Dan Lee (May 19, 1969 – January 15, 2005) was a Canadian-American animator, best known as the character designer of Nemo, the title character from Finding Nemo. Early life He was born in Montreal, Quebec, in 1969, the youngest of four children of Chinese immigrants and grew up in Scarborough, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto. He graduated with honours from the animation program at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario. Career He worked on television cartoons and commercials for several studios, including Kennedy Cartoons in Toronto and Colossal Pictures in San Francisco before joining Pixar in June 1996. He worked as animator on Darkwing Duck, and Goof Troop while at Kennedy Cartoons. Personal life Lee died January 15, 2005, in Berkeley, California, at the age of 35 years old, from heart failure and complications of lung cancer, where he immigrated in June 2003. Ratatouille was dedicated to Lee. Filmography A Bug's Life (1998) ... Additional Character Designer, Animator, Sketch Artist Toy Story 2 (1999) ... Character Designer: new characters, Sketch Artist Monsters, Inc. (2001) ... Additional Character Designer Finding Nemo (2003) ... Character Designer Lifted (2006) ... Production Art Ratatouille (2007) ... Character Design References Canadian Creator of Pixar's Nemo dies External links 1969 births 2005 deaths Anglophone Quebec people Artists from Montreal Canadian animators Sheridan College animation program alumni Pixar people