Chang, Wah

Wah Ming Chang was born 1917 in Honolulu; moved to San Francisco in the early 1920s; began exhibiting his creative work at the age of six; after the death of his mother (1928), he came to live with Blanding Sloan and Mildred Taylor; entry in film and special effects began in 1938 building murals, sets, and animated puppets shown at the World's Fair in San Francisco; he joined Disney Studios' Effects and Model Dept. (1939) and worked on projects such Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Bambi; worked for George Pal Puppetoon Studio (1941) as head of the puppet dept. working on Army and Navy training films; formed East-West Studios with Blanding Sloan (1945) and produced The Way of Peace, an animated puppet film commissioned by the American Lutheran Church; formed Centaur Productions (1948) working on television commercials and toy designs; throughout the 1950s he freelanced and worked on motion picture projects such as the King and I, Can Can, Tom Thumb, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, and The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao (for which he received an Oscar nomination); over the next several years he worked on major motion picture, commercials for such companies as Dole Pineapple, Kellogg, and Kraft , and various television series such as the Outer Limits and Star Trek; he left Hollywood in the 1970s to pursue his interests in wildlife and sculpture.

Biography

Wah Ming Chang was born 1917 in Honolulu and moved to San Francisco in the early 1920s. There he began exhibiting his creative work at the age of six. After the death of his mother in 1928, he came to live with Blanding Sloan and Mildred Taylor. In 1938, Chang began his career in film and special effects by building murals, sets, and animated puppets shown at the World's Fair in San Francisco. He joined Disney Studios' Effects and Model Department in 1939 and worked on projects such Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Bambi . In 1941, he worked for George Pal Puppetoon Studio as head of the puppet department working on Army and Navy training films. Chang formed East-West Studios with Blanding Sloan in 1945 and produced The Way of Peace, an animated puppet film commissioned by the American Lutheran Church. He later formed Centaur Productions, working on television commercials and toy designs. Throughout the 1950s he freelanced and worked on motion picture projects such as the King and I, Can Can, Tom Thumb, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, and The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao , for which he received an Oscar nomination. Over the next several years he worked on major motion pictures, commercials for such companies as Dole Pineapple, Kellogg, and Kraft, and various television series such as The Outer Limits and Star Trek . Chang left Hollywood in the 1970s to pursue his interests in wildlife and sculpture.