Tony Bancroft

Tony Bancroft is an American animator and film director who frequently collaborates with Disney. He is founder and owner of Christian animation company Toonacious Family Entertainment. Tony currently serves as the Executive VP Creative Development and Production for DivideNine Animation Studios.

Life and career

A native Californian, Bancroft grew up in Orange County. After a two-year stint at Cypress College, he enrolled in the character animation program at CalArts. This led to a summer job as a production assistant with filmmaker Ralph Bakshi and ultimately to an internship in California with Disney Feature Animation followed by a full-time position at the new Florida animation facility. Bancroft (along with this twin brother) was selected to be among the first group of animators to work at the Disney-MGM Studios. During his one-year stay in Florida, he had his first official assignment as an assistant clean-up animator on Roger Rabbit in Roller Coaster Rabbit (1990). This was followed by a credit as animating assistant on The Rescuers Down Under (1990) working on the character of "Frank the frill-necked lizard".

In 1990, he returned to California and worked as a character animator on Beauty and the Beast (1991) and Aladdin (1992) before being promoted to supervising animator role on The Lion King (1994). After working on the character design and some preliminary animation for the gargoyle characters in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), he was tapped to join Barry Cook as a director on Mulan (1998).

He was animation supervisor on Stuart Little 2 at Sony Pictures Imageworks during 2002, and founded Toonacious that same year. Bancroft also served as English voice director on Hayao Miyazaki's Porco Rosso in 2003.

In May 2008, it was announced that Bancroft would co-direct, along with Jim Rygiel, visual effects supervisor on The Lord of the Rings (film series), an animated folk tale titled Bunyan and Babe.[1]

Personal life

Bancroft and his wife, Rene, have three daughters, Caitlin, Savannah, and Sierra. They returned to Los Angeles after living in Florida during the production of Mulan. He has a twin brother named Tom who is also an animator.[2]

Filmography

Year Title Notes Characters
1988 Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures (TV Series) Production Coordinator - 6 Episodes
1990 Roller Coaster Rabbit (Short) Assistant Animator
The Rescuers Down Under Animating Assistant
1991 Beauty and the Beast Animator Cogsworth
1992 Off His Rockers (Short) Visual Development Artist
Aladdin Animator Iago
1993 Bonkers (TV Series) Character Animation - 1 Episode
1994 The Lion King Supervising Animator Pumbaa
Animated Storybook: The Lion King (Video Game) Animator
1996 The Hunchback of Notre Dame Additional Animator
1998 Mulan Director
2000 The Emperor's New Groove Supervising Animator Kronk
2002 Stuart Little 2 Animation Supervisor
2003 Lenny & Sid Creator / Director / Character Design
2004 One by One (Video short) Animator
2005 The Origin of Stitch (Video short) Animator
2008 Wild About Safety: Timon and Pumbaa Safety Smart at Home! (Short) Animator
2009 Wild About Safety: Timon and Pumbaa Safety Smart Goes Green! (Video short) Animator
Wild About Safety: Timon and Pumbaa Safety Smart In the Water! (Video short) Animator
2011 The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol (Short) Animator
Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Masters Animator: Duncan Studio Production
2016 Norm of the North Additional Storyboard Artist
2017 Animal Crackers Director
TBA Bunyan and Babe Director

References

  1. "'Bunyan' adds Bancroft, Grammer". The Hollywood Reporter, the Daily from Cannes. Cannes (8): 4. 2008-05-21.
  2. L. Carpente, Edwin (March 19, 2013). "The Bancroft Brothers, Former Disney Animators, Talk With Dove". The Dove Foundation. Archived from the original on November 7, 2014. Retrieved November 7, 2014.

External links

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