Victoria Jenson (born March 4, 1960) is an Americanfilm director of bothlive action andanimated films.^[1] She has directed projects forDreamWorks Animation, includingShrek, the first film to win anAcademy Award for Best Animated Feature,^[2][3][4] giving rise to one of Hollywood's largest film franchises.^[5]

Jenson began paintingcels at the age of 13.^[6] She attended theAcademy of Art University inSan Francisco andCalifornia State University Northridge,^[7] and learned to paint backgrounds onThe Flintstones andThe Smurfs atHanna Barbera Studios where she worked summers to cover fall semesters.^[1] She later became astoryboard artist forWarner Bros.,Marvel andDisney Television, and variously worked as a production designer, art director and co-producer".^[2] In the early 1980s, Jenson worked on the storyboard backgrounds on theHe-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon series forFilmation. She was also a design and color stylist onMighty Mouse: The New Adventures,John Kricfalusi's influential reboot ofMighty Mouse, in the 1980s. Due to her connections with Kricfalusi, she was offered a job as a painter atSpümcø to work onThe Ren & Stimpy Show on its second season; she migrated toGames Animation with other background painters includingBill Wray after Kricfalusi's firing, working sporadically on the third and fourth seasons.^[8][2] In 1992, Jenson was theart director forFernGully: The Last Rainforest,^[2][9] and the production designer forComputer Warriors: The Adventure Begins andPlayroom.

In 2000, Jenson began working forDreamWorks as a production designer and story artist forThe Road to El Dorado.^[2][6] After working on the film, the studio initially hired Jenson to work onShrek as a story artist, with the directors to beAndrew Adamson (also a first-time director) and the lateKelly Asbury, who had joined in 1997 to co-direct the film. However, Asbury left a year later for work on the 2002 filmSpirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, and Jenson was selected by producerJeffrey Katzenberg to be the new director of the film.^[5][6] Jenson recalled her experience being brought intoShrek, and eventually tapped to direct, as follows:

For a long time, the movie didn't know what it wanted to be. One problem was unavoidable:Chris Farley had died, and the story had been geared around him, so when he went, the story kind of went with him. It went through an upheaval while they tried to find the right tone for it. I think they were really close to shelving the project when a few of us came into story to try and find a tone that we could work with. When Kelly Asbury moved on toSpirit: Stallion of the Cimarron I became head of story, along with Randy Cartwright. Along with Andrew Adamson, who stayed on as director, we started pulling little pieces together out of what remained, and part of the way through, Jeffrey decided that I should be directing. A few months later, we started production.^[5]

Jenson described the directing process as one in which "we didn't try to figure out how to make adolescents laugh. You have to use yourself as the best judge and use your own instincts. We figured if we laughed at it, chances are good someone else would too".^[6] According to Adamson, the co-directors mutually decided to split the work in half, so the crew could at least know whom to go to with specific questions about the film's sequences: "We both ended up doing a lot of everything", "We're both kinda control freaks, and we both wanted to do everything."^[10][2] Following the success ofShrek, Jenson went on to co-directShark Tale withBibo Bergeron andRob Letterman.^[11] In 2003, while working onShark Tale, Jenson received the first annual Kiera Chaplin Limelight award given at theWomen's Image Network Awards.^[12]

She directed a live-action short,Family Tree, which "premiered at Sundance, screened at countless festivals, including Sundance, SXSW, Aspen and Malibu and went on to win multiple festival awards".^[4] In 2009, she finished her first live-action feature directorial work for theAlexis Bledel-starring comedy,Post Grad.^[1] The film received generally negative reviews. Also in 2009, Jenson directed all of the spots for the year-long "Modelquins"ad campaign forOld Navy, including the "Supermodelquins Christmas" ads.^[13] She was represented by theAnonymous Content agency for the campaign.^[14]

In 2015, Jenson directed astage production of the play,Time Stands Still, byDonald Margulies.^[15] TheLos Angeles Times wrote of Jenson's stage directorial debut: "the staging by Vicky Jenson successfully captures the script's broad contours",^[16] andBroadway World praised the production, stating that "Vicky Jenson smoothly directs her uniformly skilled four-member cast".^[17]

In July 2017, it was reported that Jenson was directing an untitled animated fantasy film. The film tells of a teenager who "comes of age using magical powers to defend her family when the opposing forces of light and darkness threaten to divide her kingdom. The untitled project was now being titledSpellbound.^[18]

Jenson is the sister of classical violinistDylana Jenson. Jenson owns aBorder Collie.^[1]

Wikiquote has quotations related toVicky Jenson.

• Vicky Jenson atIMDb
• Chris Koseluk,"On Co-Directing Shrek: Victoria Jenson",AnimationWorld Network (May 10, 2001)
• Profile in "Women Directors Hollywood Should Be Hiring fromVulture.com
• Profile in "Hollywood's Most Inspiring Female DirectorsArchived 2015-10-09 at theWayback Machine"
• Profile in "Best Women Film Directors and MoviesArchived 2018-07-16 at theWayback Machine" fromMetacritic.com

• 1960 births
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