Daniel Chong

Daniel Chong (born November 19, 1978) is an American animator, storyboard artist, writer, director, and producer. He is best known as the creator of Cartoon Network's We Bare Bears (2015–2019). He also directed, wrote and executive produced We Bare Bears: The Movie (2020).

For the San Diego student detained in a DEA holding room, see Incarceration of Daniel Chong.
Daniel Chong
Born (1978-11-19) November 19, 1978
Fargo, North Dakota, U.S.
Occupations
  • Animator
  • storyboard artist
  • writer
  • director
  • producer
Years active2008–present
Known forWe Bare Bears

Chong worked as a storyboard artist on the animated films Bolt (2008), Cars 2 (2011), The Lorax (2012), Free Birds (2013), and Inside Out (2015).

Early life

Chong was born in Fargo, North Dakota to Singaporean Chinese immigrants. He grew up in Fountain Valley, California, and attended California Institute of the Arts. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California.

Career

Chong began his career as a storyboard artist for numerous animation giants, such as Blue Sky Studios, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Illumination Entertainment, and Pixar Animation Studios.[1] He worked as a storyboard artist on the animated films Bolt (2008), Cars 2 (2011), The Lorax (2012), Free Birds (2013), Despicable Me 2 (2013), and Inside Out (2015).

While working at Pixar, Chong worked on the television specials Toy Story of Terror! (2013) and Toy Story That Time Forgot (2014), the former of which won him an Annie Award.[2]

Chong went on to create the animated series We Bare Bears, which premiered in 2015. The initial idea for We Bare Bears came from a webcomic that he had created in 2010 called The Three Bare Bears. The webcomic ended almost a year later, but he carried the idea with him.[1] Chong has cited Seinfeld, Broad City, Peanuts, Aardman Animations and Wes Anderson as inspirations for the style and tone of the show.[3] Chong directed, wrote, and executive produced a film adaptation of the series, We Bare Bears: The Movie, which was released in June 2020, thus ending the series.[4]

In December 2020, Chong revealed on Twitter he had returned to Pixar and was working on a project there.[5]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Storyboard Artist Notes
2008 Bolt Yes
2011 Cars 2 Yes
2012 The Lorax Yes
2013 Free Birds Yes
2013 Despicable Me 2 Uncredited
2015 Minions Uncredited
2015 Inside Out Yes
2020 We Bare Bears: The Movie Yes Also director, writer and executive producer

Television
Year Title Storyboard Artist Writer Notes
2010–2011 Mater's Tall Tales Yes Yes 3 episodes
2013 Toy Story of Terror! Yes No Television special
2014 Toy Story That Time Forgot Yes No Television special
2015–2019 We Bare Bears Yes Yes Also creator and executive producer
141 episodes
2022–present We Baby Bears No No Executive producer

Awards and nominations
Year Association Category Work Result
2014 Annie Awards Outstanding Achievement in Storyboarding in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production Toy Story of Terror Won
2016 BAFTA Children's Awards Best International We Bare Bears Won
2018 Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Short Form Animated Program Nominated

References
  1. "Interview with Daniel Chong, creator of We Bare Bears". Animac Magazine. Archived from the original on March 9, 2021. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
  2. "49th Annual Annie Awards".
  3. DeVoe, Elise (July 23, 2015). "A Q&A with We Bare Bears Creator Daniel Chong". Time Warner.
  4. "We Bare Bears The Movie will now be available starting Tuesday 6/30... Available on Apple, Google Play, Amazon! (USA and CA only)". Twitter. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  5. @threebarebears (11 December 2020). "WELP guess there's no hiding it now- Happy to be back and developing something @Pixar!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
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