A magnet for the eccentric and offbeat, Denis has made a career out of finding the humor and heart in oddball characters. Currently commanding the gaggle of lovable nesting dolls on the award-winning series Higglytown Heroes for Playhouse Disney, he’s also had a chance to use his love of music on the show. Original songs are created for each episode and the theme song is performed by legendary underground favorites They Might Be Giants.

A longtime Bay Area resident with a mean flea market addiction, Denis hopped on the W!LDBRAIN train in 2001 after leading Curious Pictures West Coast office. His unique style was showcased in shorts for CartoonNetwork.com entitled “Yogi Bear in Lullabye Bye Bear”, “A Meal of Two Cities”, “Hermann and Vermin”, and “Uncle Squirly in Squirrel Interrupted” (the sequel to “Uncle Squirly’s Treehouse”). Denis also contributed to the celebrated Wrigley’s Winterfresh Gum campaign with the dynamic spot “Paramedic”. His other recent work includes Pop Culture, an ad for the California State Fair, and CG spots for both the Ford Focus Techno campaign and Chili’s.

From 1996 to 2000, Denis worked with Curious Pictures in San Francisco developing several pieces for Cartoon Network’s Animate Your World, which won the Best Animated Campaign award at World Animation Celebration. Prior to this, Denis was a staff member at Colossal Pictures for ten years where one of his many projects was a series of four shows for the three-year run of MTV’s Emmy winning Liquid Television.

It’s been a fun ride since he graduated from The Philadelphia College of Art with a BFA in animation in 1981 and headed out to San Francisco. He keeps a lot his vintage toys and funny gadgets by his desk, but he knows enough to leave his three pet pygmy goats at home.

Download Bio

View Work

back to the Directors page