Daniel Langlois

Daniel Langlois earned a bachelor of design from the Université du Québec à Montréal. He acquired solid experience over the eight years he spent working as a film director and animator for private companies and the National Film Board of Canada. During this time, he made significant contributions to the film industry and especially to the field of computer graphics, earning worldwide recognition for his work on the first stereoscopic 3-D computer animation in 02IMAX format, as well as for the 1985 film Tony de Peltrie, which earned international awards.

In 1986, Daniel Langlois founded Softimage, serving as its president until 1998. The company is recognized internationally in the spheres of filmmaking and media creation for its advanced digital technologies, especially its 3-D computer animation techniques. Indeed, Softimage software was used to create most of the 3-D effects in recent blockbuster films.

Daniel Langlois is also the president and founder of Ex-Centris, a theatre and production facility designed to evolve with the emergence of new digital production technologies, and of the Daniel Langlois Foundation, a private non-profit philanthropic organization founded to nurture a critical awareness of technology’s implications for human beings and their natural and cultural environment, and to promote the exploration of aesthetics suited to evolving human environments. Daniel Langlois is also president and founder of DigiScreen, a corporation operating a global digital cinema distribution network utilizing direct satellite delivery to service theatre venues around the world, and of Media Principia Inc., a film production company that uses new digital technologies. Since 1996, he has also been president and co-founder of the Festival du nouveau cinéma.

Daniel Langlois has received many honours throughout his career. In 1994, Ernst and Young chose him as Canada’s national entrepreneur of the year and the Université de Sherbrooke awarded him an honorary doctorate in administration in 1996. In 1997, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented him with a Scientific and Technical Oscar. In 1999, he became a Knight of the Ordre national du Québec and was named an Officer of the Order of Canada the following year. In 2002, Daniel Langlois was concurrently granted the prestigious Personnalité Arts-Affaires distinction by Ville de Montreal and an honorary doctorate in management by McGill University in recognition of his important contribution to the arts, science and technology.

Daniel Langlois was inducted into the Academy of Great Montrealers in the Economic category in 2004 and was named a Commander of the Ordre de Montréal in 2016.

Source: Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal

The picture and biographical information appearing on this page were current at the time this person was admitted to the Academy of Great Montrealers.