on the set of Chicken Run (2000)

Born in Bristol, England. Co-founder, with David Sproxton, of Aardman Animations in 1976, which would become one of the world's most prestigious animation companies. They met at school and began their animating partnership in their spare time, using a 16mm camera belonging to Lord's father. They were asked to produce something for the show "Vision On" and made a short piece using cell animation featuring a nerdish Superman character, called Aardman.This film was bought by the BBC and thus in 1972 Aardman Animations was founded. Upon leaving their respective Northern universities the two set up in Bristol, the home of "Vision On." The legendary clay character "Morph" made his first appearance in 1976, in "Take Hart," the follow up series to "Vision On," and his popularity led to the BBC commissioning a 26 part five minute series, "The Amazing Adventures of Morph" which was screened in 1981. Lord and Sproxton had always thought there was an adult audience for animated films, and in 1978 made two short films using real-life soundtracks, for BBC Bristol under the guidance of Colin Thomas. Although these two films (DOWN AND OUT and CONFESSIONS OF A FOYER GIRL) were disregarded by the BBC they were seen a couple of years later by Jeremy Isaacs who was creating the shape of the newly formed Channel Four. This led directly to the commissioning of five similarly constructed films ("Conversation Pieces") and later to the "Lip Sync" series featuring the Oscar®-winning CREATURE COMFORTS. These films demonstrated how real people could be characterised with insight, humour, and sensitivity. As a director, Lord was at the helm for Aardman's 2000 feature film, CHICKEN RUN. He has worked as a production executive for Aardman's output from the early 1990s, from ADAM (1991), through WALLACE & GROMIT IN THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT (2005), FLUSHED AWAY (2006), and THE PEARCE SISTERS (2007), up to CROOD AWAKENING (scheduled for 2009). He was awarded the C.B.E. (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to the film industry.  Nominated for Achievement in Animated Short Films 1992: ADAM - Producer  Nominated for Achievement in Animated Short Films 1996: WAT'S PIG - Producer 2 nominations