Tim Burton was born and raised in Burbank, California in 1958 by Bill Burton and Jean Burton. In his preteens he made small short films using stop animation and 8mm film.

After Disney saw stalk of the celery monster they offered Tim Burton an animator apprenticeship. He also worked on such films as the Fox and the Hound, Black Cauldron and Tron. After he tried to make his own stop animation called Frankenweenie he got fired as he used Disney’s resources for a short that was deemed too dark and scary for children.

Paul Reubens saw Vincent and Frankenweenie and chose Tim Burton to direct the movie ‘Pee-wee’s Big Adventure’, after this Tim made Beetlejuice which turned him into a household name.

 

Tim Burton mostly deals in dark toned films with the invention of the chiller genre, where he adds mostly gothic tones with a mixture of dark fantasy. His plot generally revolves around a main character that is misunderstood by the people around him.

 

There have been many fans of his works since Beetlejuice and The Nightmare before Christmas (despite him not directing it). His chiller genre has been recognized and has inspired other writer’s and director’s to make movies similar to his, such as coralline.  

 

A lot of his movies have been critically acclaimed, such as Beetlejuice, and often winning awards such as an Emmy for outstanding animation program (Beetlejuice), nominated for a BAFTA for best direction in Big Fish and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street).