Chris Meledandri

Meledandri was born on May 15, 1959 in New York City to Roland Meledandri, a men's fashion designer, and Risha Meledandri, an activist, and grew up on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. His father was of Italian descent. Meledandri attended Dartmouth College.

Early career and work at 20th Century Fox Animation

Meledandri's first job in the film industry came when he worked as an assistant to executive producer Daniel Melnick on the set of Footloose. He co-founded the production company The Meledandri/Gordon Company (with Mark Gordon) until he left in 1991. Meledandri afterwards was the producer for a series of small films, before working as a producer for the 1993 Disney film Cool Runnings, which was a financial success. Soon after Meledandri was hired by 20th Century Fox, where executives presumed that the success of Cool Runnings showcased Meledandri's ability to produce financially successful family films. After a series of collaborations with filmmaker John Hughes, Meledandri was placed in charge of 20th Century Fox Animation. One of the first films released under Meledandri's tutelage was the Don Bluth-directed animated science fiction film Titan A.E. (2000), a costly box office bomb whose failure almost caused him to be fired, and which caused Fox Animation Studios to be shut down.

1998–2007: Work at Blue Sky Studios

In 1998, Meledandri led Fox's acquisition of fledgling visual effects house Blue Sky Studios, which became a commercially successful production studio. He oversaw the creative and business operations of Blue Sky, which became wholly owned by Fox. While at the studio, Meledandri supervised and/or executive produced films including Ice Age (2002), Robots (2005), Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006) and Horton Hears a Who! (2008). He also produced two animated shorts, Gone Nutty (2002) and No Time for Nuts (2006); both were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.

2007–present: Work at Illumination

Meledandri left as President of 20th Century Fox Animation in early 2007, being replaced by Vanessa Morrison, and founded Illumination, an animation company that was co-owned by Universal Pictures, which fully financed and owned the films. Fox had attempted to retain Meledandri, but it was reported by the Los Angeles Times that Universal's offer of an ownership stake in Illumination had persuaded him to switch. Meledandri received a share of Illumination's box office earnings as part of his contract with Universal, and as of 2011, he also owned an undisclosed stake in the production company. In 2010, Illumination released its first film, Despicable Me, a box office success. Meledandri built a relationship with chairman of NBCUniversal Stephen Burke, who liked Meledandri's propensity for producing animated films on a relatively low budget. Illumination released a film version of Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, which continued the successful collaboration between Meledandri and the Dr. Seuss estate. He also produced all of Despicable Me's various sequels and spin-offs.

Meledandri is a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and is a member of the board of trustees at The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut.

Meledandri was married to Leslie Benziger from 2002 to 2016. He has two sons, born in 1990 and 1998.

On July 15, 2026, French President Emmanuel Macron presented him with the prestigious insignia of Knight of the Legion of Honour (Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur) at the Élysée Palace in Paris. The award recognized his significant contributions to cinema and his major impact on advancing French animation through Illumination's close production ties with its Paris-based studio.