| Jorge R. Gutierrez | |
| Birth Date: | 1975 1, mf=yes |
| Birth Place: | Mexico City, Mexico |
| Alma Mater: | California Institute of the Arts (BFA, MFA) |
| Known For: | The Book of Life Maya and the Three |
| Yearsactive: | 1998–present |
| Children: | 1 |
Jorge R. Gutierrez (born January 25, 1975) is a Mexican-American animator, writer, producer, director, painter, and voice actor. He co-created with Sandra Equihua the Nickelodeon animated series , co-wrote and directed The Book of Life, Son of Jaguar for Google, and Maya and the Three for Netflix Animation.
Born in 1975 in Mexico City and raised in Tijuana, Gutierrez has completed various films, cartoons, illustrations and paintings exploring his love of Mexican pop and folk culture.
Gutierrez attended the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), where he received his BFA (1997) & MFA (2000) in Experimental Animation under Jules Engel, and was mentored by Maureen Selwood.[1] There he created the 3D short Carmelo, which won the 2001 Student Emmy Award in animation and was screened at Kodak's Emerging Filmmakers Program at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival.[2] In 2000, Gutierrez worked under animator Maurice Noble, for the art direction of Chuck Jones' Timberwolf for Warner Bros. In 2001, he began creating Jorge Gutierrez' El Macho, an animated web series for Sony Pictures.
Gutierrez has also done character design on many animated series including Nickelodeon's ChalkZone, as well as Kids' WB's ¡Mucha Lucha!, Cartoon Network's Class of 3000, and Disney's The Buzz on Maggie for which he was nominated for a 2006 Annie Award in character design. As a writer, he's worked on Scholastic's Maya & Miguel as well as Disney's Brandy & Mr. Whiskers and Vampirina.
In 2008, Gutierrez won two Annie awards (Best TV Animated Show & Best TV Character Design) and one Emmy (Best TV Character Design) working on his passion project for Nickelodeon, , along with his co-creator and wife, Sandra Equihua who also won an Emmy for her character designs.
In 2010, he created some of the sketches in Cartoon Network's Mad including "Dear Reaper...", "Dog vs Mailman" (part 1, 2 and 3), "Video Game Cheats", "Arcade Boy" and "Dog vs Fire Hydrant".
In 2012, Gutierrez directed and co-wrote an animated adventure feature film with a Romeo and Juliet style love story set against a Mexican "Day of the Dead" backdrop.[3] The film, with the official title The Book of Life, was co-produced with 20th Century Fox Animation and was released on October 17, 2014.[4] [5] He earned his first Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Animated Feature Film in 2014. He was also nominated for three Annie awards (Best Film, Best Director & Best Character Design).
In February 2015, Reel FX and Gutierrez announced a multi-year, multi-picture deal which included Kung Fu Space Punch and The Book of Life 2.[6] [7]
In 2016 Gutierrez designed, voiced, wrote and directed the Annie and Emmy nominated Son of Jaguar VR short for Google Spotlight Stories.
In 2016, Gutierrez was awarded an Impact Award by the National Hispanic Media Coalition for his “Outstanding Direction in a Motion Picture”.[8]
On August 2, 2017, it was reported that Gutierrez would write and direct The Billion Brick Race, a spin-off of The Lego Movie, for Warner Animation Group.[9] However, on February 8, 2018, it was reported that Gutierrez had permanently cancelled the project.[10]
In October 2020, he signed an over-all-deal with Netflix Animation.[11] He directed the Immigration music video for the Emmy Award-winning series We the People, and wrote and directed the Annie (Best TV Animated Show & Best TV Music) and Emmy (Best Writing, Best Promo, Best Sound and Individual Achievement for Color) Award-winning Maya and the Three, a nine episode animated limited series for Netflix Animation. He had been developing a follow-up series to Maya set in the same universe for Netflix titled Kung Fu Space Punch, however, it was scrapped in 2022 along with many other planned animated series.[12] He was also set to direct an original animated film titled I, Chihuahua from a script he wrote with Gabriel "Fluffy" Iglesias. However, the film was cancelled in April 2024, due to creative differences.[13]
Gutierrez did not speak until the age of five. As an adult, he was diagnosed with autism following his son's diagnosis.[14] [15]
| Year | Title | Director | Screenwriter | Role | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Carmelo | Carmelo's Father | Short film, won Student Emmy | ||||
| 2001 | Lint People | Short film Storyboard artist | |||||
| 2001 | El Macho | El Macho | Web series Also character designer | ||||
| 2014 | The Book of Life | Skeleton Carmelo | Feature film Also character designer and additional music composer | ||||
| 2015 | Guardians of Oz | Feature film Also executive producer and character designer | |||||
| 2017 | Son of Jaguar | Son of Jaguar | VR Short film Also character designer and art director | ||||
| 2023 | Additional Voices | Feature film | |||||
| 2024 | The Casagrandes Movie | Felipe the Street Vendor | Original animated film for Netflix | ||||
| I, Chihuahua[16] | Original animated film for Netflix Canceled | ||||||
| Kung-Fu Space Punch[17] | Original animated film for Netflix Canceled[18] |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | ChalkZone | Guest art director for "Pumpkin Love/Chip of Fools/Irresistible/Please Let Me In" | ||
| 2004 | ¡Mucha Lucha! | Character designer for Season 2 and 3 | ||
| 2004-2007 | Maya & Miguel | Freelance writer for multiple episodes | ||
| 2005 | The Buzz on Maggie | Character model design supervisor | ||
| 2006 | Brandy & Mr. Whiskers | Writer for "Big Girls Don't Body Slam" | ||
| 2007 | Class of 3000 | Guest music video art director for "Love is in the Hair...Net" | ||
| 2007-2008 | Gordo Gordo | Creator, writer, character designer, executive producer, production designer | ||
| 2010 | Carmen Got Expelled | Butcher | TV short; Also creator, writer, character designer, and director | |
| 2010-2013 | Mad | Animator, graphic designer | ||
| 2015-2016 | The Adventures of Puss in Boots | Executive consultant | ||
| 2018 | Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | Ghostbear (voice) | 4 episodes | |
| 2019 | Victor and Valentino | Sal (voice) | Recurring role | |
| 2019 | The Loud House | Lucha Libre Commentator (voice) | Episode: "Lucha Fever with the Casagrandes" | |
| 2021 | Maya and the Three | King Teca (voice) | Also creator, writer, director, and executive producer | |
| 2021 | Animaniacs | Diego Rivera (voice) | Segment: "The Warners Are Present" | |
| 2021 | The Casagrandes | Lucha Libre Commentator / Pigeon Referee (voices) | Episode: "Saving Face" |
| Year | Title | Publisher | ISBN | Notes | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | The Art of The Book of Life | Dark Horse Books | Author & illustrator | [19] | ||
| 2018 | Día de los Muertos | Little Simon | Illustrator | [20] | ||
| Border Bang | Cernunnos | Author and illustrator | [21] |