Chris Sonnenburg

Chris Sonnenburg is an Emmy Award Winning Producer, Writer, Director and Animator best known for creating Tangled: The Series. Chris was born on February 22, 1972 in San Bernardino, California to Civilian Personnel Director and single working mother, Yolanda Martín. As a child of the 70's, Chris was influenced by pop culture staples like "Star Wars" and "Ghostbusters" as well as local theater, music, and museums. With limited resources, his Hispanic mother prioritized exposing Chris to as much culture as possible with many trips to Los Angeles Theater productions. There, he was inspired to tell stories and create art any way he could. In 1990, Chris began studying character animation at California Institute of the Arts and began his career in 1994 as a Character Layout Artist on Fox Television's "The Critic" starring Jon Lovitz. Shortly after that, he landed his dream job at Walt Disney Animation Studios. There he worked on such blockbuster movies such as "Pocahontas", "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", "Hercules", "The Emperor's New Groove", and many others. Chris developed, pitched and produced three full seasons of the critically acclaimed and fan beloved Disney Chanel series, "Tangled: The Series". The series garnered 12 Emmy nominations and 4 wins including Best Song, Best Writing, Outstanding Individual Animation, and Outstanding Main Title Design for which Chris received his first Emmy. Chris is married to High School Dean, Janelle Sonnenburg and has the two best daughters on earth, Arianna and Catalina.