Rhino was truly a hamster ahead of his time.

A primary character in the 2008 animated film Bolt, Rhino found himself caught up in a perilous cross-country journey to help reunite a famous dog with his owner. A sort of Disney version of Planes, Trains and Automobiles if it starred a cartoon dog, cat, and hamster instead of Steve Martin and John Candy, Bolt featured the voice talents of John Travolta and a young Miley Cyrus.

Bolt (Travolta) and Mittens (voiced by Susie Essman of Curb Your Enthusiasm fame) are joined on their trip from New York to California by Rhino, who, if the movie were to come out in 2021, would surely receive generous accolades from Dr. Anthony Fauci for his safe travel methods.

Seriously, what could be a safer way to travel in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic than being fully encased in a plastic ball while moving from van to train to truck in an effort to get from sea to shining sea? Perhaps it is isn’t simply the most efficient way for a rodent to travel.

Bolt: The road will be rough.
Rhino: I have a ball.
Bolt: There's no turning back.
Rhino: Guess I'll have to roll with the punches.

Mark Walton ’95 is more renowned in the entertainment industry for his substantial abilities as a story artist rather than a voice actor. But during the creation of Bolt, Walton was so good at providing what was essentially placeholder dialogue for an actor with a more recognizable name, that the Salt Lake City native was given the gig—and some of the most humorous lines in the movie.

While other parts in Bolt were filled by the likes of Travolta, Cyrus and well-known character actors like Malcolm McDowell and Diedrich Bader, Walton remained as Rhino throughout the film’s production, and then all the way through the red-carpet premiere in Hollywood.

When asked about the unexpected decision to cast Walton, John Lassater, who was then head of Disneytoon Studios, told CNN in 2008: “We got to the point where it’s like, we can’t find an actor to come even close to how good this is. So, of course we’re going to give it to him, because … it’s not important how big of a name an actor is, it’s about how great the character that’s being created, how it jumps off the screen and becomes memorable. That’s what it’s about.”

But in the end, Mark Walton wasn’t about that Hollywood life.

Although he received positive reviews for his performance in a movie that is currently Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with an 89% rating, Walton has done very little voice work outside of small roles in Chicken Little (Goosey Loosey), Turbo (race official) and Home on the Range (Barry and Bob). And even though his list of credits as a storyboard artist are extensive (Gnomeo & Juliet, The Angry Birds Movie 2, Playmobil: The Movie, Rio 2, etc.) and continues to grow, Walton relocated from Southern California eight years ago.

And despite what Thomas Wolfe wrote, in Walton eyes, you can go home again—almost literally.

Walton currently lives in a house in the historic Avenues neighborhood of Salt Lake City, just a block away from his childhood home and directly across the street from where he attended elementary school, that once belonged to family friends.

Walton now has two children of his own who occupy that same space. He and his wife of nine years, Morgane, have two little girls, Moira, 4, and Olivia, 18 months.

“I don’t really understand what I was waiting for all of this time,” Walton proclaims. “I spent so many years kind of married to my job and living in Hollywood and trying to focus on my career—not that that stuff isn’t important.”

Mark Walton ’95 is more renowned in the entertainment industry for his substantial abilities as a story artist rather than a voice actor. But during the creation of Bolt, Walton was so good at providing what was essentially placeholder dialogue for an actor with a more recognizable name, that the Salt Lake City native was given the gig—and some of the most humorous lines in the movie.

Now 52, Walton spent 18 years in the Los Angeles area, primarily to be closer to the hub of the American entertainment industry while working for Walt Disney Animation Studios for 12 years, along with other production companies like Miramax and DreamWorks Animation.

“I do miss being able to go to the beach, even though I rarely went,” Walton says with a laugh. “And I miss the fruit trees I had in my backyard. I had an orange tree and a grapefruit tree and a couple of avocado trees. Pomegranates, some really sweet clementines and these huge, Nerf football-sized lemons that would just drop on the ground all year long. And roses, lot of roses.

“But I don’t miss the traffic, I’ll tell you that,” Walton quickly clarifies just before a Beach Boys song starts playing in his head. “I still think I traded up by living here.”

Walton says that while working for Marza Animation Planet, he realized many other artists working on the project were doing so from their own domiciles rather than traditional workplaces. That led him to making a bold decision to sell his home in L.A. and move back to Utah, with the idea that he would do what the COVID-19 pandemic forced much of the American workforce to do early in the spring of 2020: work from home.

Like Rhino in his hamster ball, Walton was ahead of his time.

“Honestly, for me, things did not change a whole lot when the pandemic came along,” Walton says. “… I feel like I’ve had this great quality of life where I have an excuse to stay home and spend time with my kids and do stuff together, you know?

“At some point we would like to take them out and travel, so they could see their relatives. But I am definitely fortunate in that my quality of life has not taken a serious nosedive like a lot of people, and I know that I can still be employed.”

That does mean that staying employed is always easy. It’s pretty much feast or famine when it comes to work, Walton says. Although he secured a job last summer doing storyboards for an upcoming Illumination movie, his list of current projects is long and extremely varied, from working as a story and script consultant for a Norwegian film company to helping develop a book with the curious title I Eat Poop with Utah-based writer and illustrator Mark Pett, to working as a story artist of the animation division of the communications department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Walton has also recently designed T-shirts for a friend’s charity organization, drawn birthday and Valentine’s Day cards and portraits for other friends and served as the featured artist for the annual The Avenues Street Fair. Unfortunately, the coronavirus led to the cancellation of the 2020 fair, but Walton still found a way to use his talents.

“I had tried for the last three or four years to get that job, and after they finally picked me, the pandemic hit,” Walton laments. “But they had me do kind of a special COVID edition of houses, like homes from the Avenues, which are famous for being an eclectic mishmash of styles. So, I did a series of four houses with different types of face coverings on them.”

“Glen Edwards was my guru and my mentor from the get-go at Utah State, and I was so lucky to have been there when he was in charge of the department. There are few people that made as big of a difference in my life than he did.” – Mark Walton

Walton clearly feels comfortable being back in his hometown, close to family members and not far from his alma mater. A graduate of East High School, Walton was looking at attending the University of Utah or Brigham Young after graduation in May 1987. But when fliers heralding the illustration program at Utah State University were passed around in an art class, his focus shifted north and he secured a scholarship to USU.

Following a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to New Mexico, Walton then jumped into college life at Utah State. Walton, who graduated with a BFA in illustration in 1995, says he has nothing but good memories of dorm life in Mountain View Tower, living and working at The Junction dining hall and being prepared for a career in illustration by legendary art professor Glen Edwards, who died in 2019.

“I made the right choice, and I got what I wanted out of it,” Walton says. “I felt like I got all the individual attention that I could have hoped for. It was a beautiful campus with gorgeous scenery around it.

“And my department head was fantastic. Glen Edwards was my guru and my mentor from the get-go at Utah State, and I was so lucky to have been there when he was in charge of the department. There are few people that made as big of a difference in my life than he did.”

But while Walton has gone on to serve as an art teacher himself for different institutions of higher education, his passion still lies in creating art himself. And beyond his impressive list of career accomplishments, it’s clear that he views Moira and Olivia as his true masterpieces. Still, becoming a first-time father in your late 40s can be a challenge, but like Rhino, Walton seems to be rolling with those punches. Of course, it probably is a big benefit to be a kid at heart, yourself, who has a passion for creating joy and laughter.

“Right away people are like, ‘Oh your grandkid is so cute,’” Walton says with a smile. “‘Nope. Nope, this is mine.’ But I’ve kind of got used to the idea that people are going to give me a long sideways glance.”

 Walton met Morgane, a native of Nice, France, via a friend’s blog. They were dating at the time of the Bolt premiere, and even in Hollywood, some people took note of the couple’s age difference.

 “It was a once in a lifetime thing where we got to go down the red carpet and have people take our picture and have people want people to interview us when they thought we were somebody important, you know?” Walton says. “But it was funny, because at least one person asked, ‘What’s it like having your father take you to the premiere of Bolt?’ And she said, ‘This is my husband’ and kind of found it offensive.

“I thought it was hilarious, like, ‘That’s right, baby!’”

But despite all of his notable work on children’s movies, Walton has yet to share Bolt with 4-year-old Moira. He says she has seen some films like Moana and Peter Pan, but he and Morgane are trying to be careful about exposing their daughters to too much, too soon.

“At some point I’m definitely looking forward to having her watch the movie and say, ‘Hey, wait a minute. There’s something about that hamster,’” Walton notes. “I don’t know if she’ll figure it out, or if I’ll have to spell it out for her.”

That’s when Mark Walton’s two worlds will collide in a very good way the moment when Moira finally meets Rhino the hamster and likely recognizes the voice, which Walton says Bolt’s filmmakers suggested he leave as his own and not attempt to make it sound like a cartoon rodent.

“I have to say, as much as I loved working on Bolt and those other movies—and I know it sounds cliché—but it really does pale in comparison to having kids,” Walton continues. “I just feel like both of my kids are so much more challenging, exciting and surprising—and completely fulfilling and satisfying—than anything else I’ve ever done in my life. Nothing else comes close.”

 By Jeff Hunter ’96