Began drawing by age three

Became interested in animation by watching a PBS program featuring experimental animation at age 20

Directed two short animated films while attending CalArts, "Phases" and "Tube Tales"

Studied under animator, Jules Engel, while working at Disney

Worked as an animator trainee and an in-betweener on Disney's "Pete's Dragon" and "The Small One"

Took eight months off work on personal projects sponsored by the American Film Institute

Was funded through the National Endowment for the Arts to make his debut short, "Seepage"

First credit as a full-fledged animator, "The Fox and the Hound"

Directed commercials for the Pillsbury Doughboy and Ritz Crackers

First credit as sequence director, "Twice Upon a Time"

Created the storyboarded fantasy sequences for Walter Murch's "Return to Oz"

Founded own production company, Selick Projects

Directed promotional spots for MTV, including the award-winning Haircut M campaign

Created the award-winning six-minute pilot for an animated series called "Slow Bob in the Lower Dimensions"; sponsored by MTV

Sellick Projects became Skellington Productions

Feature directorial debut, "Tim Burton's 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'"; was the first full-length, stop-motion feature from a major studio; nominated for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects

Skellington Productions was re-named Twitching Images, Inc.

Miramax agreed to fully fund and finance as well as cover all operating costs for all film projects through his company, Twitching Images

Directed the live-action/stop-motion adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic children's book, "James and the Giant Peach"

Directed the live action/animated adaptation of the underground comic, "Moneybone"

Developed stop-motion animation for Wes Anderson's feature, "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou"

Joined the Portland based animation studio, LAIKA as supervising director for feature film development

Directed LAIKA's first computer-generated animated short, "Moongirl"

Directed the first three-dimensional stop-motion animation film, "Coraline"; the first feature by LAIKA studios