Byron Howard

Byron Patrick Howard is a Japanese-born American animator, story artist, film director, film producer, and screenwriter. Howard grew up in Issaquah, Washington, attending Issaquah High School (graduating in 1986) and attending The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. Howard's career in animation began 25 years ago when he followed his childhood dream to work for Walt Disney Animation Studios by writing for advice from one of Disney's Nine Old Men animators, Frank Thomas. Using Mr. Thomas's helpful letter, he structured his entire curriculum. Before the ink was dry on his diploma, he relocated to Orlando, Florida, where he worked as a tour guide for Disney's animation tour at Disney MGM Studios. After 4 portfolio submissions, Howard began the Disney animation internship and was hired in 1994. He went from in-betweener to animator to supervising animator in just 5 years. Since relocating to the California studios in 2004, he has worked as a story artist, character designer on Cobra Bubbles for Lilo & Stitch and Kenai for Brother Bear, and director on Disney's 48th animated feature film Bolt. He was recognized for an Annie Award Nomination in 2004 for Outstanding Character Animation on Brother Bear.
Howard started his career in 2008 as a director with the film Bolt. The other director of this film is Chris Williams, and the writers of the film are Dan Fogelman and Chris Sanders. It was released on November 21, 2008, and the cast of the film includes John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman, Mark Walton, Malcolm McDowell, James Lipton, etc. He also directed the short film tied in with Bolts's DVD/Blu-Ray release called Super Rhino. Additionally, he directed Tangled with Nathan Greno.
In May 2013, it was reported that Howard, along with Rich Moore, was directing an animated animal comedy film for Walt Disney Animation Studios. A few months later, it was revealed that the film would be titled Zootopia, and was released on March 2016.
In the Fusion documentary Imagining Zootopia, Howard declared he is gay and has been married since 1988.
==Feature Film Filmography==
Year	Film 	Position 	Subsidiary
1995	Pocahontas 	Inbetweener: Pocahontas 	Walt Disney Animation Studios
1998	Mulan 	Animator: Yao/Fa Family Ancestors 	Walt Disney Animation Studios
2002	Lilo & Stitch 	Supervising Animator: Cobra Bubbles/Character Designer 	Walt Disney Animation Studios
2003	Brother Bear 	Supervising Animator: Kenai 	Walt Disney Animation Studios
2005	Chicken Little	Additional Story Artist 	Walt Disney Animation Studios
2008	Bolt 	Director/Additional Story Material 	Walt Disney Animation Studios
2010	Tangled 	Director/Voice Actor (Guard 2 and Thug 2) 	Walt Disney Animation Studios
2016	Zootopia 	Director/Story/Supervising Animator/Voice Actor (Travis and Bucky Oryx-Antlerson)	Walt Disney Animation Studios
2019	Frozen II 	Executive Producer 	Walt Disney Animation Studios
2021	Encanto 	Director 	Walt Disney Animation Studios
2024	Moana 2 	Animation Director/Additional Story Artist 	Walt Disney Animation Studios
2025	Zootopia 2 	Director 	Walt Disney Animation Studios
==Animated Shorts Filmography==
Year	Film 	Position 	Subsidiary
2000	John Henry 	Supervising Animator 	Walt Disney Animation Studios
2009	Super Rhino 	Executive Producer 	Walt Disney Animation Studios
2012	Tangled Ever After	Writer/Director/Voice Actor (Lantern Wrangler and Chef)	Walt Disney Animation Studios
2023	Once Upon a Studio	Special Thanks 	Walt Disney Animation Studios
==Roles==
Tangled guard 2.png|Guard #2(Tangled)
Tangled thug 2.png|Thug #2(Tangled)
Bucky Oryx-Antlerson.jpg|Bucky Oryx-Antlerson(Zootopia)
Travis.jpg|Travis(Zootopia)
==Gallery==
Zootopia & Who Framed Roger Rabbit.jpg|Who Framed Roger Rabbit tribute by Byron Howard
Winnie & Gang - Byron Howard.jpeg|Winnie the Pooh tribute by Byron Howard
Winnie The Pooh - Byron Howard.jpeg|Winnie the Pooh by Byron Howard
Piglet - Byron Howard.jpeg|Piglet by Byron Howard
Tigger - Byron Howard.jpeg|Tigger by Byron Howard
Eeyore - Byron Howard.jpeg|Eeyore by Byron Howard
Rabbit - Byron Howard.jpeg|Rabbit by Byron Howard
Star Wars - The Sloth Awakens.png|Star Wars: The Force Awakens parody poster by Byron Howard
Zootopia - Chinese Promotional Poster.jpg|Chinese Zootopia promotional poster featuring Baymax
Clawhauser - Disney Animation Record.jpg|Zootopia celebration poster featuring Clawhauser by Byron Howard
Disney Heroines by Bryon Howard.jpg|Mittens, Rapunzel and Judy Hopps by Byron Howard
Zootopia Summer by Byron Howard.jpg|Zootopia Summer Holiday Promotion by Byron Howard
Judy Hopps Watercolor by Byron Howard.jpg|Judy Hopps Watercolor by Byron Howard
Byron Howard & Chris Williams Bolt premiere.jpg|Byron Howard and Chris Williams at the premiere of Bolt in November 2008.
HowardGreno Tangled.jpg|Byron Howard and Nathan Greno at the premiere of Tangled in November 2010.
zootopia-bluray-rich-moore-byron-howard.jpg|Byron Howard and Rich Moore behind the scenes of Zootopia.
Howard Moore Spencer at Oscars17.jpg|Byron Howard with Rich Moore and Clark Spencer pose in the press room during the 89th annual Academy Awards in February 2017.
Encanto winning Best Animated Feature.JPG|Jared Bush, Clark Spencer, Yvett Mernino, and Byron Howard accepting the Oscar for Best Animated Feature for Encanto.
==References==
==External links==
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fr:Byron Howard
nl:Byron Howard
Category:Tangled
Category:1960s births
Category:Directors
Category:Bolt
Category:Animators
Category:Males
Category:Brother Bear
Category:Wreck-It Ralph
Category:Zootopia
Category:Lilo & Stitch
Category:Walt Disney Animation Studios
Category:Annie Award Nominated
Category:Pocahontas
Category:Mulan
Category:Chicken Little
Category:Producers
Category:Screenwriters
Category:Voice actors
Category:Disney Renaissance
Category:Annie Award Winner
Category:Storyboard artists
Category:Frozen
Category:Authors
Category:Japanese people
Category:Actors
Category:Encanto
Category:Zootopia
Category:American people
Category:LGBTQ+ people
Category:Disney+