Pixar Bobby Rubio's FLOAT Stars Two CGI FilAm Leads

Filipino American filmmaker Bobby Rubio is writing and directing a new Pixar Spark short called FLOAT and it will feature the first two CGI - FilAm lead characters in Pixar history!

Bobby Rubio

"I'm so proud to be part of this program and to be among these very talented people! Team Float!" says Rubio. "Those are Filipino lead characters in my Pixar Spark Short! Pixar’s first all CGI Filipino characters! So technically, the first Pixnoys! I am proud to tell our stories. I know what it means to see our culture represented on screen [and] I hope my short will inspire more Filipino American stories to come! I’m going to do my best to tell MORE!   Representation Matters!

Pixar SparkShorts is an experimental storytelling initiative that welcomes new creative voices at Pixar Animation Studios to share their stories.  

Bobby Rubio was born and raised in San Diego and has been drawing since he was a child.  He attended the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia and earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Fine Arts.  After graduation, he worked for Homage Studios (Image Comics) in La Jolla, and then continued on to pursue a career in animation.  He worked nine years with Walt Disney Feature Animation as a traditional animator and storyboard artist on several films including “Tarzan” and “Treasure Planet.”  After Disney, he worked as an assistant director and storyboard artist for Nickelodeon Animation Studios on the Dante Basco series “Avatar: The Last Airbender” for 2 ½ years.  Currently, he is a story artist for Pixar Animation Studios and has worked on the feature animated movies “Up”, “Brave” and “Monsters University” and the animated short, “Tokyo Mater.”

At his spare time, he works on his creator-owned and independent comic series, “Alcatraz High”, “ENFORCEMEN” and “4 Gun Conclusion.”  And from time to time, he has freelanced for Stan Lee's Marvel Comics as a cover artist.

Recently, he was nominated with a 2019 Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production on 2018's "The Incredibles." The 46th Annual Annie Awards will take place 7:00pm on Saturday, February 2, 2019, at UCLA's Royce Hall in Los Angeles, California.
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As for the SparksShorts, see the first three films at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood beginning January 18, followed by an exclusive launch on YouTube in the following weeks.