Bruce W. Smith

Bruce Wayne Smith is an American animator, film director, film and television producer, and storyboard artist. He is best known as the creator of Disney's The Proud Family.
==History==
Born in 1961, Smith became interested in animation at an early age watching TV cartoons such as The Flintstones and The Jetsons and later drawing what he saw from memory. He would later see One Hundred and One Dalmatians which left a bigger impression on him seeing animation different from traditional Saturday morning cartoons. Smith later studied animation in the character animation program at the California Institute of the Arts.
One of the few black animators working in the industry, Smith got his start as an assistant animator for Bill Meléndez's 1984 television special . He went on to animate for Baer Animation on Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and in 1992, directed his first feature . Other notable work for Smith during the mid-1990s includes supervising the animation for The Pagemaster, serving as director and character designer for , designing the characters for A Goofy Movie and , and co-directing the animated segments of . He was also was the creator of , along with and .
In 1998, Smith joined Walt Disney Animation Studios. He served as a supervising animator on five of its films Tarzan, The Emperor's New Groove, Home on the Range, The Princess and the Frog, and Winnie the Pooh. In 2000, when he still worked for , he piloted his series The Proud Family to , who passed on it. Disney Channel eventually picked the series up the following year and ran it until 2005. The series was the first to be produced by his production company Jambalaya Studios. Smith revealed that producing the show under Jambalaya as opposed to Disney Television Animation allowed for more freedom on both production and the series itself. After The Proud Family originally ended, Smith folded Jambalaya Studios to return back to Walt Disney Animation Studios. The series would be revived in 2022 with The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder.
==Filmography credits==
Year 	Film 	Position
1988 	Who Framed Roger Rabbit 	Animator: Additional Animation
1995 	A Goofy Movie 	Character Designer
1999 	Tarzan 	Supervising Animator: Kerchak and Baboons & Baby Baboon
2000 	John Henry 	Character Designer & Visual Development Artist
2000 	The Emperor's New Groove 	Supervising Animator: Pacha
2001-2005 	The Proud Family 	Creator / Co-Developer / Director / Writer
2004 	Home on the Range 	Supervising Animator: Pearl
2005 	The Proud Family Movie 	Director
2009 	The Princess and the Frog 	Supervising Animator: Dr. Facilier / Additional Voice
2011 	Winnie the Pooh 	Supervising Animator: Piglet, Kanga, and Roo
2012 	Wreck-It Ralph 	Additional Visual Development Artist
2013 	Frozen 	Additional Visual Development Artist
2022-present	The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder	Creator / Executive Producer
==Animation==
Walt-Disney-Animators-Bruce-W-Smith-walt-disney-characters-22959867-648-453.jpg
Tarzan-disneyscreencaps.com-2942.jpg|Kerchak
Tarzan-disneyscreencaps com-4147.jpg|Baboons
Tarzan 361.jpg|Baby Baboon
Emperors-new-groove-disneyscreencaps.com-8455.jpg|Pacha
Profile - Pearl Gesner.jpg|Pearl
Princess-and-the-frog-disneyscreencaps.com-1977.jpg|Dr. Facilier
Winnie-the-pooh-disneyscreencaps.com-1999.jpg|Piglet
Winnie-the-pooh-disneyscreencaps.com-1593.jpg|Kanga
Winnie-the-pooh-disneyscreencaps.com-2053.jpg|Roo
==External links==
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fr:Bruce W. Smith
pt-br:Bruce W. Smith
Category:1960s births
Category:Males
Category:American people
Category:People from California
Category:Annie Award Nominated
Category:Animators
Category:Character Designers
Category:Screenwriters
Category:Storyboard artists
Category:Voice actors
Category:Directors
Category:Producers
Category:Touchstone Pictures
Category:Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Category:Walt Disney Animation Studios
Category:Disney Renaissance
Category:A Goofy Movie
Category:Tarzan
Category:The Emperor's New Groove
Category:The Proud Family
Category:Home on the Range
Category:The Princess and the Frog
Category:Winnie the Pooh
Category:Wreck-It Ralph
Category:Frozen
Category:African American people