He started his career as an animator by working at Industrial Light & Magic, in the films including 1994's The Mask as graphics animator, 1995's Jumanji as animation supervisor, and in 1996's Mars Attacks! as character animator [REF].
In 2012, Balda co-directed the Illumination's animated film for his directorial debut The Lorax along with Chris Renaud, starring Danny DeVito, Zac Efron, Ed Helms, and Taylor Swift [REF].