Animated Film directors and animation creators that were never nominated for an Academy Award had help with Academy Award animated feature and short film or live action films
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Gerald Potterton was born on 8 March 1931 in London, England, UK. He was a director and writer, known for Heavy Metal (1981), The Railrodder (1965) and Yellow Submarine (1968). He died on 23 August 2022 in Cowansville, Québec, Canada.- Director
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Ralph Bakshi worked his way up from Brooklyn and became an animation legend. He was born on October 29, 1938, in Haifa, Israel, the son of Mina (Zlotin) and Eliezar Bakshi, and is of Krymchak Jewish descent. He was raised in Brownsville, after his family came to New York to escape World War II. Bakshi attended the Thomas Jefferson High School and was later transferred to the High School of Industrial Arts and graduated with an award in cartooning in 1957.
At the Terrytoons studio, he started as a cel polisher then graduated to cel painting. Practicing nights and weekends, he quickly became an inker and then an animator. There, he worked on such shows as Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle, Deputy Dawg, Foofle and Lariat Sam. At 28 he created and directed a series of superhero spoof cartoons called The Mighty Heroes.
In 1967, Bakshi moved to Paramount Studios. Working with producer Steve Krantz, Bakshi worked on episodes of the Spider-Man TV series and several short films. In the 1970s, Bakshi set out to produce films using his innovative vision for how animated films should be. Krantz suggested Robert Crumb's "Fritz the Cat" comic book as Bakshi's first feature. The two set out to meet with Crumb and get the film rights. In 1972, the film premiered and was extremely successful, as the first feature-length animated film to receive an X rating by the American rating system (when it was distributed worldwide, it generally received lower ratings the equivalent of an R rating, and was released as being unrated on DVD).
The success of "Fritz the Cat" allowed Bakshi to produce films featuring his own characters and ideas, and so "Heavy Traffic" and "Coonskin" were produced, both of which were extremely controversial, but were praised by critics. During the same period, he shot and completed another feature titled "Hey Good Lookin'" for the Warner Brothers studio, who didn't think that a combination of live-action and animation would sell, and forced Bakshi to go back and animate the live action sequences.
During this period, Bakshi also produced two very successful fantasy films, "Wizards" and part one of an animated film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings." Although these films were financially successful, they were misunderstood by critics, and United Artists, the studio that produced "The Lord of the Rings" refused to fund the second part, or sequel to Bakshi's ambitious adaptation.
During the 1980s, animation went into a decline. "American Pop," done using the same style of realistic animation as "The Lord of the Rings" was not successful financially, and critics did not see the point of the film being animated. The finished version of "Hey Good Lookin'" was released during the same year as "American Pop," but was also unsuccessful financially. Bakshi's last film of the decade, "Fire & Ice," a collaboration with famed artist Frank Frazetta, was a flop.
Bakshi produced several television features with mixed results before returning to film with what would eventually become "Cool World" - the script was rewritten several times during production without Bakshi's knowledge until it came to the point where Bakshi did not recognize his own work. The film was critically scorned, and was a box office flop. Fans feel that the film is not a true Bakshi film.
Since then, the Internet and DVD releases of Bakshi's work have brought him a new generation of fans and increased interest, encouraging Bakshi to produce another film. "Last Days of Coney Island" is in production. Bakshi lives in New Mexico. A three-day retrospective was held at American Cinematheque at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, California and the Aero Theater in Santa Monica, California in April, 2005.- Animation Department
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Davis Doi was born on 1 October 1954 in Alhambra, California, USA. He is a producer, known for Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase (2001), What a Cartoon! (1995) and Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders (2000).- Producer
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Paul Sabella is known for Heavy Metal (1981), RoboCop: Alpha Commando (1998) and Babes in Toyland (1997).- Art Department
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Dick Sebast was born on 23 December 1946. He is a director, known for Batman: The Animated Series (1992), The Rescuers (1977) and The Incredible Hulk (1996).- Director
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Richard Rich is known for The Fox and the Hound (1981), The Swan Princess (1994) and The Black Cauldron (1985).- Animation Department
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Don Bluth was one of the chief animators at Disney to come to the mantle after the great one's death. He eventually became the animation director for such films as The Rescuers (1977) and Pete's Dragon (1977). Unfortunately, the quality of animation that Disney was producing at this point was not up to par with the great works of Disney, and there was rumor that the production unit at Disney might be shut down indefinitely. In retaliation, Bluth and several other animators led a walkout, and went off to form their own independent animation firm. Bluth's first animated feature may still be his best. The Secret of NIMH (1982) was an animated film based on the children's book "Mrs. Frisbee and the Rats of Nimh". The film dealt with a widowed field mouse named Mrs. Brisbee and her plight to move her house before the farmer plants his field. The rats of Nimh, an organization of super intelligent rats, band together to help her. "The Secret of NIMH" was a visually ravishing film that hearkened back to the glory days of Disney. While animation buffs raved, the film did little business at the box office. (The growing number of VCR's in America would help the film reach a cult status on home video). Undaunted, Bluth persevered. He created the video games Dragon's Lair (1983) and Space Ace (1983), both of which allowed the player to control an actual cartoon. He later teamed up with Steven Spielberg for the films An American Tail (1986) and The Land Before Time (1988). While Bluth's ambition to restore animation to its previous glory was being realized, the Disney studio, whose recent films had failed to match Bluth's at the box office, was finally ready to return to true quality. With the release of The Little Mermaid (1989) and Beauty and the Beast (1991), Bluth had to compete with a Goliath. After his next film, All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989), received mixed opinions and failed to be more than a minor box office success, Bluth fell into a failing streak of films that were comparatively mediocre when placed alongside his previous work, including Rock-A-Doodle (1991), and Thumbelina (1994). Bluth later joined forces with 20th Century Fox where he made his first commercial hit in some time, Anastasia (1997). He followed up with the ambitious but hollow science fiction fantasy Titan A.E. (2000). While Bluth has yet to reach the glory of his earlier work, he nonetheless deserves credit as a champion of animation, and for surviving as an independent film maker.- Director
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Martin Gates is known for Empire of the Sun (1987), The Ugly Duckling (1997) and The Snow Queen (1995).- Animation Department
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Nelson Shin is the founder and president of Akom Productiion Co., Ltd. In the seventies, Shin worked as an animator at the DePatie-Freleng studio, where he worked on the "Pink Panther" films and did animation of the lightsaber blades in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), though he was uncredited. He founded Akom in 1985, located in Seoul, South Korea. Much of the animation Shin's studio produced has been for American television. Some of Akom's credits are: The Simpsons (1989), X-Men: The Animated Series (1992) and _"Invasion America"_ (1998).- Art Department
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Phil Weinstein is known for Mickey Mouse Funhouse (2021), South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999) and Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms (2006).- Animation Department
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Rob LaDuca was born on 6 November 1956. He is a producer and director, known for Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983), Poltergeist (1982) and Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (2001).- Producer
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Martin Rosen was born on 31 August 1936 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He is a producer and director, known for Watership Down (1978), Stacking (1987) and Smooth Talk (1985).- Director
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Abe Levitow was an important member of the Chuck Jones production unit during the latter stages of the Golden Age of Animation. He animated some of the best-loved Looney Tunes cartoons of the 1950's, like Deduce, You Say (1956), Ali Baba Bunny (1957) and Robin Hood Daffy (1958). First signing on with Leon Schlesinger in 1939, he remained with Warner Brothers for the next fifteen years -- his tenure only interrupted by wartime service in the Army Signal Corps. Having graduated to animation director Levitow then joined UPA, where he worked in a supervising capacity on two series of 'Mr. Magoo'. He also directed a much-acclaimed animated version of the Dickens classic, Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962), in addition to the charming animated feature Gay Purr-ee (1962). From 1966 to 1967, he also had a brief spell at MGM, turning out 'Tom & Jerry' cartoons. In January 1972, he set up his own production company, Levitow /Hanson Films, which specialised in animated commercial projects and specials. Levitow died at the premature age of 52 in May 1975.- Writer
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Ted Berman was born on 17 December 1919 in East Los Angeles, California, USA. He was a writer and director, known for The Fox and the Hound (1981), The Black Cauldron (1985) and Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971). He was married to Jacqueline. He died on 15 July 2001 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Writer
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Jay Stephens was born on 22 March 1971 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is a writer and art director, known for The Secret Saturdays (2008), KaBlam! (1996) and Tutenstein (2003).- Writer
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John Rogers was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. He is known for Catwoman (2004), The Core (2003) and Leverage: Redemption (2021).- Animation Department
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Rob Minkoff was born on 11 August 1962 in Palo Alto, California, USA. He is a producer and director, known for The Lion King (1994), Stuart Little 2 (2002) and The Forbidden Kingdom (2008). He has been married to Crystal Kung Minkoff since 29 September 2007. They have two children.- Director
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Gary Trousdale was born in La Crescenta, California. His fascination with animation was fostered as a child, where he drew cartoons from an elementary school age. He planned to become an architect, but decided instead to study animation at CalArts, where he studied for three years. He was hired in 1982 to design storyboards and do other animation. He then went to work designing restaurant menus and t-shirts. He was hired in 1985 by Disney to work on "The Black Cauldron," and continued his relationship with the company for years. He gained true prominence in his field with the success of his animated film directorial debut "Beauty and the Beast," which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. He continues to work with Disney, and lives in the San Fernando Valley, a suburban area of Los Angeles, California.- Director
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Kirk Wise was born on 24 August 1963 in San Francisco, California, USA. He is a director, known for Beauty and the Beast (1991), Spirited Away (2001) and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996).- Art Department
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Will Finn was born on 1 November 1958 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a writer, known for Home on the Range (2004), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) and The Secret of NIMH (1982).- Animation Department
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Tony Bancroft has spent the past 16 years developing his skills as an Animator/Director with Walt Disney Feature Animation, Sony Imageworks, and currently with Toonacious Family Entertainment, his own animation studio.
Tony was accepted into the exclusive, Disney-sponsored California Institute of the Arts (Cal-Arts) after graduating from high school in 1987. While there, his work caught the attention of Walt Disney Studios. He was offered a position in the prestigious Feature Animation division in 1989.
Following his work on such feature length productions as "The Rescuers Down Under", "Beauty and the Beast", and "Aladdin", Tony was appointed Supervising Animator on the 1992 Academy Award winning feature "The Lion King", and was responsible for creating, designing and overseeing the animation of Pumbaa, the warthog.
His exemplary work led, at the age of 30, to the opportunity to co-direct Disney's 36th animation masterpiece, "Mulan". "Mulan's" 1998 release grossed over $300 million worldwide. It earned Tony an Annie Award for Best Director, the animation industry's highest honor. He was also the Supervising Animator of the character Kronk in Disney's Christmas 2000 release of "The Emperor's New Groove".
Tony also served as the Animation Director for Sony Pictures' summer 2002 release, "Stuart Little 2" and, in 2003, was voice director of the English language version of the Miyasaki film "Porco Rosso" through Walt Disney Studios.
In 2001, with his two partners, Tony started Toonacious Family Entertainment, as Executive VP/Creative Production. Using his 16 years experience in the animation industry, Tony has helped to make Toonacious an animation studio committed to producing quality family entertainment.
Along with developing their own projects, Toonacious, through his direction, successfully completed Disney's "Thumper's Story-time", a Lilo and Stitch short, "The Origin of Stitch" and is currently involved with Disney's direct-to-DVD "Tinkerbell" project.
Tony resides in Burbank, California with his wife, Rene, and their three children.- Director
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Barry Cook was born and raised in Nashville, TN, USA. He began making films at the age of ten on the family super 8 camera. He won two prizes in the local PBS-sponsored Young Filmakers Festival with "The Vampire" and "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" at the age of twelve. During summers, he and his brother would work at Opryland USA, drawing caricatures of the guests. At the age of eighteen, Barry moved to California to pursue his career in motion pictures. He studied at Columbia College, where he spent time helping colleagues with their student films. He served as an intern at Hanna Barbera. He joined Disney in 1981 to work on "Tron". He has worked as an animator on many Disney films, including "Oliver & Company" and "Captain EO". He has worked at Disney for seventeen years, and "Mulan" was his directing debut. He currently lives in Florida with his wife and four children.- Music Department
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Matthew Stone is a Jewish-American actor, writer, director, musician and animator who frequently collaborates with Trey Parker. They created and voiced in the South Park franchise. Matt voiced Kyle Broflovski, Kenny McCormick, Butters Stotch and other characters. He and Parker also worked on The Book of Mormon, Baseketball, Cannibal the Musical, Team America: World Police and Orgazmo.- Writer
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Growing up in Portland, Oregon, Matt Groening did not particularly like school, which is what originally turned him towards drawing. In the mid-1980s, he moved to Los Angeles and started drawing a comic strip named "Life in Hell", which eventually became published in the newspaper where he worked. In 1988, James L. Brooks, looking for a filler in the television show, The Tracey Ullman Show (1987), turned towards a framed "Life in Hell" strip on his wall and contacted Groening. The animated shorts that Groening created were The Simpsons (1989).- Producer
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Mike Judge is an American actor, animator, film director, screenwriter, and television producer.
In 1962, Judge was born in Guayaquil, the largest city of Ecuador and the country's main port. His parents were expatriate Americans. His father was archaeologist William James Judge and his mother was librarian Margaret Yvonne Blue. At the time of Mike's birth, William Judge was working for a non-profit organization which promoted agricultural development in Ecuador.
Around 1969, the Judge family returned to the United States, and settled in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Mike spend most of his school years in Albuquerque. He received his secondary education at St. Pius X High School, a private, Roman Catholic high school located in Albuquerque. The school was named after Pope Pius X (1835-1914, term 1903-1914), who is venerated as a saint,
Following his graduation from high school, Judge enrolled at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). The UCSD is a public land-grant research university, located in San Diego, California. Judge was interested in a science career, and followed science studies. In 1985, Judge graduated with a Bachelor of Science in physics. From 1985 to 1987, Judge held various jobs relating to either physics or mechanical engineering. He was dissatisfied with his work life, because he found that these jobs were boring.
In 1987, Judge was hired by Parallax Graphics, a startup video card company. Its headquarters were located in Santa Clara, California. Santa Clara is located at the center of Silicon Valley, and houses the headquarters of several high-tech companies. Parallax only had about 40 employees. Judge quit following only 3 months of work, because he disliked the company's corporate culture and his co-workers. In later interviews, Judge claimed that his co-workers reminded him of the Stepford Wives. His negative experiences contributed to his unflattering portrayal of Silicon Valley in his television career.
Judge next attempted to start a new career as a musician, serving as bass player in a blues band. For a couple of years, Judge was part of a music group headed by blues guitarist Anson Funderburgh (1954-). In the early 1990s, Judge worked alongside singer and drummer Doyle Bramhall (1949-2011). Bramhall was a well-known figure in the Texas music scene. During his musical career, Judge was taking graduate math classes at the University of Texas at Dallas.
In 1989, Judge was shown animation cels on display, and became fascinated with animation. Judge purchased a Bolex 16 mm film camera, and started working on his own animated short films. The amateur animator worked from his home at the time, located in Richardson, Texas. His short films were initially on display in local animation festivals.
In 1991, Judge developed "Milton", a series of short films satirizing the typical life of office workers. Judge voiced all the characters. The films were acquired by Comedy Central, and showcased Judge's talents to a wider audience. In 1992, Judge created the animated short "Frog Baseball", depicting two cruel and stupid teenagers. The short film was featured in the television series "Liquid Television" (1991-1995), which showcased works by independent animators. The network MTV was sufficiently impressed with the short film to order an animated television series featuring its main characters.
Judge's first work as a television producer was the animated series "Beavis and Butt-Head" (1993-1997), a satirical, scathing commentary on modern society. Besides producing the series, Judge voiced the two protagonists. He also wrote and directed most of its episodes. The series was considered quite controversial in its own era, but was commercially successful. In its initial incarnation, it lasted for 7 seasons, and 200 episodes. Judge gave permission for the use of supporting character Daria Morgendorffer in the spin-off series "Daria" (1997-2002), which was also successful. Judge was otherwise not involved in the production of the spin-off.
In 1997, Judge directed the animated feature film "Beavis and Butt-Head Do America". It featured the protagonists in a road trip across the United States. It earned about 63 million dollars in the North American box office, and was critically well-received as a satire of youth culture.
Judge's next television series was the animated sitcom "King of the Hill" (1997-2010), which was broadcast by the Fox Broadcasting Company. For this series, Judge's partner and co-creator was the experienced comedy writer Greg Daniels (1963-). Daniels was previously a screenwriter on the popular animated sitcom "The Simpsons". Daniels had written several episodes in seasons 5 to 7 (1993-1996), and some of them were considered among the highlights of the series. For "King of the Hill", the duo of creators decided to maintain a relatively realistic depiction of modern life. Much of the humor derived from depicting the frustrations and absurdities of an otherwise mundane existence. "King of the Hill" was both a critical and commercial hit, and commercial hit. It lasted for 13 seasons and 259 episodes.
In the late 1990s, Judge wrote and directed the live-action film "Office Space" (1999). It was loosely based in his own "Milton" series of animated short films,, but featured additional characters. The film under-performed at the box office, only earning about 12 million dollars from its worldwide release. However the film sold surprisingly well in the home video market, and became a cult hit.
In 2003, Judge and fellow animator Don Hertzfeldt (1976-) co-founded the annual film festival "The Animation Show". It showcased animated short films from various eras, with its initial goal being to cover "everything from forgotten classics to the very latest in computer animation". In its first year, the touring festival visited over 200 movie theaters in North America.
Judge's third feature film was the dystopian science fiction comedy "Idiocracy" (2006). It depicted a soldier from the early 21st century who spends 500 years in suspended animation. He awakes in the 26th century, in a future world which has fully embraced anti-intellectualism. The film never received a wide theatrical release, and only earned 495,000 dollars at the box office. However it sold very well in the home video market, and became a cult film.
In 2008, Fox decided to cancel "King of the Hill" despite the series' decent ratings. At the time it was the 105th most watched series on American television. The final group of episodes were broadcast over the following 2 years.
In 2009, Judge directed his fourth (and so far last) feature film. It was the live-action comedy film "Extract". It features a successful flavoring-extracts company who has to deal with a lawsuit by an injured employee, with the schemes of a female con-artist, and with the sexual frustration and impaired judgment of its owners. The film earned about 11 million dollars at the box office, and was critically well-received.
In 2009, Judge developed his third television series, the animated comedy "The Goode Family" (2009) for ABC. Compared to "King of the Hill", this series contained more political satire. The series failed to find an audience, and some critics considered that its humor more properly belonged in the 1990s than the 2000s. It only lasted 1 series and 13 episodes, canceled by ABC due to its low ratings. It was the first series created by Judge to be considered a failure.
In 2011, "Beavis and Butt-Head" was revived for another season, with Judge as a producer and an updated setting. The 8th season only lasted for 2 months (October 27-December 29, 2011) and 2011. The opening audience attracted an audience of 3,3 million viewers. Ratings fell during the season, and the final episode only had 900,000 viewers. MTV decided not to order a 9th season.
Judge next developed his fourth television series, the live-action comedy "Silicon Valley" (2014-2019). The original premise was to focus on the competitive business environment of the Silicon Valley. Following the first season's success, "Silicon Valley" continued in the long-term. The series lasted for 6 seasons and 53 episodes. The series received critical acclaim for its "hilarious" take on the business world and modern technology, and was nominated for several awards. Conversely, a number of critics felt that a number of its characters were stereotypical nerds, and lacked proper character development.
While "Silicon Valley" was still ongoing, Judge developed his fifth television series. It was the animated documentary series "Mike Judge Presents: Tales from the Tour Bus" (2017-2018), which focused on the oral history of professional musicians and their associated musical genres. It presented anecdotes concerning the featured musicians, "as told by their families, band-mates, and close associates". The series lasted 2 seasons and 16 episodes .The series was critically acclaimed, but never attracted a large audience.
In its relatively short run, this series featured biographies of (in order of presentation): Johnny Paycheck (1938-2003), Jerry Lee Lewis (1935-), George Jones (1931-2013), Tammy Wynette (1942-1998), Billy Joe Shaver (1939-2020), Waylon Jennings (1937-2002), Blaze Foley (1949-1989), George Clinton (1941-), Rick James (1948-2004), Bootsy Collins (1951-), James Brown (1933-2006), Morris Day (1957-), and Betty Davis (1945-).
In 2021, Judge was 58-years-old. He has never fully retired, though he has yet to make a television comeback. His professional career in television has lasted 30 years so far, and he has gained a reputation for innovative series concepts.- Art Department
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Simon Wells was born on 19 October 1961 in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK. He is a director, known for The Time Machine (2002), The Prince of Egypt (1998) and Flushed Away (2006). He has been married to Wendy Wells since June 1988. They have two children.- Writer
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Bruce W. Smith is a feature film character animator, director and television producer. He is best known as the creator and executive producer of the Disney Channel hit show The Proud Family and for supervising the animation of the evil villain Dr. Facilier in the Walt Disney animated film The Princess and the Frog.
Smith studied animation in the Character Animation program at the California Institute of the Arts. He joined the Walt Disney Studios an animator on Who Framed Roger Rabbit and various other Roger Rabbit shorts that the studio produced. Soon after, Smith was handpicked by producer/director Reginald Hudlin (House Party, Boomerang) to direct the Paramount Pictures animated film BeBe's Kids.
Smith also served as co-director on the Warner Bros. live action/animated film Space Jam before returning to Disney as supervising animator on such films as Tarzan (Kerchak and Baboons) and Emperors New Groove (Pacha).
While working animation on the feature film side, Smith started feeding into his love of television animation and created The Proud Family for the Disney Channel. He co-founded Jambalaya Studio for the production of the series and crafted 52 episodes of the hit series along with The Proud Family TV movie. Smith then rejoined the Walt Disney Studios to supervise animation on The Princess and the Frog (Dr. Facilier) and the Winnie the Pooh Movie (Piglet, Kanga and Roo) and as the lead animator on the short Tangled Ever After. Smith's knack for unique character design led him into the visual development of other projects at the studio such as Wreck-it-Ralph and Frozen.- Director
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Clyde Geronimi was born on 12 June 1901 in Chiavenna, Lombardy, Italy. He was a director, known for Cinderella (1950), Alice in Wonderland (1951) and Peter Pan (1953). He died on 24 April 1989 in Newport Beach, California, USA.- Art Department
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Bibo Bergeron was born on 14 July 1965 in Paris, France. He is a director, known for The Road to El Dorado (2000), Shark Tale (2004) and A Monster in Paris (2011).- Animation Department
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Eric Goldberg is an animator, director and voice actor from Pennsylvania who is known for his work on Looney Tunes: Back in Action, Pocahontas, Aladdin, The Princess and the Frog, Fat Albert, Fantasia 2000, Moana, Winnie the Pooh and Hercules. He voiced Marvin the Martian, Tweety Bird and Speedy Gonzales in Looney Tunes media. He is married to Susan.- Animation Department
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Jun Falkenstein is an award-winning, experienced animation director, writer, story artist and musician, and one of the rare working female animation directors in Hollywood. Her career has been extremely varied and extensive, encompassing theatrical, television and internet media.
She grew up in Laguna Beach, California, and received a B.A. from USC's prestigious School of Cinema-Television in 1991. She made her television directorial debut in 1994 with the Hanna Barbera TV movie, Scooby-Doo in Arabian Nights (1994), and her theatrical directorial debut with The Tigger Movie (2000). Since then, she has worked at many major studios in both television and theatrical animation, in development as well as production.
Some of the studios she has worked at include the Walt Disney Studios, Warner Brothers, Universal Pictures, Sony, Mattel, Skydance, and Dreamworks. Most recently, she has been the supervising director/E.P./co-showrunner of the Apple TV+ series Stillwater (2020),' for which she won the Peabody Award (2020) and the Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Preschool Animated Program
Jun is also an accomplished musician and award-winning machinima filmmaker. She is also the co-founder of a music-based international non-profit organization 'Bread Over Bombs', which helps support food banks all over the world.- Animation Department
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John was wounded in WWII, while serving in the British Army "Desert Rats", in North Africa. Being a graphic artist, on return to England, he started as asst. art director at Pinewood Studio, with David Lean. Seeing a note on the studio notice board asking for cartoonists and artists to apply at GBA, Cookham, for work as animators, John applied, and was accepted. Here, under David Hand, (ex Disney director of Snow-White, Bambi), he worked for four years, becoming a first rate animator and director. GBA closed, John moved to US, and Disney, working on Peter Pan, and Lady & the Tramp, in Les Clark's unit. In 1954 he left Disney to start Fine Arts Films producing Petroushka (1956) with I. Stravinsky, winning five international awards, starting a new artistic direction in the use of animation. Journey to the Stars, (1961), seen by 7 million visitors to the Seattle World's Fair, was a major step, and animating Irma La Douce (trailer), for Billy Wilder, made it possible to enjoy the artistic merits of Paris hookers. He started John Wilson Prods., for Aussie TV in Melbourne, 1963, in a brief visit down under. Back with FAF, in '64, John got the Peabody award for NBC's Exploring, as the Best Kid's Show. This led to ten years work for US-TV, (CBS, ABC, NBC) in children's and primetime entertainment. In 1971 he produced and directed the animated feature Shinbone Alley (1970), a literary and musical success based on the works of poet Don Marquis. This received the Golden Phoenix Award at the Atlanta Film Festival, (Best of Fest). For the next ten years, John produced many award-winning TV series, (Madeline-DIC), Bucky O'Hare and Peter Pan for FOX-TV. Stanley the Ugly Duckling (1/2 Hour Musical for ABC-TV. Returning to OZ, in '83, John set Ferngully for AFC, as an animated feature, which successfully protected the rainforests, released by Warner Bros. At present, John is working on the musical version of Peer Gynt.- Visual Effects
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Mark Dindal is an American animation film director, writer and voice actor from Columbus, Ohio who is known for directing the comedy classic Disney film The Emperor's New Groove. He is also known for directing Warner Brothers' musical Cats Don't Dance and Disney's Chicken Little. He provided animation for The Rocketeer. He voiced a few minor characters in his films.- Writer
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Satoshi Kon was born in 1963. He studied at the Musashino College of the Arts. He began his career as a Manga artist. He then moved to animation and worked as a background artist on many films (including Roujin Z (1991) by 'Katsuhiro Otomo'). Then, in 1995, he wrote an episode of the anthology film Memories (1995) (this Episode was "Magnetic Rose"). In 1997, he directed his first feature film: the excellent Perfect Blue (1997). In 2001, he finished work on his second feature film, Millennium Actress (2001) (aka Millennium Actress).- Animation Department
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James L. George is known for Beauty and the Beast (1991), Channel Umptee-3 (1997) and The Rescuers (1977).- Producer
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- Music Department
Born in Pendleton, Indiana, George Daugherty attended Butler University Jordan College of Music, Indiana University, and The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. At the age of 19, he formed The Pendleton Festival Symphony, which grew into a professional summer orchestra which flourished in Indiana during the late 1970s and early 1980's, and brought a diverse slate of international guests artists to perform with it in Central Indiana, including Metropolitan Opera singers Roberta Peters and Rosalind Elias, violinist Eugene Fodor, principal dancers and ensembles from The New York City Ballet, The American Ballet Theatre, and The Joffrey Ballet, and major choral groups including The Harvard Glee Club. The Pendleton Festival Symphony was supported during that period from major grants and funding from The Indiana Arts Commission, The National Endowment for the Arts, and Lilly Endowment.
A director/producer/conductor, he is known as one of the music world's most diverse artists. In addition to his 40-year conducting career which has included appearances with the world's leading orchestras, ballet companies, opera houses, and concert artists, Daugherty is also an Emmy Award winning / five-time Emmy nominated creator whose professional profile includes major credits as a director, writer, and producer for television, film, innovative and unique concerts, and the live theater. He has conducted on every continent of the world, but is perhaps best known for the creation of his cult hit film-and-live orchestra concerts "Bugs Bunny On Broadway" and "Bugs Bunny at the Symphony," which have played to almost two million audience members worldwide, celebrating the classic era of Warner Bros. animation and their inspired Carl Stalling orchestra scores.
As a director, writer, and producer of music-based television programs, Daugherty and producing partner David Wong have created several major productions for the ABC Television Network project, including a prime time animation-and-live action production of Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and The Wolf, which he created, co-wrote, conducted, and directed, and for which he won a Prime Time Emmy Award, as well as a Writer's Guild Award Nomination, and numerous other awards.
Daugherty and Wong also collaborated with The Joy Luck Club author Amy Tan on a television adaptation of her celebrated children's book The Chinese Siamese Cat. The Emmy Award-winning series debuted on PBS in the fall of 2001 as a daily-animated children's television series, propelled by PBS' unprecedented advance order for 80 segments. Daugherty executive produced, and also wrote a large number of the animated tales. The series was nominated for several Emmys, and won one.
Daugherty and Wong also received an Emmy nomination for Rhythm & Jam, his ABC television network of specials which taught the basics of music to a teenage audience. He has now received five Emmy nominations to date.
Daugherty has conducted for scores of major American and international symphony orchestras, ballet companies, and opera houses, including several sold-out engagements with The New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center, as well as with The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra (conducting an 18 city tour with Dame Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer), The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, The Seattle Symphony, The San Francisco Symphony, The Los Angeles Philharmonic (in 22 performances at The Hollywood Bowl), The National Symphony, The Sydney Symphony, American Ballet Theatre, The Sydney Opera House, The Munich State Opera Orchestra, The Munich State Opera Ballet, The Houston Symphony, The Fort Worth Symphony, The Pittsburgh Symphony, The National Arts Centre Orchestra, The Atlanta Symphony, The Cincinnati Symphony, The Vancouver Symphony, The Buffalo Philharmonic, The Louisville Orchestra, The Indianapolis Symphony, The Moscow Symphony, The Kremlin Palace Orchestra of The Russian Federation, The Kiev Ballet, The Grant Park Symphony Orchestra, The Columbus Symphony, The RCA Symphony Orchestra, The Saddlers Wells Royal Ballet, Mexico City's Bellas Artes Opera House, The Montreal Symphony, The Winnipeg Symphony, The Rochester Philharmonic, The New Orleans Symphony, The Venezuela Symphony, Mexico's Xalapa Symphony, The Oklahoma City Philharmonic, and major Italian opera houses in Rome, Florence, Turin, and Regio Emilia.
He is currently music director of London's new orchestra Sinfonia Britannia, which made it's debut at The Wales Millennium Centre in March, 2005, and has since appeared throughout the U.K., as well as a February, 2006 U.S. debut in San Francisco which the San Francisco Chronicle called "spectacular." His musical based on the life and music of Ivor Novello premiered at The Wales Millennium Centre in 2005, and will premiere on London's West End in September, 2006.
As a director, writer, and producer of music-based television programs, Daugherty and producing partner David Wong have created several major productions for the ABC Television Network project, including a prime time animation-and-live action production of Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and The Wolf, which he created, co-wrote, conducted, and directed, and for which he won a Prime Time Emmy Award. Daugherty and Wong also collaborated with The Joy Luck Club author Amy Tan on a television adaptation of her celebrated children's book The Chinese Siamese Cat. The Emmy Award-winning series debuted on PBS in the fall of 2001 as a daily-animated children's television series, propelled by PBS' unprecedented advance order for 80 segments. Daugherty executive produced, and also wrote a large number of the animated tales.
Daugherty and Wong also received an Emmy nomination for Rhythm & Jam, his ABC television network of specials which taught the basics of music to a teenage audience. He has now received five Emmy nominations to date.
In 1990, Daugherty created, directed, and conducted the hit Broadway musical Bugs Bunny On Broadway, a live-orchestra-and-film stage production which sold-out its extended run at New York's Gershwin Theatre on Broadway, and has since played to critical acclaim and sold-out houses all over the world.- Producer
- Writer
- Animation Department
Gábor Csupó is a Hungarian animator, film director, and producer. He has had a long career, but he is better known as the co-founder of animation studio Klasky-Csupo, Inc., a graphic design and animation studio based in Hollywood. The other major co-founder was his business partner and wife Arlene Klasky.
Gábor Csupó was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1952. At the time the country was known as the Hungarian People's Republic, a so-called "socialist republic" which served as a satellite state of the Soviet Union. He grew up during the Cold War (1947-1991). He started his animation career c. 1971, working as an animator for the animation studio Pannonia Film Studio. A state-financed company, Pannonia had a virtual monopoly in the Hungarian animation market. Csupó left the company and Hungary itself in 1975, migrating to Western Europe in search of better career opportunities.
While working in Sweden, Gábor Csupó met Arlene Klasky, an expatriate American animator who was a few years older than him. They started a relationship and were married to each other in 1979. Csupó came to the United States with her. He was able to find work as an animator at an American animation studio called Hanna-Barbera, which specialized on animated series for television. His relatively few credits with the company included the series "Casper and the Angels" (1979), "Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo" (1979-1980), and "The World's Greatest Super Friends" (1979-1980). All were short-lived works based on existing properties. None lasted more than 16 episodes.
In 1980, Gábor Csupó left Hanna-Barbera to start their own company with his wife Arlene Klasky their nephew Attila Csupó called Klasky-Csupo, Inc., a graphic design and animation studio based in Hollywood. Due to their lack of funds, the company's initial offices were just a spare room in its founders' apartment. For much of the 1980's, the company mainly worked on logo designs, feature film trailers, television show titles, and promos for various clients. The company acquired a reputation for creativity and originality, which allowed its founders to hire more personnel and expand its offices.
Csupo's first major career break came in 1987. James L. Brooks, founder of Gracie Films, was producing a new television show, "The Tracey Ullman Show" (1987-1990). It would include an animated segment featuring the Simpsons family, based on an idea by Matt Groening. Brooks needed an animation studio to handle production of the animation and hired Klasky Csupo to be that studio.
Csupo's ideas about the design of the Simpsons' characters were considered unorthodox. He and colorist Gyorgyi Peluce came up with the idea that all the characters would have yellow skin, and female character Marge Simpson would have blue hair. They felt that this would give the series a unique look. Gracie Films executives reportedly disliked the idea, but Groening liked it and convinced the others. The Simpsons caught on, and received their own spin-off series, called "The Simpsons" (1989-). Klasky Csupo served as the main company behind the series' animation for the first two seasons.
"The Simpsons" series had a larger cast of characters than the original short episodes for the "Ullman Show". The design of a supporting character called Dr. Nicholas "Dr. Nick" Riviera, an inept quack, was reportedly based on Csupo's own appearance. As the series progressed, Csupo had arguments with the executives of Gracie Film, over budgets and creative decisions. This resulted in Gracie deciding to terminate its relationship with Klasky Csupo in 1992, and to start a business relationship with rival animation studio Film Roman. Loosing its cash-cow series, Klasky Csupo was forced to fire much of its personnel.
The downturn in Klasky Csupo's fate was only temporary. In 1991, cable network Nickelodeon (which previously focused on live-action shows) wanted to add animated series to its line-up. Klasky Csupo's managed to convince the network to sign a contract about an original animation series called "Rugrats" (1991-2004). Starting out as an average television show, it turned to be a major commercial success. Production continued on-and-off for more than a decade, and the series received spin-off films and sequel series.
For most of the 1990s and the early 2000s, Klasky Csupo was a high-profile animation studio, with several television series in production. Gabor Csupo is credited as one of the main creators of "Rugrats", "Aaahh!!! Real Monsters" (1994-1997), "Santo Bugito" (1995-1996), "The Wild Thornberrys" (1998-2004), "Rocket Power" (1999-2004), "All Grown Up" (2003-2008), and "Rugrats Pre-School Daze" (2005). The company also had series by other creators. They worked with various networks, but the company's main customer was always Nickelodeon.
In 2006, Nickelodeon terminated its business relationship with Klasky Csupo, apparently due to its belief that the animation studio was producing work in an outdated style. The company went dormant for a number of years, though it has never been declared defunct. Gabor Csupo, on the other hand, was hired as the director of a live-action film: "Bridge to Terabithia" (2007). It was a relatively low-budget film with a cast consisting mainly of child actors, but tuned out be a minor box office hit (earning about 137 million dollars at the worldwide box office). The film in part served as a star vehicle for female lead AnnaSophia Robb, who was chosen for the role by Csupo himself.
Csupo returned to directing with the adult animated film "Immigrants" (2008). It featured two immigrants, one Hungarian and one Russian, getting in comical misadventures in modern day Los Angeles. Intended to become the start of a new franchise, the film failed to achieve much success.
Csupo next directed another live-action film, the fantasy film "The Secret of Moonacre" (2009). An adaptation of the novel "The Little White Horse" (1946) by Elizabeth Goudge, the film received only a limited release in a hand full of countries. The main star of the film was teenage actress Dakota Blue Richards, relatively popular in her native United Kingdom.
Csupo is living is semi-retirement in Hawaii for most of the 2010s, though he is reputedly attached to new projects and may yet make a comeback.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Seth Green has starred in numerous films and television series including the Austin Powers trilogy, The Italian Job (2003), Without a Paddle (2004), Party Monster (2003), Can't Hardly Wait (1998), Old Dogs (2009) and dozens more, including starring roles in Sexy Evil Genius (2013), The Story of Luke (2012) and Yellowbird (2014). He's portrayed Christopher Guest in Netflix's National Lampoon origin film, A Futile and Stupid Gesture (2018), and he starred opposite Katie Holmes and Michael Caine in Dear Dictator (2017). Green made his feature film directorial debut with Changeland (2019) starring Green, Breckin Meyer, Brenda Song, Macaulay Culkin, Clare Grant and Randy Orton. He is the co-creator/executive producer/primary voice talent and a writer/director on Robot Chicken (2001), 2010 & 2016 Emmy® Award-winner for Outstanding Short Format Animation Program. Green has voiced Chris Griffin on Family Guy (1999) since the series' inception. Green has been singled out for many Emmy voiceover nominations for Adult Swim's Robot Chicken. The show, the network's highest-rated original program, and their specials have won numerous Annie Awards for writing and producing, including one for Green for directing. In 2011, Green and his partners created Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, a full-service animation studio with many other projects including: Crackle's SuperMansion, Adult Swim's Hot Streets (2016) and WWE's Camp WWE (2016). In December 2017, the company signed a two-year first-look deal with 20th Century Fox Film to develop animated and live-action projects. Green has always been fascinated by space travel and has done a PSA for NASA and designed the CASIS patch for ISS U.S. National Laboratory missions for research to benefit life on Earth.