Mark Walton (story artist)

Mark Walton (born October 24, 1968) is an American story artist and voice actor who has worked for Walt Disney Animation Studios, DreamWorks Animation, Blue Sky Studios, Warner Animation Group Pictures, and other companies. Walton is best known for voicing Rhino the hamster in the 2008 animated film Bolt.

Mark Walton
Born (1968-10-24) October 24, 1968
Salt Lake City, Utah
OccupationStoryboard artist, voice actor
Years active1999–present
EmployerWalt Disney Animation Studios (1995–2009)

DreamWorks Animation (2010-2012) Blue Sky Studios (2012) Marza Animation Planet (2013) Patchwork Entertainment (2014-2015) Ken Duncan Studios (2015) RGH Entertainment (2015-2016) Mass Animation (2016) Original Force 3D (2016) Rovio Entertainment (2016-2017) On Animation (2017-2018) SkyDance Animation (2018) Kool Produktion AS (2018-2019)

Warner Animation Group (2018-2019)

Early life

Mark Walton was born on October 24, 1968 in Salt Lake City, Utah, the oldest of seven children.[1] Although he is not a professional actor, Walton said in an interview, "I liked acting in high school and college. I enjoyed it. I think at some point I decided that if I was really going to be a professional actor that it would take at least everything that I would have emotionally or physically and I knew that I really wanted to pursue art."[2] He graduated from Utah State University in 1998 with a degree in illustration.

Career

Mark Walton started at Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida as a story and animation intern in 1995. After performing as a show artist for The Hunchback of Notre Dame Musical Discovery Adventure North American Mall Tour in 1996, he transferred to Walt Disney Feature Animation in Burbank, CA. (now known as Walt Disney Animation Studios) in 1997 to work on his first feature, Tarzan as a storyboard artist. While at Disney, from the late 1990s and throughout the 2000s, he did storyboards for The Emperor's New Groove, The Little Matchstick Girl, Home on the Range, Chicken Little, Meet the Robinsons, and Gnomeo and Juliet, as well as storyboarding and developing the unproduced films Wild Life, My Peoples, Rapunzel and Rapunzel Unbraided, Joe Jump, and King of the Elves. Also, while at Disney, he provided the voices for Barry & Bob the Longhorns in Home on the Range (2004), Goosey Loosey for the computer-animated film Chicken Little and its video game (2005), and for Rhino the hamster in Bolt (2008) for which he was nominated for an Annie Award for Voice Acting in a Feature Production, and the short film spin-off Super Rhino. He also storyboarded a short CGI film "The Zit" for Mike Blum's Pipsqueak Films, shown on the TV series Independent Lens. After leaving Disney in 2009, Walton storyboarded on films for DreamWorks Animation, Blue Sky Studios, Marza Animation Planet, Original Force 3D, Ken Duncan Studio, Mass Animation, On Animation, Kool Produktion AS, Rovio Animation, and Warner Animation Group. He has also taught storyboarding at California Institute of the Arts (Cal Arts), Academy of Art, SUU, and CGMA.

Numerous positive reviews came from film critics regarding Walton's performance as Rhino in Bolt. CNN noted “Walton's Rhino steals every scene he's in.”,[3] while Enewsi stated "Walton has perfect comedic timing as Rhino".[4] Another reviewer noted “The hamster alone is enough to make this movie worth seeing”, with other positive reviews featured in the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times,[5] where Walton contemplated Rhino's popularity as, "he imagines he's actually something bigger and more powerful to match his big heart and big dreams -- which can't be contained by his little hamster body."

Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1999 Tarzan Storyboard Artist
2000 The Emperor's New Groove Additional Storyboard Artist
2004 Home on the Range Storyboard Artist Voice of Barry & Bob, the Longhorns
2005 Chicken Little Storyboard artist Voice of Goosey Loosey
2007 Meet the Robinsons Storyboard and Visual Development Artist
2008 Bolt Voice of Rhino the Hamster
Nominated—Annie Award for Voice Acting in a Feature Production
2009 Super Rhino Short film
2010 Donkey's Christmas Shrektacular Story Artist
2011 Gnomeo & Juliet Story Artist
The Pig Who Cried Werewolf Story Artist
Thriller Night Story Artist
2013 Epic Additional storyboard artist
Turbo Additional storyboard artist Voice of Official
2014 Rio 2 Additional Storyboard Artist
Rocky and Bullwinkle Storyboard Artist Animated short film
2018 Duck Duck Goose Storyboard Artist
Next Gen Additional Story Material
2019 Playmobil: The Movie Storyboard Artist

References
  1. "Utah State Magazine Fall 2015". Utahstate.usu.edu. Retrieved 2017-06-24.
  2. "Interview with Mark Walton, the voice of Rhino in Disney's Bolt". 2008-09-14. Retrieved 2008-11-21.
  3. By David Daniel CNN. "The breakout star of 'Bolt' (and it's not the dog)". CNN.com. Retrieved 2017-06-24.
  4. "Entertainment Reviews - Bolt". ENewsI.com. 2009-03-26. Retrieved 2017-06-24.
  5. Susan King (2008-11-02). "His rodent gets struck by a 'Bolt' of luck - latimes". Articles.latimes.com. Retrieved 2017-06-24.
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