Peter Sohn

Early life

Sohn was born on October 18, 1977, in The Bronx, New York City, the son of Korean immigrants Yung Tahk Sohn and Hea Ja Sohn. He has a younger brother. He was raised in New York.

While studying at California Institute of Arts, he got a summer job working on Brad Bird's animated feature film, The Iron Giant (1999).

Career

After graduating from school, he worked at The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros. before coming to Pixar in the art and story departments for Finding Nemo (2003). He also worked on The Incredibles (2004), Ratatouille (2007) and WALL-E (2008). Sohn performed the voice of Emile in Ratatouille. He made his directorial debut with the short film Partly Cloudy in 2009 which he also wrote. Partly Cloudy was included in the Animation Show of Shows in 2009. Sohn co-directed the English-language version of Ponyo in 2009 with fellow Pixar employees John Lasseter and Brad Lewis. Russell, from Up (2009), was based on Sohn's appearance. He voiced Russell in the corresponding short, George & A.J. (2009), and Squishy in the feature film Monsters University (2013).

Sohn directed the feature film The Good Dinosaur, which was released in November 2015. He voiced its Styracosaurus character Forrest Woodbush. The film was Pixar's first box office failure.

Sohn was set to voice the Marvel Comics character Ganke Lee in the 2018 Sony Pictures Animation feature film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, but his lines were ultimately deleted from the final film. However, he voiced Ganke in the 2023 sequel, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Additionally, Sohn provided the voices of Ciccio and Sox in the Pixar films Luca (2021) and Lightyear (2022), respectively.

The second feature film that Sohn directed at Pixar, Elemental, is based on his experience growing up in New York. The film debuted out of competition at the 76th Cannes Film Festival. It was released on June 16, 2023. Though it underperformed on its opening weekend, the film's performance improved in the following weeks and received positive word-of-mouth that led it to become a sleeper hit. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

In June 2025, it was revealed that Sohn would direct Incredibles 3 for Pixar, having been chosen by franchise creator Brad Bird and Pixar CCO Pete Docter to helm the film due to Bird's commitments to the film Ray Gunn.

Personal life

Sohn is married to artist Anna Chambers, whom he met at CalArts. During the production of The Good Dinosaur, they had two children.

Filmography

Feature films

Short films and TV specials

Video games

Other credits

References

References

1. (September 14, 2015). "TIFF: 'Good Dinosaur' stars friends, frontier". USA Today.
2. Greiving, Tim. (June 15, 2023). "Meet Mr. Pixar".
3. Corrado, E.. (November 4, 2009). "Q & A with Pixar's Ronnie del Carmen and Pete Sohn - Part 1". One Movie, Five Views Archive.
4. Murray, Rebecca. "'Ponyo' Movie Credits".
5. Lee, Patrick. (March 2, 2009). "Up director Pete Docter on talking dogs, youth scouts and adventure". Blastr.com.
6. Keegan, Rebecca. (September 18, 2013). "'The Good Dinosaur' moved to 2015, leaving Pixar with no 2014 film". The Los Angeles Times.
7. "How The Good Dinosaur Became Pixar's First Bona Fide Box Office Flop".
8. Sciretta, Peter. (February 26, 2019). "Pixar Director Pete Sohn Originally Voiced Ganke in 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'". [[/Film]].
9. Bastos, Margarida. (February 8, 2022). "'Lightyear' Full Voice Cast Includes Taika Waititi, Keke Palmer, James Brolin, and More".
10. Romano, Nick. (June 17, 2022). "Meet Sox, the surprise superstar of Pixar's Lightyear".
11. (April 19, 2023). "Elemental, the 27th Film by Pixar Animation Studios, to be the "Last Screening" at the 76th Festival de Cannes".
12. Azad, Navid Nikkhah. "Elemental, the 27th Film by Pixar Animation Studios, to be the "Last Screening" at the 76th Festival de Cannes - Deed News".
13. (May 16, 2022). "Pixar Announces Next Movie, 'Elemental,' From 'Good Dinosaur' Director Peter Sohn". Variety.
14. Pixar. (May 16, 2022). "In a city where fire, water, land, and air residents live together, a fiery young woman and a go-with-the-flow guy are about to discover something elemental: How much they actually have in common. Directed by Peter Sohn and produced by Denise Ream, Disney and Pixar's ''Elemental'' releases June 16, 2023.".
15. (June 19, 2023). "'Elemental' Box Office Debacle: Pixar Movie Opens to Record-Worst $29.6M".
16. (June 19, 2023). "Pixar's 'Elemental' bombs at box office".
17. Fuster, Jeremy. (August 8, 2023). "'Elemental' and Pixar Have Quietly Made a Box Office Comeback".
18. Lowry, Brian. (July 31, 2023). "'Elemental' was written off as a box-office flop. Then it sprouted legs".
19. Reyes, Mike. (August 3, 2023). "Pixar's Elemental Has Crossed Another Box Office Milestone, So Can We Stop Calling It A Bomb Now?".
20. Rudoy, Matthew. (August 1, 2023). "Pixar Box Office Redemption: Elemental Box Office Doubles Budget After Initially Being Declared A Flop".
21. Verhoven, Beatrice. (June 10, 2025). "'Incredibles 3' Finds Its Director (Exclusive)".
22. Robertson, Barbara. (April 9, 2009). "Peter Sohn". CGSociety.
23. de Souza, Alison. (June 14, 2023). "Korean-American director Peter Sohn tells his personal stories through Pixar film Elemental".
24. (June 23, 2022). "Peter Sohn on bringing the cat SOX to life in Lightyear".
25. Petski, Denise. (September 6, 2023). "'Elemental' Gets Streaming Date On Disney+". [[Penske Media Corporation]].