Raman Hui Shing-ngai (born 4 July 1963), a recipient of the Bronze Bauhinia Star, is a Hong Kong animation director. The eldest son in a single-parent family, he loved drawing from an early age and was educated at a primary school and St. Joseph's Anglo-Chinese School. In 1984 he earned a higher diploma in design (graphic communication) from the Hong Kong Polytechnic (now the Hong Kong Polytechnic University) and then studied computer animation at Sheridan College in Canada. He joined Pacific Data Images (PDI) in the United States in 1989, first working on stereoscopic projects such as Muppet*Vision 3D; the company was later absorbed into DreamWorks Animation, where he rose from animator to head of character animation, working on Antz (1998), Shrek (2001) and Shrek 2, and was invited to co-direct Shrek the Third (2007) with Chris Miller, earning the nickname 'father of Shrek' in Hong Kong. Shrek took more than thirty awards, including the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. In 2015 he returned to Hong Kong to direct Monster Hunt, a blend of live action and computer animation that took 2.44 billion RMB, becoming the highest-grossing Chinese-language film in China at the time and winning him Best New Director at the 35th Hong Kong Film Awards, Best Director at the 18th Huading Awards and the Hong Kong Film Directors' Guild's new-director prize. He followed it with the sequel Monster Hunt 2 in 2018, sustaining the series' box-office pull and making its creature Huba a widely known character. He later worked on Hollywood animation including The Tiger's Apprentice (2024), and is among the first Chinese animators to lead a mainstream Hollywood animation team.
Raman Hui carried Hollywood animation experience back to Chinese-language cinema; Monster Hunt proved that a local production blending live action with computer animation could achieve huge commercial success, opening a new path for Chinese-language fantasy films and securing a place for Hong Kong animation talent in the international mainstream.
Achievements
- 2001 · Served as head of character animation on Shrek.
- 2015 · Directed Monster Hunt, which grossed 2.44 billion RMB.
- 2016 · Won Best New Director at the 35th Hong Kong Film Awards for Monster Hunt.