Biography
Bo Welch, also credited as Robert W. 'Bo' Welch III, is an American production designer, art director and occasional film and television director. He worked as production designer on three Tim Burton films: Beetlejuice (1988), Edward Scissorhands (1990) and Batman Returns (1992). He later collaborated with Barry Sonnenfeld on Men in Black (1997) and Wild Wild West (1999), among other films.
Welch made his directorial debut with The Cat in the Hat (2003). He has received four Academy Award nominations for Best Production Design (for Men in Black, The Birdcage (1996) and A Little Princess (1995), shared with Cheryl Carasik, and for The Color Purple (1985) shared with others) and won a BAFTA Award for Best Production Design for Edward Scissorhands. In 2025 he received the Art Directors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award.
Welch met actress Catherine O'Hara on the set of Beetlejuice; they married in 1992 and had two sons, Matthew (born 1994) and Luke (born 1997). O'Hara died in January 2026.
