Biography
Chris Sanders (born 12 March 1962) is an American filmmaker, animator, screenwriter and voice actor. He studied character animation at the California Institute of the Arts and began his career at Walt Disney Animation Studios, contributing to story and visual development on films including Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992) and The Lion King (1994).
Sanders co-wrote and co-directed Lilo & Stitch (2002) with Dean DeBlois; he created the character Stitch and has voiced it in most appearances, including the 2025 live-action adaptation. He later collaborated again with DeBlois on How to Train Your Dragon (2010). Other credits include directing The Croods (2013) with Kirk DeMicco and The Wild Robot (2024), for which he also wrote the screenplay. His live-action directorial debut was The Call of the Wild (2020). Several of his films received Academy Award nominations for Best Animated Feature.
