Richard Goleszowski

Richard Goleszowski in 2008.

Richard "Golly" Goleszowski is an English animator.^[1]

Goleszowski was born in Suffolk in 1959 and grew up in Ipswich, attending Northgate Grammar School. After completing a degree in Fine Art at Exeter University, he experimented with animation and DJ-ing before joining Aardman Animations in the early eighties.^{[citation needed]}

During his first nine-year stretch at Aardman he worked on several short films and promos including Morph, Sledgehammer for Peter Gabriel, Pee Wee's Playhouse in New York, his own film Ident (1989) and two Rex the Runt pilot films.^{[citation needed]}

His commercial work includes Domestos Big Dom, Grolsch, Cadbury’s Creme Eggs, Weetos and Maltesers and several European commercials.^{[citation needed]}

In 1992, Goleszowski left Aardman to pursue a freelance career during which time he worked in New Zealand as Production Adviser for Oscar and Friends, and wrote and directed 13 episodes of Rex the Runt for BBC2, winning the Carlton Award for International Animation at The Indies in 2000.^{[citation needed]}

He then directed Robbie the Reindeer in 1999 for the BBC Animation Unit. Robbie went on to win 19 international awards including a prestigious British Academy of Film and Television Arts award (BAFTA).^{[citation needed]}

Following the success of Robbie, Goleszowski worked for two years on a project for Aardman’s feature film department as well as overseeing the second series of Rex the Runt as Executive Producer.^{[citation needed]}

In 2002 Goleszowski was honoured with the Award for Best TV Special for Hooves of Fire at the 3rd International Festival of Animated Feature Films and TV Specials.^[2]

From 2003 he directed two series of Creature Comforts – 2x13 episodes for ITV based on the Academy Award winning Nick Park short film. The first series went on to win 17 awards, and both series were nominated for a BAFTA. The second series includes a half-hour Christmas special. In between these two series, he devised Shaun the Sheep, writing and directing the pilot.^{[citation needed]}

Aardman’s first children's TV series, Shaun the Sheep, was directed by Goleszowski who also wrote several episodes.^[1] Shaun has sold to 150 territories.^{[citation needed]}

In July 2005, Goleszowski rejoined Aardman as Creative Director of the Broadcast and Development department, writing scripts, and overseeing new projects in development.^{[citation needed]}

Goleszowski is a regular guest at film festivals, art colleges and universities.^{[citation needed]}

References