Henri Heidsieck was born on December 8, 1947, in Reims, France. He studied at the School of Art and Design and founded PHAR 3 animation workshop in 1973. His first major film credit was "Les douze travaux d'Astérix" (The Twelve Tasks of Asterix, 1976) as a trace and paint artist.
Heidsieck collaborated with director Bernard Germain on documentary films and illustrated Germain's book "Sentiers de l'Himalaya" in 1981. He also served as an assistant director for Jean-François Laguionie on several films, including "Gwen, le livre de sable" (Gwen, the Book of Sand) in 1985 and "Le château des singes" (A Monkey's Tale, 1999).
Between 1989 and 1990, Heidsieck directed a TV series "Histoires de la Maison Bleue", written by Gabriella Verna, and in 1990 he directed a short film "Jojo & Paco" based on a comic book characters created by Isabelle Wilsdorf. He was the first assistant director on the TV series "Tales of the Tooth Fairies" in 1992.
Through the 1990s, Heidsieck directed several animated short films and television specials with Christmas themes, including "Le Père Noël et les enfants du desert" (Santa's Christmas Crash, or, Santa and the Desert Children, 1994),"Le Père Noël et le magician" (Santa's Christmas Snooze, or, Santa and the Magician, 1995),and "La merveilleuse Histoire de Noël" (The Story of Christmas, 1994).
Heidsieck also served as a unit director in the British animated series "Romuald the Reindeer" in 1996 and directed "Le tour du monde en 80 jours" (Around the World in 80 Days) in 2000, which was an animated TV adaptation of the classic novel by Jules Verne.
In the 2000s, Heidsieck co-directed the animated TV series "Viva Carthago" in 2003 and directed several short films, including "Un cadeau pour Sélim" (A Gift For Selim, 2001),"L'Oiseau Do" (The Dream Bird, 2004),and "Petit Wang" (Wang and the Dragon, 2005).
Heidsieck has participated regularly in the Annecy International Animated Film Festival and has created an animation workshop for children in Reims. In 2011, he was the head of the International Competition Jury at the 18th KROK International Animated Films Festival in Ukraine.
