Daniel Langlois
Daniel Langlois was born in Québec, Canada in 1957 and is the founder of SOFTIMAGE Inc, the Daniel Langlois Foundation, the Excentris media complex, the 357c, and of Media Principia.
Daniel Langlois founded SOFTIMAGE in 1986 and served as its President and Chief Technology Officer from its inception until July 1998; the company is recognized internationally in the fields of cinema and media creation for its advanced digital technologies and especially its 3D computer animation techniques.
Daniel Langlois holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Design from the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). Before founding SOFTIMAGE, he worked for eight years as an Animation director for private companies and for the National Film Board of Canada, during which time he made significant contributions to the film industry and the field of computer graphics. He gained recognition worldwide as Co-Director of the groundbreaking computer animated film Tony de Peltrie (1985) and for his work on the first stereoscopic 3D computer animation in IMAX format, presented at Expo 86 in Vancouver.
Daniel Langlois has received many significant honors throughout his career. In 1994, Ernst & Young chose him as Canada’s National Entrepreneur of the Year. In 1997, he received a Scientific and Technical Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 1999, he was appointed Knight of the National Order of Québec and named Officer of the Order of Canada the following year during which he also was named Personnalité Arts-Affaires of the city of Montreal. In 2003, he was awarded the Octas Prize as a Great Pioneer in Information and Communications Technologies (ITC) for the integration of advanced digital technologies in film and media creation. More recently, he was named "Great Montrealer" by the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montréal.
Daniel Langlois has received Honorary Doctorates from Université de Sherbrooke, McGill University, Concordia University, Université du Québec à Montréal and Ottawa University in recognition of his work in the fields of art, science and technology.
The Daniel Langlois Foundation is a private, philanthropic organization created in 1997. The purpose of the Foundation is to further artistic and scientific knowledge by fostering the meeting of art and science in the fields of technology. The Foundation seeks to nurture a critical awareness of technology’s implications for human beings and their natural and cultural environment as well as to explore the characteristic aesthetics of new human environments. The foundation has granted funding to numerous projects worldwide and the foundation website is considered one of the most important online resources regarding new media and digital art.
