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It is no fair exaggeration to say that Igor Kovalyov is one of the world's most acclaimed animators, designers and directors. Born in Kiev, the Ukraine, in 1954, Kovalyov early on followed dual passions, art and zoology. Largely self-taught as an animator, he began his professional career at 17, as an in-between for a state-owned company, Kiev Nauch Films. In 1980, he graduated from Moscow's High Cinema School of Directors and Writers, which parallels American graduate programs. Given the opportunity to direct, his films immediately captured the imagination of the animation film world, and his popularity grew rapidly.
In the mid-1980's, Kovalyov co-founded the influential Pilot School of Animation in Moscow, where he produced international award-winning work with his long time collaborator Alexander ""Sasha"" Tartarsky. The Dark Side of the Moon took first prize at the London ""Festival of Festivals"" on 1986. Loaf Balls , a 1987 animated series for Soviet TV, won first prize at the 1988 ASIF A Festival in Varna. Hen, His Wife , a solo effort, took the Grand Prize at Ottawa in 1991. The latter, a symbolic, anarchic work, comes as close as any film ever has of capturing on film the anarchic feeling of a dream.
In 1991, Disney Animation invited Kovalyov to the United States for a retrospective of his work. While in Los Angeles, Kovalyov met Klasky Csupo co-founder Gabor Csupo, himself an international award-winning animator from Eastern Europe and a fan of Kovalyov's work.
At Csupo's invitation, Kovalyov joined Klasky Csupo and formally emigrated to the United States.
Since 1991, Kovalyov has had a strong influence at Klasky Csupo as a character designer, storyboard artist, animator and designer. He has played an integral role in drawing other top-level Soviet talent to the studio, including Andrei Svislotski, Sergei Shramkovsky and Evgueni Delioussine. He has directed episodes of the Emmy-nominated DUCKMAN; two-time Emmy Award-winning RUGRATS, and is one of two principal directors on the
Emmy-nominated AAHHH!!! REAL MONSTERS, the last two for Nickelodeon. In 1995, Kovalyov was the only animation director nominated for a Cable ACE Award, for his work on ""The Thing of the Principal"" episode of DUCKMAN.
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