- Tennessee's remarkable journey into the world of film & television production began with a childhood fascination for stop-motion, inspired by classics like "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" and Ray Harryhausen's monster movies. His exploration started at age 14 utilizing his father's 8mm camera to create his first films. This passion led him to explore Kit Laybourne's "The Animation Handbook", motivating him to venture into Film Production & Communication at The City College of San Francisco and later work as a Panavision Camera Technician at Cine Rent West.
His professional career blossomed when he became a character fabricator on Tim Burton's iconic "The Nightmare Before Christmas," contributing to the creation of memorable characters like Sally and Oogie Boogie. Tennessee's professional career as an animator began with ABC's "Bump in the Night" and he subsequently ventured into directing and producing his own stop-motion shorts, including award-winning works -"The Lizard Whomper", The Misadventures of Spittle & Fudd" & "The Answer".
Throughout his expansive career, Tennessee transitioned between animation and live-action production. He produced F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Sensible Thing for PBS, he made significant contributions to the animation world on projects like "Robot Chicken", earning two Primetime Emmy Awards for his work as a Character Animator and Director of Character Fabrication. Further expanding his horizons, he founded Axolotl Films, creating a unique blend of Animation & Live Action styles in the series for MTV "The Greatest Party Stories Ever Told".
Collaborating with his wife, a high school French teacher, Tennessee produced a pilot for Edu-tainment Series "Monsieur Filou's Voyage: Carnaval." This innovative program ingeniously blended live action puppetry, cut-out animation, and authentic audio interviews to offer an engaging exploration of France's Carnaval celebrations. Crowdsourced through Kickstarter, the project was made accessible for educational purposes, complete with a complementary lesson plan for teachers, underscoring the husband and wife team's commitment to fostering learning through creativity and multimedia.
The pinnacle of his career came with his involvement in prestigious projects like "SpongeBob SquarePants: The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom" and as the as the sole animator to work on both Academy Award-nominated Animated feature films for 2022, "Marcel the Shell" & "Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio", which ultimately won the Oscar.
Tennessee concluded his career in commercial animation by returning to Shadow Machine in Portland to work on the Nickelodeon kid's show, "Tiny Chef." Following this, he skillfully merged his dedication to education with his extensive experience in the film and television industry, ultimately earning credentials as a Career Technical Education (CTE) teacher specializing in Arts, Media, and Entertainment within the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). This transition exemplified his commitment to imparting his knowledge and passion to the next generation of creative professionals.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Sarah Beth Norton
- SpouseSarah Beth Norton(October 9, 2004 - present)
- Gender / Gender identityMale
- Pronounshe/him
- As a young child he had a heavy southern accent and a slight lisp, so when asked his name he was unable to pronounce 'Timothy' and instead said 'Tennessee', adults found this charming and subsequently the name stuck.
- Tennessee got his start in show business as a Panavision Camera Technician at the famed Cine Rent West, in San Fransisco. After years in animated production he returned to live action as a Producer for PBS' American Storytellers series, utilizing 35mm Panavision for F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Sensible Thing.
- Tennessee worked on Robot Chicken for eight seasons and six specials, receiving Academy of Television Primetime Emmy Award honors for contributions to Robot Chicken as both Character Animator and Director of Character Fabrication.
- Tennessee made his first stop-motion film at the age of twelve by studying Kit Laybourne's The Animation Book: A Complete Guide to Animated Filmmaking . Years later after his work on The Nightmare Before Christmas & Bump in the Night, he was featured in the new edition of The Animation Book, the same text that launched his career.
- Tennessee was responsible for painting several of the iconic characters for Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas including Zero, & Oogie Boogie (black light version) as well as the complex replacement head series for Sally and the Mayor.
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