Domee Shi

2023 Recipient of the Richard Brettell Award in the Arts

Domee Shi, an Academy Award-winning director and artist, has been selected to receive the 2023 Richard Brettell Award in the Arts at The University of Texas at Dallas.

In addition to her 2018 Oscar for the animated short film “Bao,” Shi was nominated again for an Academy Award this year for Disney and Pixar’s “Turning Red,” which she co-wrote and directed. Prior to that, she was a story artist on several Pixar feature films, including “The Good Dinosaur,” “Toy Story 4,” and “Incredibles 2.”

The Brettell Award was established in 2016 with a gift from Margaret McDermott. The award recognizes the work of individuals in visual arts, music, literature, performance or architecture/design. It was inspired by and named for the late Dr. Richard Brettell, the founding director of UT Dallas’ Edith O’Donnell Institute of Art History. The award includes a $150,000 prize and provides an opportunity for the campus community to meet and talk with the winning artist during a fall visit.

“Domee not only has established herself as a leader in animation, but she also has blazed trails for women at Pixar and in the animation industry,” said Dr. Nils Roemer, dean of the Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology and the Arts, Humanities, and Technology Distinguished University Chair. “We are thrilled to honor her with the 2023 Brettell Award.”

Shi has been with Pixar Animation Studios since 2011, when she accepted an internship working with the storyboard team and has been moving up in the ranks at The Walt Disney Co.-owned animation studio ever since. Now, Shi is a vice president of creative at Pixar and a director.

“Domee not only has established herself as a leader in animation, but she also has blazed trails for women at Pixar and in the animation industry.”

Dr. Nils Roemer

Shi was the first woman to direct a short film for the studio. The eight-minute “Bao” debuted at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival, and later it preceded “Incredibles 2” in theaters. In 2019 Shi won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for “Bao,” which shows a Chinese mom who gets another chance at motherhood when one of her dumplings springs to life. Shi is also the first woman solely to direct a feature film at Pixar.

Shi said she is grateful to receive the 2023 Brettell Award and looks forward to talking with UT Dallas students.

“It’s really inspiring and cool to meet young people and see how they are inspired by me and my trajectory,” she said. “It’s a huge honor.”

After graduating from Sheridan College in her native Canada, Shi worked briefly as a cartooning instructor with an emphasis on character design and comic book creation. In 2011 she accepted a three-month internship at Pixar as a storyboard artist. The first feature film she worked on while at Pixar was “Inside Out,” which was released in 2015. Shi began working on “Toy Story 4” that same year, and subsequently drew storyboards for “Incredibles 2,” which was released in 2018.

Roemer, who also directs the Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies and is the Stan and Barbara Rabin Distinguished Professor in Holocaust Studies, said the selection committee — composed of arts leaders from UT Dallas and the community — was impressed with the significant contributions that Shi, 33, has already made to the animation industry.

“This young woman has already won an Academy Award, been nominated for another, and has written and directed a successful full-length film,” he said. “She is an inspiration not only to students at UT Dallas, but to aspiring animators throughout the world.”

Shi’s UT Dallas campus visit this fall will include discussions with small groups and a public lecture. She said she hopes to encourage students who aspire to a career in animation — particularly those who look like her and have the same interests.

“Asian women, international students, nerds — it’s like a Venn diagram of a lot of different people who see themselves in my story and experience,” she said. “I just encourage students to look to their own personal stories and experiences as inspiration.”

One of her main messages to student audiences is the idea of “connection over perfection,” she said.

“When you’re a student, you’re under a lot of pressure to do the assignments and make the grades, but you should be experiencing all aspects of college: meeting people, connecting with them and trying new things — all of which contribute to your art form and learning to tell your story,” she said. “I wish I had learned this sooner in my own career.”