# Byron Howard

Byron P. Howard (born December 26, 1968) is an American animator, character designer, story artist, film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known as one of the directors of the Walt Disney Animation Studios films Bolt (2008), Tangled (2010), Zootopia (2016), Encanto (2021), and the upcoming Zootopia 2 (2025). He is the first LGBT director to win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature twice for his work on Zootopia and Encanto.

## Early life and education

Howard was born in Misawa, Japan, and raised in both the outskirts of Philadelphia and Issaquah, Washington, United States, in a middle-class family. He attended Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington.

## Career

Howard began his career at Disney as a tour guide at Disney MGM Studios. Howard had dreamed of working for Disney, and had written to Master Animator Frank Thomas, one of Disney's Nine Old Men, as he was growing up. He soon began the Disney Studio Internship and was hired in 1994, working as an animator on films including Pocahontas, Mulan, Lilo & Stitch and Brother Bear. He was nominated for a 2003 Annie Award for Character Animation for Brother Bear.
The first film Howard directed was the animated Disney film Bolt, which was nominated for the 2008 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. In his role as co-director of the film with Chris Williams, Howard focused on character design and animation. Howard went on to direct the animated Disney films Tangled (2010, co-directed with Nathan Greno) and Zootopia (2016, co-directed with Rich Moore). He and Greno also co-directed and wrote the animated short Tangled Ever After, which features supporting characters from Tangled and showed in theaters before the 2012 3D re-release of Beauty and the Beast.
Following the making of Zootopia, Howard was one of the keynote speakers at the 2016 View Conference. He presented on the process behind the making of Zootopia and he taught the skills behind creating characters in a workshop entitled “The DNA of Disney Character Design.” After his work on Zootopia, Howard worked with Lin-Manuel Miranda on Encanto. Howard co-directed the film, alongside Zootopia co-director Jared Bush and Charise Castro Smith, while Miranda wrote songs for the project, which centered on a girl from a magical Colombian family who lacks magic herself. Howard was officially announced as the co-director of Zootopia 2 on September 20, 2024, alongside Jared Bush, who the day before had become Chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios following Jennifer Lee's resignation of the position to direct Frozen 3.
In 2009, Howard became a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.

## Personal life

In the Fusion documentary Imagining Zootopia, Howard mentioned he is openly gay and has been married since 1988.

## Filmography
### Feature films

| Year | Film | Credited as | Credited as | Credited as | Credited as | Credited as | Credited as | Credited as | Credited as |
| Year | Film | Director | Story | Executive Producer | Animator | Visual Development Artist | Other | Voice Role | Notes |
| 1995 | Pocahontas | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | | In-between-er |
| 1998 | Mulan | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | | Animator: Yao and Fa Family Ancestors |
| 2002 | Lilo & Stitch | No | No | No | Supervising | No | Yes | | Supervising Animator: Cobra Bubbles Character Design |
| 2003 | Brother Bear | No | No | No | Supervising | No | No | | Supervising Animator: Kenai - Bear |
| 2005 | Chicken Little | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | | Additional Story Artist |
| 2008 | Bolt | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | | Additional Screenplay Material |
| 2009 | The Princess and the Frog | No | No | No | No | No | No | | Disney Story Trust - uncredited |
| 2010 | Tangled | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Guard 2/Thug 2 | Disney Story Trust - uncredited |
| 2011 | Winnie the Pooh | No | No | No | No | No | No | | Disney Story Trust - uncredited |
| 2012 | Wreck-It Ralph | No | No | No | No | Additional | No | | Disney Story Trust - uncredited |
| 2013 | Frozen | No | No | No | No | No | No | | Disney Story Trust - uncredited |
| 2014 | Big Hero 6 | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | | Creative Leadership |
| 2016 | Zootopia | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Bucky Oryx-Antlerson/Travis | Creative Leadership |
| 2016 | Moana | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | | Creative Leadership |
| 2018 | Ralph Breaks the Internet | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | | Creative Leadership |
| 2019 | Frozen II | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | | Creative Leadership |
| 2021 | Raya and the Last Dragon | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | | Additional Story, Creative Leadership |
| 2021 | Encanto | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | | Creative Leadership |
| 2022 | Strange World | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | | Creative Leadership |
| 2023 | Wish | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | | Creative Leadership |
| 2024 | Moana 2 | No | No | No | Directing | No | Yes | | Additional Story, Creative Leadership |
| 2025 | Zootopia 2 | Yes | TBA | No | No | TBA | Yes | | Creative Leadership |

#### Short films and series

| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Artistic Supervisor | Executive Producer | Other | Voice | Notes |
| 2000 | John Henry | No | No | Yes | No | No | | Character Animation |
| 2009 | Super Rhino | No | No | No | Yes | No | | |
| 2012 | Tangled Ever After | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Lantern Wrangler / Chef | |
| 2022 | Zootopia+ | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Bucky Oryx-Antlerson | Disney+ Original short films |
| 2024 | Iwájú | No | No | No | Yes | No | | Disney+ Original long-form limited series |

## Awards
### Golden Globe Award

* 2008 – Nominated: Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film for Bolt
* 2010 – Nominated: Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film for Tangled
* 2017 – Won: Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film for Zootopia
* 2021 – Won: Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film for Encanto

### Academy Award

* 2008 – Nominated: Academy Award for Best Animated Feature for Bolt
* 2017 – Won: Academy Award for Best Animated Feature for Zootopia
* 2021 – Won: Academy Award for Best Animated Feature for Encanto