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List of Famous Animation Directors
List of famous animation directors, with photos, bios, and other information when available. Who are the top animation directors in the world? This includes the most prominent animation directors, living and dead, both in America and abroad. This list of notable animation directors is ordered by their level of prominence, and can be sorted for various bits of information, such as where these historic animation directors were born and what their nationality is. The people on this list are from different countries, but what they all have in common is that they're all renowned animation directors.
Everyone from Hayao Miyazaki to Chuck Jones is included on this list.
From reputable, prominent, and well known animation directors to the lesser known animation directors of today, these are some of the best professionals in the animation director field. If you want to answer the questions, "Who are the most famous animation directors ever?" and "What are the names of famous animation directors?" then you're in the right place. {#nodes}- Isao Takahata (高畑 勲, Takahata Isao, October 29, 1935 – April 5, 2018) was a Japanese film director, screenwriter and producer. In 1985, he co-founded Studio Ghibli with his long-time collaborative ...more
- Hayao Miyazaki (宮崎 駿, Miyazaki Hayao, born January 5, 1941) is a Japanese animator, filmmaker, screenwriter, author, and manga artist. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, a film and animation studio, he ...more
- Eiichi Yamamoto (山本 暎一, Yamamoto Eiichi, born 22 November 1940) is a Japanese film director and screenwriter of anime. He is known for directing the Animerama film series conceived by Osamu Tezuka. ...more
- William Everett "Bud" Luckey (July 28, 1934 – February 24, 2018) was an American animator, cartoonist, singer, musician, designer, composer, artist and voice actor. He worked at the animation studio ...more
- Gisaburō Sugii (杉井ギサブロー or 杉井儀三郎, Sugii Gisaburō, born August 20, 1940) is a Japanese anime director and Nihonga artist. He is best known for his work as director of the Touch series, the movie ...more
- Bruno Bozzetto (born 3 March 1938 in Milan, Italy) is an Italian cartoon animator, creator of many short pieces, mainly of a political or satirical nature. He created his first animated short "Tapum! ...more
- Kazuya Tsurumaki (鶴巻 和哉 Tsurumaki Kazuya) is a Japanese anime director. He was born on February 2, 1966 in the city of Gosen, located in the Niigata Prefecture. He is the protégé of Hideaki Anno, and ...more
- Katsuhisa Yamada is a Japanese animator. He is most noted for directing such memorable anime series as Genesis Climber Mospeada, Gatchaman, Mazinger Z, Devil Hunter Yohko and Record of Lodoss War.
- Tomoki Kyoda (京田 知己, Kyōda Tomoki) (born 1970) is a Japanese animation director and animator. Kyoda was born in Osaka, Japan. Formerly a graphic designer, he changed his occupation to the animation ...more
- Takuya Igarashi (五十嵐 卓哉, Igarashi Takuya) is a Japanese freelance anime director who worked for Toei Animation and Bones. He has also sometimes used the alias Jūgo Kazayama (風山 十五, Kazayama Jūgo).
- Osamu Tezuka (Japanese: 手塚 治虫, born 手塚 治, Hepburn: Tezuka Osamu, (1928-11-03)3 November 1928 – 9 February 1989) was a Japanese manga artist, cartoonist, animator, and film producer. Born in Osaka ...more
- Mamoru Hosoda (細田 守, Hosoda Mamoru, born September 19, 1967) is a Japanese film director and animator. He was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Animated Feature Film at the 91st ...more
- Ryōsuke Takahashi (高橋 良輔, Takahashi Ryōsuke, born January 11, 1943) is a Japanese anime director, screenwriter, and producer. He has worked for Sunrise on many anime shows in the real robot genre, ...more
- Akitaro Daichi (大地 丙太郎, Daichi Akitarō, born January 13, 1956) is an anime director, producer, and photography director.
- Katsuhito Akiyama (秋山 勝仁, Akiyama Katsuhito, born January 29, 1950) is a Japanese storyboard artist and director. He often works with Shinji Aramaki and Hideki Kakinuma.
- Takeshi Anno is an animation director and film director.
- Hiroshi Watanabe (わたなべひろし, Watanabe Hiroshi) is a Japanese anime director and animator from Kumamoto.
- Gary Wayne Goldman (born November 17, 1944) is an American film producer, director, animator, writer and voice actor, he is well known for working on films with Don Bluth such as Anastasia, An ...more
- Shigeyasu Yamauchi is an animation director.
- Kenji Kodama (こだま 兼嗣, Kodama Kenji, December 13, 1949) is a Japanese anime director, and storyboard artist. He is best known for being one of the main directors on the long-running anime Case Closed, ...more
- Ivan Petrovich Ivanov-Vano (Russian: Ива́н Петро́вич Ивано́в-Вано́; 8 February [O.S. 27 January] 1900, Moscow – 25 March 1987, Moscow), born Ivanov, was a Soviet animation director, animator, ...more
- Michael Lewis Nawrocki (born July 8, 1966) is an American director, producer, writer, voice actor, animator, musician, puppeteer, and businessman best known as the co-creator of the long-running, ...more
- Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, filmmaker, cartoonist, author, artist, and screenwriter, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on ...more
- Shingo Araki (荒木 伸吾, Araki Shingo, January 1, 1939 – December 1, 2011) was a Japanese animation artist and character designer.
- Genndy Tartakovsky (; born January 17, 1970) is a Russian-American animator, director, producer, screenwriter, storyboard artist, comic book writer and artist. He is the creator of the Cartoon ...more