Simon J Smith Personal Bio Simon J Smith is an award winning writer/director and 30 year computer graphics veteran with over 38 combined years of film, television, and post production experience in telling engaging stories with compelling characters. He is known mostly for his directing feature animation work at PDI/DreamWorks Animation, directing the feature film "Penguins of Madagascar" starring Benedict Cumberbatch and John Malkovich, and previously the Golden Globe nominated "Bee Movie" starring Jerry Seinfeld and Rene Zellweger. After his DreamWorks tenure he found himself at Unity Technologies writing and directing three real-time short films for Disney. Titled "Baymax Dreams" the shorts delve into mind of the "Big Hero 6" character Baymax, and creating a future pipeline using the Unity engine, ask the question "Do androids dream of electric sheep?" Well apparently they do. Simon J Smith won a 2018 Technical Emmy writing and directing "Baymax Dreams" During his tenure at PDI/Dreamworks, which he called his home for over 19 years, he created the Layout Pipeline for the second ever computer animated film "Antz", and served as Head of Layout (cameraman/cinematographer) for that film, and also for the first ever animated Oscar winning film from PDI/DreamWorks "Shrek". Then he was chosen to start directing projects for DreamWorks which included "Shrek Imax" the first stereoscopic 70mm film for DW, the Universal theme park ride "Shrek 4D", and short films, including "Far Far Away idol" starring Simon Cowell, and "The Button of Doom" starring Will Ferrell. Before coming to the United States in 1997, Simon was Directing, Editing, Animating or FX Supervising at top London post production houses including The Mill, Framestore, VTR, SVC TV, and ad agency BBDO for 16 years on various projects, commercials, or music videos including Apple, Nike, Honda, Pepsi, VW, Pet Shop Boys, New Order, George Michael, to name but a few.
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Biography from IMDb.
- September 16, 1968 (58)
- Watford, England, UK
- Director, actor and producer
- 11 on MovieCove · 14 credits in all
Known for
What are Simon J. Smith's films like?
Across their 8 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Bonds and Society.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 2 · Wry 0 · Earnest 5
Light 7 · Serious 0 · Dark 0
A split, not a type: Grounded 0 · Stylized 3 · Heightened 4
Gentle 5 · Charged 2 · Intense 0
Steady 6 · Shifting 1 · Whiplash 0
Straight-faced 0 · Some laughs 0 · Funny 7
A split, not a type: Slow burn 3 · Even-paced 0 · Relentless 4
Casual 7 · Engaged 0 · Full focus 0
Easy watch 7 · Affecting 0 · Heavy 0
Resolved 7 · Open-ended 0 · Ambiguous 0
Moods and endings
- Happy8
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Simon J. Smith's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 3 of their 11 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Netflix (2).
Subscription and free streaming for Simon J. Smith's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
14 credits, 11 with a MovieCove page.
Batwheels(2022)
Midcredits score: 12th percentile of all shows
Penguins of Madagascar(2014)
Midcredits score: 67th percentile of all films
Shrek Stories (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2013)
Monsters vs Aliens Stories (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2013)
Shrek's Thrilling Tales(2012)
Midcredits score: 57th percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 60th percentile of all films
Bee Movie(2007)
Midcredits score: 46th percentile of all films
Far Far Away Idol(2004)
Midcredits score: 57th percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 48th percentile of all films
DreamWorks 6 Spooky Stories Collection (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2003)
Midcredits score: 72nd percentile of all films
Shrek(2001)
Midcredits score: 98th percentile of all films
Chicken Run(2000)
Midcredits score: 87th percentile of all films
Antz(1998)
Midcredits score: 59th percentile of all films
Career shape
A full career of 13 titles from 1998 to 2022.
Biggest box office
Penguins of Madagascar (2014)
Highest rated
Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party (2001)
Most popular right now
Batwheels (2022)
Film career
- 2001Screen debut· Shrek
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.
How do Simon J. Smith's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 60th percentile, the median of all 10; across their 7 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 64th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up2
- 50th to 74th6
- 25th to 49th2
- Below 25th1
Shape of the crowd
8 of their 11 titles are Crowd Pleasers.
- Universally Loved1
- Divisive1
- Crowd Pleaser8
- Broadly Agreed1
Reviewers score the atmosphere 50/100 and the pacing 50/100 in their films, across 5 reviewed titles. The element that speaks to their work as a director.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Is Simon J. Smith's work okay for kids?
Across a limited sample of up to 4 MovieCove titles with content scores.
Severity 0–100 from the Content Guide. Categories with under 10 votes on a title are not counted.
Who does Simon J. Smith work with?
People who share at least 2 of Simon J. Smith's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Conrad Vernon shares the most, 5.
Writers
- William SteigShared titles: Shrek's Thrilling Tales (2012), Shrek: The Ghost of Lord Farquaad (2003), Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party (2001)See all 3 shared titles with William Steig
- Alan SchoolcraftShared titles: Penguins of Madagascar (2014), Megamind: The Button of Doom (2011)See all 2 shared titles with Alan Schoolcraft
- Brent SimonsShared titles: Penguins of Madagascar (2014), Megamind: The Button of Doom (2011)See all 2 shared titles with Brent Simons
- Joe StillmanShared titles: Shrek's Thrilling Tales (2012), Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party (2001)See all 2 shared titles with Joe Stillman
Actors
- Conrad VernonShared titles: Penguins of Madagascar (2014), Shrek's Thrilling Tales (2012), Far Far Away Idol (2004), Shrek: The Ghost of Lord Farquaad (2003), Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party (2001)See all 5 shared titles with Conrad Vernon
- Christopher KnightsShared titles: Penguins of Madagascar (2014), Shrek's Thrilling Tales (2012), Shrek: The Ghost of Lord Farquaad (2003), Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party (2001)See all 4 shared titles with Christopher Knights
- Cameron DiazShared titles: Shrek's Thrilling Tales (2012), Far Far Away Idol (2004), Shrek: The Ghost of Lord Farquaad (2003), Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party (2001)See all 4 shared titles with Cameron Diaz
- Cody CameronShared titles: Shrek's Thrilling Tales (2012), Far Far Away Idol (2004), Shrek: The Ghost of Lord Farquaad (2003), Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party (2001)See all 4 shared titles with Cody Cameron
Composers and editors
- Michelle BelforteShared titles: Megamind: The Button of Doom (2011), Far Far Away Idol (2004), Shrek: The Ghost of Lord Farquaad (2003)See all 3 shared titles with Michelle Belforte
- Lorne BalfeShared titles: Penguins of Madagascar (2014), Megamind: The Button of Doom (2011)See all 2 shared titles with Lorne Balfe
- Harry Gregson-WilliamsShared titles: Shrek: The Ghost of Lord Farquaad (2003), Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party (2001)See all 2 shared titles with Harry Gregson-Williams
Producers
- Mark SwiftShared titles: Penguins of Madagascar (2014), Megamind: The Button of Doom (2011), Bee Movie (2007)See all 3 shared titles with Mark Swift
