Tony Leondis was at CalArts for a time, and had the opportunity to enter the industry thanks to his then professor Brenda Chapman, who offered him an internship to work on one of her films,
The Prince of Egypt. After about 6 months, Leondis ended up working as a story artist on that film full-time. Leondis started his career as a story artist working on films such as
The Prince of Egypt and ''
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. He later joined DisneyToon Studios, where he co-wrote the script for Kronk's New Groove. Leondis made his directorial debut on Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch in 2005. In 2008, he directed his first theatrical animated film, Igor'', for Exodus Film Group. Since 2009, he was directing at
DreamWorks Animation an animated feature film about ghosts. Leondis originally pitched the film as a school story called
BOO U, but during development over the next few years, the plot would be drastically changed. Leondis went on to direct the
Kung Fu Panda short
Secrets of the Masters. Finally, in 2012, his ghost film, now called
B.O.O. Otherworldly Operations Office took its apparent final form and entered pre-production. Leondis also directed this version of the film, alongside Ryan O'Loughlin, who became co-director. Now titled
B.O.O.: Bureau of Otherworldly Operations, based on Leondis's original idea, the film was scheduled to be released in 2015, but by late 2014, it was pulled from DWA's schedule and went back into restructuring. By 2015, Leondis left DreamWorks to develop his next animated film, while
B.O.O. was left dead at the studio.
The Emoji Movie In 2017, Leondis directed and co-wrote
Sony Pictures Animation's animated film
The Emoji Movie. Leondis pitched the film to the studio and co-wrote it with Eric Siegel. According to statements by Leondis himself,
Emoji Movie had a very rushed production once Sony began producing it, He won two
Razzie Awards for
Worst Director and
Worst Screenplay, the latter shared with Eric Siegel and
Mike White, making Leondis the first animation director in motion picture history to win those categories. Despite showing interest in live-action filmmaking, Leondis has not been active in the entertainment industry since, but continues to make public appearances occasionally as of June 2022, with his most recent appearance being at the
75th Primetime Emmy Awards. ==Personal life==