About Ed
Ed Hooks has enjoyed two significant, sequential theatrical careers. He first worked as an actor for almost thirty years, during which time he also wrote several books on acting and became a respected acting coach. He was trained as an actor in New York, where he appeared in many stage plays (1970-1976) plus TV Soap Operas and hundreds of TV commercials for major companies like AT&T, Bounce Fabric Softener, Dawn Dishwashing Liquid, Excedrin, Traveler’s Insurance and McDonald's.
After moving to Los Angeles in 1976, Ed worked on TV shows and movies.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0393657/
He taught at his own private acting studios in Los Angeles, San Francisco and, later, Chicago. In 1996, he was invited to teach acting to animators at PDI/DreamWorks in Palo Alto, California, when that company was working on the movie “Antz”, starring Woody Allen. After “Antz” - which was only the second CG feature film ever made - was released, he wrote the book “Acting for Animators”, and it was quickly embraced by the entire animation industry. Today, it is available in a revised 4th edition, published by Routledge in London, and he designed his Acting for Animators masterclass. Altogether, Ed Hooks has spent over 50 years working in the entertainment industry!
Since 1996, Ed Hooks has primarily been known for his work with animators. He has presented his Acting for Animators masterclass in over 35 countries, including Russia and China, and has taught 200,000+ individuals – literally, a generation of animators.
Studios and animation events where Ed has presented his masterclass (Partial List)…
Disney Animation Studio, Burbank, California, Sydney, Australia and Orlando, Florida
DreamWorks Animation Studio, Shanghai, China
Ubisoft, Montreal, Canada
Guerilla Games, Amsterdam
Framestore, London UK
National Film School, London, UK
Sony Games, San Diego, California, and London, England
CD Projekt Red, Warsaw, Poland
Ringling College of Art + Design, School of Animation, Sarasota, Florida
Animal Logic, Sydney, Australia
Blizzard Entertainment, Irvine, California
Avalanche Studios, Stockholm, Sweden
Epic Games, Cary, North Carolina
Rainmaker Studios, Vancouver, Canada
Sheridan Institute, Toronto, Canada
Communication University of China, BeijingJilin University, Changchun China
Giraffics Studio, Cairo, Egypt
Bournemouth University, UK
Bardel Entertainment, Vancouver, Canada
University West, Trollhattan, Sweden
Playgrounds, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Larian Studio, Dublin, Ireland
Centre National d'Animation et de Design (Centre NAD), Montreal, Canada
Animex International Festival of Animation & Computer Games, University of Teesside, UK SIGGRAPH, Los Angeles, California
Dingle Animation Festival, Ireland
Game Developer's Convention, San Jose, California
Swansea Institute, Swansea, S. Wales, UK
Escola das Artes/CITAR – Centro de Investigação em Ciência e Tecnologia das Artes, Portugal
DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois
Griffith Film School, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
College of Creative Studies, Detroit, Michigan
Cadritech Computação Gráfica, Sao Paulo, Brazil
CGCG, Taipei, Taiwan
Asia Media Makers, Singapore
Red Stick Animation Festival, Baton Rouge, Louisana
Vancouver Film School, Vancouver, Canada
Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design, Vancouver, Canada
Filmakademie Baden Wurtemburg, Ludwigsburg, Germany
Full Sail Real World Education, Winter Park, Florida
FMX Animation Festival, Stuttgart, Germany (Board of Advisors, eight consecutive years)
Baros International Animation Festival, Java, Indonesia
Ohio State University
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Nanyang Polytechnic, Signapore
Marymount University, Los Angeles, California
Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, Australia
Angel Studios, Carlsbad, California
Artificial Mind and Movement, Montreal, Canada
BioWare Corp., Edmonton, Canada
Big Idea, Lombard, Illinois
Black Rock Games, London, England
Electronic Arts, Stockholm and England
Escape Factory, Seattle, Washington
Grin Games, Barcelona, Spain
Microsoft Games, Seattle, Washington
Mondo Media, San Francisco, California
Scanline Productions, Munich, Germany
Sony Games, San Diego, California, and London, England
Traveller's Tales Games, Knutsford, UK
Lucas Learning, San Raphael, California
Technicolor, India
Makuta VFX, India
Midway Games, Chicago, Illinois
Tippett Studio, Berkeley, California
Ubisoft, Montreal, Toronto, Shanghai
Valve Software, Bellevue, WashingtonNorthwest Academy, Portland, Oregon
Volition Games, Champaign, Illinois
ReelFX, Montreal, Canada
Rooster Teeth Studio, Austin, Texas
Blue Sky Studios, White Plains, New York
ASIFA–India International Animation Day
Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film München, Potsdam, Germany
PDI/DreamWorks, Palo Alto, California
Wild Brain, San Francisco, California