How the University of Utah shaped Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull’s career

Ed Catmull doesn’t have the intense presence one might expect from a man with his resume.
Not only has Catmull won five Academy Awards, he’s also received an ACM A.M. Turing Award — considered the Nobel Prize of computing — has rubbed shoulders with George Lucas and Steve Jobs, co-founded Pixar and co-created the first computer-animated film (and the technology that made it possible).
But when Catmull arrived at The Leonardo Museum in Salt Lake City earlier this week, he was wearing a pair of worn-in jeans, a gray T-shirt and unbranded sneakers — modest garb for a 79-year-old multi-award-winner.
Catmull is the 2024 winner of The Leonardo Award, an award that seeks to honor individuals who have made “contributions (that) exemplify the blend of art and science,” per The Leonardo.
To receive his Leonardo Award, Catmull returned to Salt Lake City — the very place his impressive career started.
“(Catmull) credits the atmosphere and the work that he did at the University of Utah with some of his early success,” Virginia Pearce, director of the Utah Film Commission, said during Thursday night’s ceremony. “We are so proud about your start in Utah and the deeply grateful for the mark that you’ve made on (the film industry) industry and beyond.”
As a kid, Catmull balanced his interests in both art and science. He never saw the subjects as being inharmonious.
“Growing up, I didn’t know that (science and art) were considered to be not compatible with each other. Nobody told me that,” Catmull said Thursday night at The Leonardo Museum.
By the time Catmull graduated from Granite High School in Salt Lake City, he’d experienced success in both subjects. He was nominated for a state scholarship for art, but didn’t consider his talents “good enough” to pursue it exclusively.
Animation fascinated him, but there was no college for it. So when he started his Bachelor’s degree at University of Utah, he fell back on science.
“There were no tools for it, for animation, so I switched over into physics when I went to college,” Catmull said. This revelation prompted laughter from the audience — how can the man who co-founded Pixar be a physicist?
“It’s as if somehow these things are incongruous. But that’s a problem,” Catmull said in response to the audience’s laughter. “And this makes no sense to me. I think there’s a bias of people thinking that art programs are about learning to draw. It’s not. It’s about learning to see. And in which of the professions is it not important to be able to see?”
After earning two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Utah — one in physics, the other in computer science — Catmull was accepted to a graduate program, also at the University of Utah, studying computer science.
When Catmull took his first class in computer graphics he recalled thinking, “Whoa, you can use this to make art.”
In 1972, while still a student at the University of Utah, Catmull and fellow student Fred Parke, created the first computer-animated short film, “A Computer Animated Hand.” It was added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 2011, as “the vanguard of a technological and creative trajectory for a film industry increasingly founded on CGI and visual effects.”
More than two decades later, Pixar used RenderMan, a software co-created by Catmull, to make the first-ever full-length animated movie, “Toy Story.”
Catmull credited the University of Utah for fostering a “curious” and “supportive” educational environment.
“It was probably one of the greatest things I got here. It was amazing, fortuitous,” Catmull said. “The whole place was extremely supportive.”
He continued, “When I left, I knew that I loved the experience. I love the people. I love, their attitude, the way they work, where they support each other, and I was determined that I wanted to experience that kind of environment for the rest of my life.”
On Thursday night, Catmull accepted with The Leonardo Award in Salt Lake City. The award was presented to Catmull by John Price, a graduate from University of Utah’s College of Engineering.
In 2023, the college was renamed the John and Maria Price College of Engineering at the University of Utah.
“This award recognizes those whose careers and lives embody and inspire creativity and innovation. I cannot think of a person more deserving of this honor than Ed Catmull,” said Price.
Price said he hopes the University of Utah’s college of engineering, “will continue to produce the level of talent represented by Dr. Catmull” and his example “will also inspire many of Utah’s young children to discover their own passions.”