Personal details
- Professions: Writer, Production Designer, Director
Vicky Jenson’s career is kind of wild, honestly. She’s been bouncing between animation and live action for more than twenty years, working on everything from TV classics to feature films and even a ridiculous number of Old Navy commercials—like, over forty of them. Fun fact: for a while, she was the only woman directing features at Anonymous Content. Not too shabby, right? She actually started out painting animation cells, grinding away at Hanna Barbera during the summers, just to keep up with art school tuition. Remember The Flintstones and The Smurfs? She was literally painting their backgrounds before most people had even heard of computer animation. After transferring to Cal State Northridge for literature and fine art, she jumped into design and storyboards for Filmation, Marvel, Disney TV, and Warner Bros. We’re talking He-Man, Taz-Mania, Batman, Jem—the ‘80s Saturday morning goldmine. Jenson’s got credits on legendary shows, but she also helped cook up the look for cult favorites like Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures and The Ren & Stimpy Show. Then she leveled up big time, co-directing Shrek (yeah, the one that won the Oscar) and Shark Tale. Post Grad was her first live-action feature, plus she art directed on Ferngully, did production design for The Road to El Dorado, and storyboarded for Chicken Run. Her short film Family Tree? Total festival darling. She’s picked up a pile of awards—Oscars, Annies, BAFTA, Golden Globes, you name it. These days she’s directing a new animated feature for DreamWorks and working on a live-action fairy tale script. When she’s not making movies, she’s out backpacking, picking at a mandolin, or spoiling her border collie.
Fun little tidbit—she’s actually Dylana Jenson’s sister, which is kind of wild if you’re into classical music circles. While Dylana’s out there dazzling folks as a violinist, her sibling took a different route, popping up in the film world instead. It’s one of those blink-and-you’ll-miss-it facts that hardcore fans love to toss around. Their family must’ve been packed with talent growing up, right? You’ve got one person making a name in concert halls, the other weaving through movie credits. Anyone geeking out over behind-the-scenes connections or trivia probably gets a kick out of this. It’s not every day you see siblings both nabbing a little slice of fame, just in totally different worlds. You hear “Jenson” and maybe think of Dylana, but if you dig a little deeper, there’s another story running parallel in the background—one that’s just as cool, if a bit more under the radar.
Konidela Ram Charan