter.

'Creature Comforts' (1989)

Next came 'The Wrong Trousers' (probably my favourite film of all time), followed by 'A Close Shave', both Oscar-winning.

Wallace & Gromit became a worldwide sensation, bringing a distinct Britishness and surreal humour that is beloved to this day. The quality of Nick Park's work brought a new respect to stop-motion animation, each film becoming more technically ambitious and leading ultimately to feature films for Aardman.

'The Wrong Trousers' (1993)