Richard Goleszowski is an English
animator.
Goleszowski was born in Suffolk and grew up in Ipswich, attending Northgate Grammar School. After completing a degree in Fine Art at Exeter University, he experimented with animation and DJ-ing before joining
Aardman AnimationsAardman Animations, Ltd., also known as Aardman Studios, or simply as Aardman, is a British animation studio based in Bristol, United Kingdom. The studio is known for films made using stop-motion clay animation techniques, particularly those featuring Plasticine characters Wallace and Gromit...
in the early eighties.
During his first nine year stretch at Aardman he worked on several short films and promos including
Morph- Astronomy :* Morphs collaboration, a collaboration that studied the evolution of spiral galaxies using the Magellan and the Hubble Space Telescope- Biology :...
, Sledgehammer for
Peter GabrielPeter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
, Pee Wee's Playhouse in New York, his own film
Ident (1989) and two
Rex the RuntRex the Runt is an animated claymation television show produced by Aardman Animations for BBC Bristol in association with EVA Entertainment and Egmont Imagination. Its main characters are four plasticine dogs: Rex, Wendy, Bad Bob and Vince....
pilot films.
His commercial work includes Domestos Big Dom, Grolsch, Cadbury’s Creme Eggs, Weetos and Maltesers and several European commercials.
In 1992, Golly left Aardman to pursue a freelance career during which time he worked in New Zealand as Production Adviser for Oscar and Friends, and wrote and directed 13 episodes of Rex the Runt for BBC2, winning the Carlton Award for International Animation at The Indies in 2000.
He then went on to direct
Robbie the ReindeerRobbie the Reindeer is a series of three animated comedy television specials shown on BBC One at Christmas, filmed in aid of Comic Relief. Written by Kevin Cecil and Andy Riley, the programmes are based on the story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, with Robbie as Rudolph's son and the tenth of...
in 1999 for the BBC Animation Unit. Robbie went on to win 19 international awards including a prestigious British Academy of Film and Television Arts award (BAFTA).
Following the success of Robbie Golly worked for two years on a project for Aardman’s feature film department as well as overseeing the second series of Rex the Runt as Executive Producer.
From 2003 he directed two series of Creature Comforts – 2x13 episodes for ITV based on the Academy Award winning
Nick ParkNicholas Wulstan "Nick" Park, CBE is an English filmmaker of stop motion animation best known as the creator of Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep....
short film. The first series went on to win 17 awards, and both series were nominated for a BAFTA. The second series includes a half-hour Christmas special. In between these two series, he devised
Shaun the SheepShaun the Sheep is a British stop-motion animated children's television series produced by Aardman Animations, and commissioned by the BBC and the WDR. It first aired in the UK on CBBC in March 2007...
, writing and directing the pilot.
Aardman’s first children’s TV series, Shaun the Sheep, was directed by Golly, who also wrote several episodes. Shaun has sold to 150 territories.
In July 2005, Golly rejoined Aardman as Creative Director of the Broadcast and Development department, writing scripts, and overseeing new projects in development.
Richard is a regular guest at film festivals, art colleges and universities.