Burton was born in 1958 in the city of Burbank, California. To Jean Burton, the owner of a cat-themed gift shop, and his father Bill Burton a former minor league baseball player. When Tim was just a young teenager he started making short films in his backyard on Evergreen Street using crude stop motion animation techniques and / or shoot them on 8 mm film without any sound. One of the earliest known films he made was called The Island of Doctor Agor – This was created when he was just 13 years old.
Tim studied at Burbank High School but was not a partially good student. He was very introverted and found his pleasure and happiness in artsy crafts like painting, drawing and watching films. His future work was heavily influenced by his childhood heroes such as Dr. Seuss and Roald Dahl.
Burton after graduating from high school attended the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia to study character animation. He made a couple short films, Stalk of the Celery Monster and King and Octopus. Very interesting choice of names. He graduated in 1979.
Tim started his career in the 1980s. Creating the Stalk of the Celery Monster attracted the eyes of Walt Disney Productions animation department – They eventually offered him a seat as an animator apprenticeship of the studio. He worked as an animator and a concept artist and worked on films such as The Fox and the Hound, The Black Cauldron and Tron. However, Burton’s personal, unique style clashed with Walt Disney’s standards (obviously) and he longed to work on solo projects.
Burton while still at Walt Disney made his first short, Vincent, a six-minute black-and-white stop motion film based on a poem written by the filmmaker, and depicting a young boy who fantasizes that he is his hero Vincent Price, with Price himself providing narration. The film was produced by Rick Heinrichs, whom Burton had befriended while working in the concept art department at Disney.
The film was shown at the Chicago Film Festival and released, alongside the teen drama Tex, for two weeks in one Los Angeles cinema. This was followed by Burton's first live-action production Hansel and Gretel, a Japanese-themed adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale for the Disney Channel, which climaxes in a kung fu fight between Hansel and Gretel and the witch.
With each movie made he grew better and better, his talent started to be more and more recognized and grew the attention of others. He was not the normal director and started making an impact. He would go on to create the absolutely dark, morbid, insanely fantastic Movie, Beetlejuice (1988) – this supernatural comedy horror film is about a young couple forced to cope with their lives after death. The film’s starred actors like Michael Keaton, Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis and the beautiful Winona Ryder.
Batman - Burton's ability to produce hits with low budgets impressed studio executives, and he received his first big budget film, Batman. The production was plagued with problems. Burton repeatedly clashed with the film's producers, Jon Peters and Peter Guber, but the most notable debacle involved casting. For the title role, Burton chose to cast Michael Keaton as Batman following their previous collaboration in Beetlejuice, despite Keaton's average physique, inexperience with action films, and reputation as a comic actor.
Although Burton won in the end, the furor over the casting provoked enormous fan animosity, to the extent that Warner Brothers' share price slumped. Burton had considered it ridiculous to cast a "bulked-up" ultra-masculine man as Batman, insisting that the Caped Crusader should be an ordinary (albeit fabulously wealthy) man who dressed up in an elaborate bat costume to frighten criminals.
Edward Scissorhands - In 1990, Burton co-wrote (with Caroline Thompson) and directed Edward Scissorhands, re-uniting with Winona Ryder from Beetlejuice. His friend Johnny Depp, a teen idol at the end of the 1980s due primarily to his work on the hit TV series 21 Jump Street, was cast in the title role of Edward, who was the creation of an eccentric and old-fashioned inventor (played by Vincent Price in one of his last screen appearances). Edward looked human, but was left with scissors in the place of hands due to the untimely death of his creator.
The Nightmare Before Christmas - Next, Burton wrote and produced (but did not direct, due to schedule constraints on Batman Returns) The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) for Disney, originally meant to be a children's book in rhyme. The film was directed by Henry Selick and written by Caroline Thompson, based on Burton's original story, world and characters. The film received positive reviews for the film's stop motion animation, musical score and original storyline and was a box office success, grossing $50 million.
James and The Giant Peach - In 1996, Burton and Selick reunited for the musical fantasy James and the Giant Peach, based on the book by Roald Dahl. The film, a combination of live action and stop motion footage, starred Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Sarandon and Jane Leeves among others, with Burton producing and Selick directing. The film was mostly praised by critics, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Musical or Comedy Score
Big Fish - In 2003, Burton directed Big Fish, based on the novel Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions by Daniel Wallace. The film is about a father telling the story of his life to his son using exaggeration and color. Big Fish is also notable as Miley Cyrus' first film—she plays "Young Ruthie" credited under her birth name, Destiny Hope Cyrus.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) is an adaptation of the book of the same name by Roald Dahl. Starring Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka, Freddie Highmore as Charlie Bucket and Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Bucket, the film generally took a more faithful approach to the source material than the 1971 adaptation, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, although some liberties were taken, such as adding Wonka's issue with his father (played by Christopher Lee).
Alice in Wonderland - Nineteen-year-old Alice returns to the magical world from her childhood adventure, where she reunites with her old friends and learns of her true destiny: to end the Red Queen's reign of terror. Starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter.
Personal Life - Burton was married to Lena Gieseke, a German-born artist with whom he broke up in 1991 after four years. He went on to live with model and actress Lisa Marie; she acted in the films he made during their relationship from 1992 to 2001, most notably in Ed Wood and Mars Attacks!. Burton developed a romantic relationship with English actress Helena Bonham Carter, whom he met while filming Planet of the Apes. Marie responded in 2005 by holding an auction of personal belongings that Burton had left behind, much to his dismay. Ouch!
Burton and Bonham Carter have two children: a son, Billy Raymond, named after his and Bonham Carter's fathers, born in 2003; and a daughter, Nell, born in 2007. Close friend Johnny Depp is a godfather of both of Burton's children.
In Depp's introduction to Burton on Burton, he writes, "What more can I say about him? He is a brother, a friend, my godson's father. He is a unique and brave soul, someone that I would go to the ends of the earth for, and I know, full and well, he would do the same for me." Bonham Carter's representative said in December 2014 that Bonham Carter and Burton had broken up amicably earlier that year.
Tim Burton is a very unusual man with many many talents. I have always enjoyed his style and his unique movies. Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading~
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