Lance Wilder

{{Infobox person

| name = Lance Wilder

| birth_name = Lance Wilder

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1968|5|7}}{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Simpsons Designer Shining His Light in Hollywood|url=https://www1.cbn.com/television/%27simpsons%27-designer%3A-shining-his-light-in-hollywood|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=Christian Broadcasting Network}}

| birth_place = Lowell, Massachusetts, United States

| education = Chelmsford High School

| alma_mater = Rhode Island School of Design

| occupation = Animator

| known_for =

| notable_works =

}}

Lance Wilder is an American animator and longtime background designer on The Simpsons, joining during the show's second season and having done work on roughly 600 episodes. He also served as background design supervisor from 1993 to 2003 and worked as the background design lead on The Simpsons Movie. His other credits as a background designer include The Critic, Mission Hill, King of the Hill, Duckman, and Rugrats.

Biography

Wilder was born in Lowell, Massachusetts and raised in the nearby town of Chelmsford and graduated from Chelmsford High School in 1986. Various landmarks from the area where he grew up were later incorporated into his design work on The Simpsons, such as the Springfield Town Hall, which directly takes its design from the Chelmsford Public Library.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Lance Wilder – The Merrimack Valley Connection to the Simpsons|url=https://www.mvmag.net/2017/10/17/simpsons/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=Merrimack Valley Magazine}}

He is an alumnus of the Rhode Island School of Design.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Lance Wilder: Life at The Simpsons Is Lots of Fun...|url=https://www.crossmap.com/blogs/lance-wilder-life-at-the-simpsons-is-lots-of-fun.html|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=Crossmap}} After graduating in 1990, he moved to Los Angeles and was hired as a background designer for The Simpsons immediately despite no previous experience in animation, with his first assignment being "The Raven" segment of the original "Treehouse of Horror" episode.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Faith in the Foreground: Lance Wilder|url=https://www.simpsonsarchive.com/other/interviews/wilder02b.html|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=Crosswalk.com}} Wilder was responsible for the infamous "Squirrel House" design from "Treehouse of Horror V", which took him several days to draw only to be cut from the final episode.Reardon, Jim (2005). The Simpsons The Complete Sixth Season DVD commentary for the episode "Treehouse of Horror V" (DVD). 20th Century Fox. He was also featured in the 2000 BBC documentary The Simpsons: America's First Family. He received an Annie Award nomination in 2013.