John Lasseter

John Lasseter
Lasseter in 2011
Born
John Alan Lasseter

(1957-01-12) January 12, 1957 (age 67)
Hollywood, California, U.S.
Alma materCalifornia Institute of the Arts (BFA)
Occupations
  • Film director
  • producer
  • screenwriter
  • animator
  • voice actor
Years active1978–present
Employers
Spouse
Nancy Lasseter
​
(m. 1988)​
[2]
Children5[3]
AwardsAcademy Award (1989, 1996)
Golden Globe Award (2007)
Inkpot Award (2009)[4]
Emmy Award (2010-2011)
Signature

John Alan Lasseter (/ˈlæsətər/ LASS-ə-tər; born January 12, 1957)[5] is an American film director, producer, and animator. He has served as the head of animation at Skydance Animation since 2019.[6] Previously, he acted as the chief creative officer of Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Disneytoon Studios, as well as the Principal Creative Advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering.[7]

Lasseter began his career as an animator with The Walt Disney Company. After being fired from Disney for promoting computer animation, he joined Lucasfilm, where he worked on then-groundbreaking usage of CGI animation. The Graphics Group of the Computer Division of Lucasfilm was sold to Steve Jobs and became Pixar in 1986. Lasseter oversaw all of Pixar's films and associated projects. He personally directed Toy Story (1995), A Bug's Life (1998), Toy Story 2 (1999), Cars (2006), and Cars 2 (2011), and executive-produced all other Pixar films through 2018. From 2006 to 2018, Lasseter also oversaw all of Walt Disney Animation Studios' (and its division Disneytoon Studios') films and associated projects as executive producer.

His works have grossed more than US$19 billion, making him one of the most financially successful filmmakers of all time. Of the ten animated films that have grossed over US$1 billion, five of them were executive produced by Lasseter: Toy Story 3 (2010)—the first animated film to surpass $1 billion—and Frozen (2013)—the third-highest-grossing animated film of all time—as well as Zootopia (2016), Finding Dory (2016), and Incredibles 2 (2018). Frozen also held the title of the highest-grossing animated film of all time until 2019, and was the fifth-highest-grossing film of all time at the end of its theatrical run. He has won two Academy Awards, for Best Animated Short Film (for Tin Toy), as well as a Special Achievement Award (for Toy Story).[8]

In November 2017, Lasseter took a six-month sabbatical from Pixar and Disney Animation after acknowledging what he called "missteps" in his behavior with employees.[9] According to various news outlets, Lasseter had a history of alleged sexual misconduct toward employees.[10][11] In June 2018, Disney announced that he would be leaving the company at the end of the year when his contract expired; he took on a consulting role until then.[12][13] Following his departure from Disney and Pixar, Lasseter was later hired by Skydance founder and CEO David Ellison to run the animation division Skydance Animation.[1]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference SkyDAnim was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ O'Connor, Stuart (February 12, 2009). "How to tell a great toy story". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on March 24, 2021. Retrieved May 11, 2013. I was doing a lot of amateur 3D photography – in 1988, when I got married to my wife Nancy, we took 3D wedding pictures.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference SFGateGeneration was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Inkpot Award". December 6, 2012. Archived from the original on January 29, 2017. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
  5. ^ Craine, Anthony G. "John Lasseter: American Animator". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on October 27, 2016. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
  6. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (July 20, 2020). "Paramount Dates Skydance's 'Spellbound' & 'Luck' For 2022". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on January 10, 2021. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  7. ^ Grover, Ronald (March 10, 2006). "The Happiest Place on Earth – Again". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on June 25, 2012. Retrieved April 20, 2012.
  8. ^ "John Lasseter – Awards". IMDb. Archived from the original on February 10, 2017. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
  9. ^ Masters, Kim (November 21, 2017). "John Lasseter Taking Leave of Absence From Pixar Amid 'Missteps'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on November 21, 2017. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference hollywoodreporter_20171121A was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference washingtonpost_20171121A was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Chitwood, Adam (January 18, 2019). "'Toy Story 3', 'Coco' Director Lee Unkrich Is Leaving Pixar". Collider. Archived from the original on January 20, 2019. Retrieved January 20, 2019.
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference Barnes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).