Quick Facts
Biography
Samantha Youssef is a Canadian character animator and animation director.She has worked in both feature films and video games for Walt Disney Animation, Filmax, and Ubisoft.
Early Life
Samantha Youssef was born in Montreal, Quebec. Both of her parents are surgeons. As a child, she attended ballet classes at the Royal Academy of Dance and Canada’s National Ballet School.
Career
After submitting her portfolio to Sheridan College, Youssef got accepted and was one of four women in her college course. Samantha Youssef graduated from Sheridan College where she majored in Animation.
Samantha Youssef was a character animator for The Walt Disney Company, and has also worked for Ubisoft, Filmax Animation, and Yowza! Animation.She is also responsible for the artistic training of many Montreal video game studios, such as BioWare, Electronic Arts, Visceral Games, and Ubisoft Montreal.
She is the Artistic Director and founder of Studio Technique, an artistic production and training studio in Montreal focused on feature film and video game animation. In 2011, the studio received a $10,000 grant from the Pepsi Refresh Project.
On March 7, 2015, Youssef launched a successful Kickstarter campaign for her first figure drawing book “The Youssef Drawing Syllabus - Movement & Form.”
Recognition
Youssef was one of Wired Magazine’s Sexiest Geeks of 2009 and 2010. She was also one of MSN techno's top sexiest geeks. According to her Wired geek nomination, she is a fan of J. R. R. Tolkien, Star Wars, and World of Warcraft. Her reaction to the nomination was mixed, stating “It’s flattering, in a way, but it’s also a concern when you work in a male-dominated field. When you’re a petite girl, people don’t always take you seriously.”
She was also featured in Chatelaine (magazine) as Miss Chatelaine in 2011.
Youssef was selected as an animation jury member in the Canadian Interactive Academyfor the Canadian Game Development Talent Awards.
Youssef's animated short film La Fuga Grande (The Great Escape) was an award winner at the Toronto International Film Festival, and has been showcased at other film festivals in Canada.