Tim Burton was born and raised in Burbank, California. He attended the California Institute of the Arts and soon after became an animator at the Walt Disney Studios. He made his directorial debut with the animated short Vincent, which was narrated by Vincent Price. The film was a critical success and an award winner on the festival circuit. Burton's next in-house project was a live-action short film called Frankenweenie, an inventive and youthful twist on the Frankenstein legend, which was subsequently remade as a 3-D, stop-motion feature years later. After working on several films at Disney, he began directing his own projects, and his unique creative vision has since captured the imagination of millions of people the world over. His feature film debut was the highly imaginative and raucously funny Pee Wee's Big Adventure. Since then, he has directed such highly acclaimed films as Beetlejuice, Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns, Ed Wood, Mars Attacks!, Sleepy Hollow, Planet of the Apes, Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Alice in Wonderland, Frankenweenie and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.
The Nightmare Before Christmas is the first book he wrote and illustrated.