Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature

The Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature is one of the annual awards given by the Visual Effects Society starting from 2002. Since its inception, the award's title has gone through six title changes, and one major category shift. First awarded in 2002, the award was titled "Best Character Animation in an Animated Motion Picture" and given to the best character animation in an animated film, with no specific character cited. This would change in 2004, when the category was re-titled "Outstanding Performance by an Animated Character in an Animated Motion Picture", and given to visual effects artists for work on a specified character. as well as the voice actor for the character. The category was again re-titled in 2008, this time to "Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture". In 2015, it was titled "Outstanding Animated Performance in an Animated Feature", but changed in 2017 to "Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature", its current title.

Winners and nominees[]

2000s[]

Outstanding Character Animation in an Animated Motion Picture

Year	Film	Character	Nominee(s)
2002 ^[1]^[2]	Stuart Little 2		Tony Bancroft, David Schaub, Eric Armstrong, Sean Mullen
2002 ^[1]^[2]	Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron		James Baxter
2003	Finding Nemo	Speaking Whale	Andrew Gordon, Brett Coderre
2003	Finding Nemo	Inside the Whale	Dave DeVan, Gini Santos

Outstanding Performance by an Animated Character in an Animated Motion Picture

Year	Film	Character	Nominee(s)
2004 ^[3]	The Incredibles	Bob Parr/Mr. Incredible	Craig T. Nelson, Bill Wise, Bill Sheffler, Bolhem Bouchiba
	The Polar Express	Steamer	Michael Jeter, David Schaub, Renato Dos Anjos, Roger Vizard
	Shark Tale	Angie	Renée Zellweger, Ken Duncan
	Shrek 2	Puss in Boots	Antonio Banderas, Raman Hui
2005 ^[4]^[5]	Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit	Gromit	Loyd Price
	Madagascar	King Julien	Rex Grignon, Denis Couchon
	Robot	Fendor	Robin Williams, David Torres, Mark Piretti, Ben Williams
2006 ^[6]^[7]	Cars	Mater	Larry the Cable Guy, Mike Krummhoefener, Tom Sanocki, Nancy Kato
	Happy Feet	Mumble's Banishment	Damien Gray, Tim Gibson, Carl Prud 'Homme
	Monster House	House	Umberto Lazzari, Michael Kimmel, Kui Han Lee, Owen Demers
2007 ^[8]^[9]	Ratatouille	Colette	Janeane Garofalo, Jaime Landes, Sonoko Konishi, Paul Aichele
	Beowulf	Beowulf	Keith Smith, Scott Holmes, Pericles Michielin, Kenn McDonald
	Shrek The Third	King Harold	John Cleese, Guillaume Aretos, Tim Cheung, Sean Mahoney
	Surf's Up	Chicken Joe	David Schaub, Moon Jun Kang, Brian Casper, Andreas Procopiou
	Surf's Up	Cody	David Schaub, Pete Nash, James Crossley, Shia LaBeouf

Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

Year	Film	Character	Nominee(s)
2008 ^[10]^[11]	WALL-E	Wall-E and Eve Truck Sequence	Ben Burtt, Victor Navone, Austin Lee, Jay Shuster
	Bolt	Bolt	Becky Bresee, Bob Davies, Renato Dos Anjos, Wayne Unten Jr.
	Bolt	Rhino	Adam Dykstra, Dave Gottlieb, Clay Kaytis, Hyrum Osmond
	Kung Fu Panda	Po	Jack Black, Dan Wagner, Nico Marlet, Peter Farson
2009 ^[12]^[13]	Up	Carl	Ed Asner, Ron Zorman, Brian Tindall, Carmen Ngai
	Coraline	Coraline	Travis Knight, Trey Thomas
	Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs	Buck	Simon Pegg, Peter de Sève
	Monsters vs. Aliens	B.O.B.	David Burgess, Scott Cegielski, Terran Boylan, David Weatherley

2010s[]

Year	Film	Character	Nominee(s)
2010 ^[14]^[15]	How to Train Your Dragon	Toothless	Gabe Hordos, Cassidy Curtis, Mariette Marinus, Brent Watkins
	Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole	Digger	Josh Murtack, James Cunliffe, Jessica Groom, Andrew Hunt
	Megamind	Minion	David Cross, Rani Naamani, Dick Walsh, Adrian Tsang
	Tangled	Rapunzel	Tony Smeed, Amy Smeed, Becky Bresee, Kira Lehtomaki
2011 ^[16]^[17]	Rango	Rango	Frank Gravatt, Kevin Martel, Brian Paik, Steve Walton
	The Adventures of Tintin	Tintin	Gino Acevedo, Gustav Ahren, Jamie Beard, Simon Clutterbuck
	Puss in Boots	Puss in Boots	Antonio Banderas, Ludovic Boouancheau, Laurent Caneiro, Olivier Staphylas
	Rio	Nigel	Diana Diriwaechter, Sang Jun Lee, Sergio Pablos, Aamir Tarin
2012 ^[18]^[19]	Brave	Merida	Travis Hathaway, Olivier Soares, Peter Sumanaseni, Brian Tindall
	Hotel Transylvania	Dracula	Bill Haller, Tim Pixton, Jorge Vigara
	The Pirates! Band of Misfits	Band of Misfits	Will Becher, Jay Grace, Loyd Price
	Wreck-It Ralph	Vanellope von Schweetz	John Kahwaty, Suzan Kim, Michelle Robinson, Tony Smeed
2013 ^[20]^[21]	Frozen	Bringing the Snow Queen to Life	Alexander Alvarado, Joy Johnson, Chad Stubblefield, Wayne Unten
	The Croods	Eep	Line Andersen, Won Young Byun, Koji Morihiro, Chris De St. Jeor
	Epic	Bomba	Thom Roberts, Haven Gordon Cousins, Tim Bower, Daniel Lima
	Epic	Mary Katherine	Jeff Gabor, Dylan Maxwell, Sang Jun Lee, Chris Pagoria
2014 ^[22]^[23]	Big Hero 6	Baymax	Colin Eckart, John Kahwaty, Zach Parrish, Zack Petroc
	The Boxtrolls	Archibald Snatcher	Travis Knight, Jason Stalman, Michael Laubach, Kyle Williams
	How to Train Your Dragon 2	Hiccup Haddock	Jakob Hjort Jensen, Fabio Lignini, Stephen Candell, Hongseo Park
	Rio 2	Gabi	Jason Sadler, Ignacio Barrios, Drew Winey, Diana Diriwaechter

Outstanding Animated Performance in an Animated Feature

Year	Film	Character	Nominee(s)
2015 ^[24]^[25]	Inside Out	Joy	Shawn Krause, Tanja Krampfert, Jacob Merrell, Alexis Angelidis
	The Good Dinosaur	Spot	Ana Gabriela Lacaze, Jacob Brooks, Lou Hamou-Lhadj, Mark C. Harris
	The Peanuts Movie	Charlie Brown	Matthew Doble, Steve Vanseth, Stephen Gressak, Nikki Tomaino
	The Peanuts Movie	Snoopy	Jeff Gabor, Joseph Antonuccio, Ignacio Barrios, Sabine Heller
2016 ^[26]^[27]	Finding Dory	Hank	Jonathan Hoffman, Steven Clay Hunter, Mark Piretti, Audrey Wong
	Kubo and the Two Strings	Kubo	Jeff Riley, Ian Whitlock, Adam Lawthers, Jeremy Spake
	Kubo and the Two Strings	Monkey	Andy Bailey, Dobrin Yanev, Kim Slate, Jessica Lynn
	Moana	The Mighty Maui	Mack Kablan, Nikki Mull, Matthew Schiller, Marc Thyng

Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature

Year	Film	Character	Nominee(s)
2017 ^[28]^[29]	Coco	Hèctor	Emron Grover, Jonathan Hoffman, Michael Honsel, Guilherme Sauerbronn Jacinto
	The Boss Baby	Boss Baby	Alec Baldwin, Carlos Puertolas, Rani Naamani, Joe Moshier
	Despicable Me 3	Balthazar Bratt	Eric Guillon, Bruno Dequier, Julien Soret, Benjamin Fournet
	The Lego Ninjago Movie	Garmadon	Matthew Everitt, Christian So, Loic Miermont, Fiona Darwin
	The Lego Ninjago Movie	Garma Mecha Man	Arthur Terzis, Wei Hei, Jean-Marc Ariu, Gibson Radsavanh
2018 ^[30]^[31]	Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse	Miles Morales	Marcos Kang, Chad Belteau, Humberto Rosa, Julie Bernier Gosselin
	Dr. Seuss' The Grinch	The Grinch	David Galante, Francois Boudaille, Olivier Luffin, Yarrow Cheney
	Incredibles 2	Helen Parr/Elastigirl	Michal Makarewicz, Ben Porter, Edgar Rodriguez, Kevin Singleton
	Ralph Breaks the Internet	Ralphzilla	Dong Joo Byun, Dave K. Komorowski, Justin Sklar, Le Joyce Tong
2019 ^[32]^[33]	Missing Link	Susan	Rachelle Lambden, Brenda Baumgarten, Morgan Hay, Benoit Dubuc
	Frozen II	The Water Nøkk	Svetla Radivoeva, Marc Bryant, Richard E. Lehmann, Cameron Black
	Klaus	Jesper	Yoshimishi Tamura, Alfredo Cassano, Maxime Delalande, Jason Schwartzman
	Toy Story 4	Bo Peep	Radford Hurn, Tanja Krampfert, George Nguyen and Becki Rocha Tower

2020s[]

Year	Film	Character	Nominee(s)
2020 ^[34]^[35]	Soul	Terry	Jonathan Hoffman, Jonathan Page, Peter Tieryas, Ron Zorman
	Onward	Dad Pants	Kristopher Campbell, Jonas Jarvers, Rob Jensen, Jacob Kuenzel
	Over the Moon	Chang'e	Siggi Orri Thorhannesson, Hyesok Kim, Javier Solsona, Alan Chen
	The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run	SpongeBob	Jacques Daigle, Guillaume Dufief, Adrien Montero, Liam Hill

Films with Multiple Nominations[]

2 Nominations

Characters with Multiple Nominations[]

2 Nominations

Puss in Boots

External links[]

Visual Effects Society

References[]

^ Jeff Heusser (January 13, 2003). "Visual Effects Society Awards 2002 Nominees". Fxguide. Fxguide. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ Sarah Baisley (February 20, 2003). "Two Towers and Dinotopia Top First VES Awards". Animation World Network. AWN, Inc. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
^ Variety Staff (February 17, 2005). "'Aviator,' Spidey win effects hardware". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
^ Variety Staff (February 16, 2006). "'War,' 'Kong' top visual effects kudos". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
^ "Animator, Gorilla and War Top VES Awards" (PDF). Visual Effects Society. VES. February 15, 2006. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
^ Gregg Kilday (January 9, 2007). "VES works up effects noms". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
^ Variety Staff (February 11, 2007). "'Pirates' plunders visual f/x awards". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
^ Variety Staff (January 6, 2008). "VES sailing with 'Pirates'". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
^ Variety Staff (February 10, 2008). "'Transformers,' ILM light up VES". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
^ ComingSoon (January 20, 2009). "Iron Man Leads VES Awards Nominees". ComingSoon.net. CraveOnline. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
^ Variety Staff (February 21, 2009). "'Button' tops Visual Effects Awards". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
^ Susan King (January 19, 2010). "'Avatar' grabs 11 VES Awards nominations". Los Angeles Times. Patrick Soon-Shiong. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
^ Variety Staff (February 28, 2010). "VES honors 'Avatar'". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
^ Peter Knegt (January 10, 2011). ""Inception" Leads Visual Effects Society Award Nominations". IndieWire. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
^ Nikki Finke (February 1, 2011). "Visual Effects Awards: 'Inception' Wins 4, 'How To Train Your Dragon' 3". Deadline. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
^ Susan King (January 9, 2012). "'Tintin' and HBO's 'Boardwalk Empire' lead Visual Effects nominations". Los Angeles Times. Patrick Soon-Shiong. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ Carolyn Giardina (February 7, 2012). "'Apes,' 'Hugo,' 'Transformers 3' Win Two Categories Each at VES Awards". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ Rahim Zahed (January 7, 2013). "VES Award Nominees Are Announced". Animation Magazine. Jean Thoren. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ Carolyn Giardina (February 5, 2013). "VES Awards 2013: 'Life of Pi' Wins Top Prize". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ The Deadline Team (January 14, 2014). "'Gravity' Leads With 8 VES Awards Nominations; 'Pacific Rim' Nabs 6". Deadline. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ Bill Desowitz (February 13, 2014). "'Gravity,' 'Frozen' Big VES Awards Winners". IndieWire. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ The Deadline Team (January 13, 2015). "Visual Effects Society Awards Nominations Announced". Deadline. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ Bill Desowitz (February 4, 2015). "Big Hero 6 is the Big Hero with 5 Awards; Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Tops the Feature Film Category; Game of Thrones and SSE Lead in Broadcast and Commercial Wins". StudioDaily. Access Intelligence. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ Margaret Lenker (January 12, 2016). "'Star Wars,' 'Game of Thrones,' 'The Peanuts Movie' Lead Visual Effects Society Nominations". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ Carolyn Giardina (February 3, 2016). "VES Awards Winners: 'Star Wars' Takes Top Prize". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ RT Staff (January 10, 2017). "'Star Wars,' 'Game of Thrones,' 'The Peanuts Movie' Lead Visual Effects Society Nominations". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ Carolyn Giardina (February 7, 2017). "'The Jungle Book' Takes Top Visual Effects Society Honors". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ Erik Pedersen (January 16, 2018). "VES Awards Nominations: 'Blade Runner 2049' & Latest 'Apes' Lead Film; 'Thrones' Rules All With 11 Noms". Deadline. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ Erik Pedersen, Diane Haithman (February 13, 2018). "VES Awards: 'Apes', 'Coco' & 'Thrones' Dominate VFX Nods – Full Winners List". Deadline. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 8, 2020.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
^ Carolyn Giardina (January 15, 2019). "Visual Effects Society Awards: 'Avengers: 'Infinity War' Leads Feature Noms; 'Black Panther,' 'Mary Poppins Returns' Snubbed". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ Carolyn Giardina (February 5, 2019). "Visual Effects Society Awards: 'Avengers: Infinity War' Wins Top Prize". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ Patrick Hipes (January 7, 2020). "Visual Effects Society Awards Nominations Announced". Deadline. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ Carolyn Giardina (January 29, 2020). "'The Lion King' Wins Top Honor at Visual Effects Society Awards". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
^ Pederson, Erik (March 2, 2021). "VES Awards Nominations: 'Tenet', 'Midnight Sky', 'Extraction', 'Soul' & 'Mandalorian' Among Titles In Visual Effects Hunt". Deadline. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
^ Hipes, Patrick (April 6, 2021). "VES Awards: 'The Midnight Sky', Pixar's 'Soul', 'The Mandalorian' Take Marquee Honors – Full List Of Winners". deadline. Retrieved April 6, 2021.

[1] Jeff Heusser (January 13, 2003). "Visual Effects Society Awards 2002 Nominees". Fxguide. Fxguide. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[2] Sarah Baisley (February 20, 2003). "Two Towers and Dinotopia Top First VES Awards". Animation World Network. AWN, Inc. Retrieved February 7, 2020.

[3] Variety Staff (February 17, 2005). "'Aviator,' Spidey win effects hardware". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.

[4] Variety Staff (February 16, 2006). "'War,' 'Kong' top visual effects kudos". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.

[5] "Animator, Gorilla and War Top VES Awards" (PDF). Visual Effects Society. VES. February 15, 2006. Retrieved February 7, 2020.

[6] Gregg Kilday (January 9, 2007). "VES works up effects noms". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Retrieved February 7, 2020.

[7] Variety Staff (February 11, 2007). "'Pirates' plunders visual f/x awards". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.

[8] Variety Staff (January 6, 2008). "VES sailing with 'Pirates'". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.

[9] Variety Staff (February 10, 2008). "'Transformers,' ILM light up VES". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.

[10] ComingSoon (January 20, 2009). "Iron Man Leads VES Awards Nominees". ComingSoon.net. CraveOnline. Retrieved February 7, 2020.

[11] Variety Staff (February 21, 2009). "'Button' tops Visual Effects Awards". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.

[12] Susan King (January 19, 2010). "'Avatar' grabs 11 VES Awards nominations". Los Angeles Times. Patrick Soon-Shiong. Retrieved February 7, 2020.

[13] Variety Staff (February 28, 2010). "VES honors 'Avatar'". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.

[14] Peter Knegt (January 10, 2011). ""Inception" Leads Visual Effects Society Award Nominations". IndieWire. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.

[15] Nikki Finke (February 1, 2011). "Visual Effects Awards: 'Inception' Wins 4, 'How To Train Your Dragon' 3". Deadline. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 7, 2020.

[16] Susan King (January 9, 2012). "'Tintin' and HBO's 'Boardwalk Empire' lead Visual Effects nominations". Los Angeles Times. Patrick Soon-Shiong. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[17] Carolyn Giardina (February 7, 2012). "'Apes,' 'Hugo,' 'Transformers 3' Win Two Categories Each at VES Awards". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[18] Rahim Zahed (January 7, 2013). "VES Award Nominees Are Announced". Animation Magazine. Jean Thoren. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[19] Carolyn Giardina (February 5, 2013). "VES Awards 2013: 'Life of Pi' Wins Top Prize". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[20] The Deadline Team (January 14, 2014). "'Gravity' Leads With 8 VES Awards Nominations; 'Pacific Rim' Nabs 6". Deadline. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[21] Bill Desowitz (February 13, 2014). "'Gravity,' 'Frozen' Big VES Awards Winners". IndieWire. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[22] The Deadline Team (January 13, 2015). "Visual Effects Society Awards Nominations Announced". Deadline. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[23] Bill Desowitz (February 4, 2015). "Big Hero 6 is the Big Hero with 5 Awards; Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Tops the Feature Film Category; Game of Thrones and SSE Lead in Broadcast and Commercial Wins". StudioDaily. Access Intelligence. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[24] Margaret Lenker (January 12, 2016). "'Star Wars,' 'Game of Thrones,' 'The Peanuts Movie' Lead Visual Effects Society Nominations". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[25] Carolyn Giardina (February 3, 2016). "VES Awards Winners: 'Star Wars' Takes Top Prize". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[26] RT Staff (January 10, 2017). "'Star Wars,' 'Game of Thrones,' 'The Peanuts Movie' Lead Visual Effects Society Nominations". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[27] Carolyn Giardina (February 7, 2017). "'The Jungle Book' Takes Top Visual Effects Society Honors". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[28] Erik Pedersen (January 16, 2018). "VES Awards Nominations: 'Blade Runner 2049' & Latest 'Apes' Lead Film; 'Thrones' Rules All With 11 Noms". Deadline. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[29] Erik Pedersen, Diane Haithman (February 13, 2018). "VES Awards: 'Apes', 'Coco' & 'Thrones' Dominate VFX Nods – Full Winners List". Deadline. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 8, 2020.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)

[30] Carolyn Giardina (January 15, 2019). "Visual Effects Society Awards: 'Avengers: 'Infinity War' Leads Feature Noms; 'Black Panther,' 'Mary Poppins Returns' Snubbed". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[31] Carolyn Giardina (February 5, 2019). "Visual Effects Society Awards: 'Avengers: Infinity War' Wins Top Prize". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[32] Patrick Hipes (January 7, 2020). "Visual Effects Society Awards Nominations Announced". Deadline. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[33] Carolyn Giardina (January 29, 2020). "'The Lion King' Wins Top Honor at Visual Effects Society Awards". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Retrieved February 8, 2020.

[34] Pederson, Erik (March 2, 2021). "VES Awards Nominations: 'Tenet', 'Midnight Sky', 'Extraction', 'Soul' & 'Mandalorian' Among Titles In Visual Effects Hunt". Deadline. Retrieved March 2, 2021.

[35] Hipes, Patrick (April 6, 2021). "VES Awards: 'The Midnight Sky', Pixar's 'Soul', 'The Mandalorian' Take Marquee Honors – Full List Of Winners". deadline. Retrieved April 6, 2021.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20]

[21]

[22]

[23]

[24]

[25]

[26]

[27]

[28]

[29]

[30]

[31]

[32]

[33]

[34]

[35]