Jellyfish adds Donato as creative director of animation

Jellyfish Pictures has hired Archie Donato as its creative director of animation.

Donato has over 30 years’ experience in the industry, 17 of which were spent at DreamWorks Animation as a CG supervisor. He has also worked at Technicolor for over two years, and for the last three-and-a-half years was at DNEG - most recently as head of VFX at DNEG Animation.

Donato has worked on the likes of Star Wars, Terminator, Godzilla and Kung Fu Panda, and his most recent credits as VFX supervisor include Entergalactic and Nimona. 

At Jellyfish, Donato will work with senior creative teams across all of Jellyfish Pictures’ animation productions, which currently include an animated series for Netflix EMEA/Lime entitled Wereworld, based on a popular book series by Curtis Jobling; an adaptation of one of Roald Dahl’s most beloved children’s books for Netflix; and a new feature animation for a Hollywood studio.

This arrival comes shortly after Jellyfish made two other hires to its animation division, Chrissy Metge as executive producer, animation, and Louis Flores as VFX supervisor. 

Natalie Llewellyn, managing director - animation and originals at Jellyfish, said: “Creative excellence is the beating heart of our business and this high-profile addition to our senior creative team is testament to our commitment to deliver ground-breaking, top-quality feature animation for our clients. Archie brings dynamism, passion and a wealth of artistic talent and front-line experience to the role. We’re thrilled to welcome him on board.”

Donato added: “I am thrilled to join Jellyfish Pictures as Creative Director of Animation. Jellyfish Pictures has an ever-growing team of talented artists as well as very supportive and motivated leadership that strives for excellence while maintaining an artist friendly environment. It is very exciting to be a part of this journey to deliver world class quality work for our partners and audiences.”