 Risley began his career as an animator on several television programs including "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes", "Gladiators 2000" and the CBS Prime-time special "The Magic Paintbrush".Later he worked in the story department on the Kids' Choice Awards winning film "The Rugrats Movie", then moved on to produce and direct "Rugrats", "The Wild Thornberrys" (1998), "Rocket Power" (1999), and "As Told by Ginger" (2000–2004) for Nickelodeon and Klasky Csupo.After directing selected sequences of the theatrical feature, "The Wild Thornberrys Movie" (2002) Risley went to DreamWorks Animation where he directed "Father of the Pride" for NBC television.