Sanjay Patel

Sanjay Patel was born in London located in the United Kingdom in the year 1974. Due to his father's business, he moved to the United States of America at the age of four. His father purchased a motel, the Lido Motel in California where Sanjay spent his early childhood. He worked as an animator since 1996 in various projects. He was always interested in making animated films, and his interest led him to be a part of the 'Pixar Films.' Sanjay studied animation at two universities- The Cleveland Institute and The California Institute. He lives in Oakland with his two-year-old son and soon to be wife Based on the events of his childhood, Sanjay directed a short animation film, "Sanjay's Super Team" in the year 2015.

His movie was nominated for the category of the Best Animated Film at the 88th Academy Awards and also at the 43rd Annie Awards in the category of Best Animated Short Subject. He worked as an animator for various Pixar movies like “Toy Story 2” in the year 1999 followed by “Monster's Inc”, “The Incredibles”, “Ratatouille”, and “ Monsters University Click to look into! >> Read More... ”. In a news article in Los Angeles Times, written by Rebecca Keegan, she mentioned about Sanjay being an immigrant from Gujarat, India. Though he was brought up in a foreign country, Sanjay never forgot the Indian ethics, traditions, and morals. He always performed meditation and prayer along with his father. Patel said that he wanted his name to be Travis instead of Sanjay as he felt conflicted by the difference in traditions.

The inspiration for the film setting of Sanjay's super team came from a motel owned by his father in Patel's childhood. Nicole Paradis Grindle produced the cinema. The launch of the movie was held in France during the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 15, 2015. As a child, Sanjay was bored with the meditation and prayer and started imagining the Hindu Gods as Superheroes. That is how he got an idea for the film. Sanjay says that it took him a very long time to accept his identity without being at an inner battle with himself. When he joined in Pixar, the first movie he worked on was "A Bug's Life" and continued as an animator in many successful films. He also worked on "Life of Pi" and "Monsoon Wedding" which are Indian-set movies. In an interview, when asked about the initial resistance of making Sanjay's Super Team, he said that he was scared and felt intimidating to put his idea into motion through Pixar.