Meet the first Malaysian to work at Pixar Animation Studios

Kiki Poh, a shading artist at Pixar, has worked on movies like Cars 3, Toy Story 3, Monsters University and Finding Dory. Photo: Walt Disney Studios

When you go to watch Cars 3 in cinemas, keep an eye out for the character of Doc Hudson, the legendary mentor of lead character Lightning McQueen. Not only is it a moving tribute to the late Paul Newman – who voiced the character in the first Cars movie in 2006 – Doc Hudson is also one of the characters worked on by Kiki Poh, the first Malaysian to be recruited by Pixar Animation Studios.

On Cars 3, Poh’s function was of a shading artist and grooming technical director, which involved working on the surface texture and colours of the characters.