Tony Bancroft (born July 31, 1967) is an American animator and film director who frequently collaborates with

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

. He is the founder and owner of the faith-driven 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 Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

. After a two-year stint at

Cypress College Cypress College is a public community college in Cypress, California. It is part of the California Community Colleges System and belongs to the North Orange County Community College District. It offers a variety of general education (55 associ ...

, he enrolled in the character animation program at

CalArts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...

. This led to a summer job as a production assistant with filmmaker

Ralph Bakshi Ralph Bakshi (born October 29, 1938) is an American animator and filmmaker. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatric ...

and ultimately to an internship in California with Disney Feature Animation followed by a full-time position at the new

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

animation facility. Bancroft (along with his twin brother Tom) was selected to be among the first group of animators to work at the

Disney-MGM Studios Disney's Hollywood Studios is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division. Based on a concept by ...

. During his one-year stay in Florida, he had his first official assignment as an assistant clean-up animator on

Roger Rabbit Roger Rabbit is an animated anthropomorphic rabbit. The character first appeared in author Gary K. Wolf's 1981 novel, ''Who Censored Roger Rabbit?'' In the book, Roger is second banana in a popular comic strip, "Baby Herman". Roger hires private ...

in ''

Roller Coaster Rabbit The ''Roger Rabbit'' shorts are a series of animated short films produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation from 1989 to 1993. The anthology features Roger Rabbit, the animated protagonist from '' Who Framed Roger Rabbit'', being enlisted the task ...

'' (1990). This was followed by a credit as animating assistant on ''

The Rescuers Down Under ''The Rescuers Down Under'' is a 1990 American animated adventure film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 29th Disney animated feature film and the second movie to be produced during the Disne ...

'' (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 ''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' (''The Young American and Marine ...

'' (1991) and '' Aladdin'' (1992) before being promoted to supervising animator role on ''

The Lion King ''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 32nd Disney animated feature film and the fifth produced during the Disney Renaissance ...

'' (1994). After working on the character design and some preliminary animation for the gargoyle characters in ''

The Hunchback of Notre Dame ''The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'' (french: Notre-Dame de Paris, translation=''Our Lady of Paris'', originally titled ''Notre-Dame de Paris. 1482'') is a French Gothic novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1831. It focuses on the unfortunate story ...

'' (1996), he was tapped to join

Barry Cook Barry Cook (born August 12, 1958) is an American film director who has worked in the animated film industry since the 1980s. Cook and Tony Bancroft directed '' Mulan'' (1998), for which they won the 1998 Annie Award for Best Animated Feature. Coo ...

as a director on ''

Mulan Hua Mulan () is a legendary folk heroine from the Northern and Southern dynasties era (4th to 6th century CE) of Chinese history. According to legend, Mulan took her aged father's place in the conscription for the army by disguising herself as ...

'' (1998). He was animation supervisor on '' Stuart Little 2'' at

Sony Pictures Imageworks Sony Pictures Imageworks Inc. is a Canadian visual effects and computer animation studio headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, with an additional office on the Sony Pictures Studios lot in Culver City, California. SPI is a unit of Sony Pi ...

during 2002, and founded Toonacious that same year. Bancroft also served as English voice director on

Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and manga artist. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Japanese animated feature films, and is widel ...

's ''

Porco Rosso is a 1992 Japanese animated adventure-fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It is based on '' Hikōtei Jidai'' ("The Age of the Flying Boat"), a three-part 1989 watercolor manga by Miyazaki. It stars the voices of Shūichirō M ...

'' in 2003. In 2012, Bancroft authored the book: ''Directing for Animation : Everything You Didn't Learn in Art School'' published by Focal Press. The book explores the directing process, with insights from noted directors including

Dean DeBlois Dean DeBlois ( ; born 7 June 1970) is a Canadian film director, film producer, screenwriter, and animator. He is best known for writing and directing the Oscar-nominated animated films ''Lilo & Stitch'' for Walt Disney Animation Studios (with Chr ...

, Pete Docter, Eric Goldberg, Tim Miller, John Musker,

Jennifer Yuh Nelson Jennifer Yuh Nelson ( Yuh; born May 7, 1972) is a South Korean-born American story artist, character designer, television director, illustrator, and film director. She is best known for directing the films ''Kung Fu Panda 2'', ''Kung Fu Panda 3' ...

Nick Park Nicholas Wulstan Park (born 6 December 1958) is a British animator who created ''Wallace and Gromit'', ''Creature Comforts'', ''Chicken Run'', ''Shaun the Sheep'', and '' Early Man''. Park has been nominated for an Academy Award a total of ...

and

Chris Wedge John Christian Wedge (born March 20, 1957) is an American animator, designer, film director, voice actor, film producer, screenwriter, and cartoonist. He is known for directing the films '' Ice Age'' (2002), ''Robots'' (2005), '' Epic'' (2013), ...

. In 2014, Bancroft and his brother Tom, began ''The Bancroft Brothers Animation Podcast'', which focuses on the animation industry, featuring interviews with creators and those involved. The podcast celebrated its 100th episode with guest

Mark Henn Mark Alan Henn (born April 6, 1958) is an American animator and film director. His contributions to animation have included several Walt Disney Animation Studios leading or title characters, most notably heroines. His work includes Ariel in '' T ...

in July 2018 live show presented via Skype, for animation classes at

Lipscomb University Lipscomb University is a private university in Nashville, Tennessee. It is affiliated with the Churches of Christ. The campus is located in the Green Hills neighborhood of Nashville, between Belmont Boulevard to the west and Granny White Pike o ...

in Tennessee, where each brother teaches. For some time, Bancroft was working on pre-production and directing an animated film, titled '' Bunyan and Babe'', which was released in 2017. In March 2018, it was announced that Bancroft would join Azusa Pacific University as the head of the school's new Animation and Visual Effects degree program beginning in the fall of that year. In 2018, Bancroft also was an animator on ''

Mary Poppins Returns ''Mary Poppins Returns'' is a 2018 American musical fantasy film directed by Rob Marshall, with a screenplay written by David Magee and a story by Magee, Marshall, and John DeLuca. Loosely based on the book series ''Mary Poppins'' by P. L. Tr ...

''. Bancroft is currently a storyboard artist at

Warner Bros. Animation Warner Bros. Animation Inc. is an American animation studio which is part of the Warner Bros. Television Studios division of Warner Bros., a flagship of Warner Bros. Discovery. As the successor to Warner Bros. Cartoons, which was active from 19 ...

, after he was one of the traditional animators on '' Space Jam: A New Legacy''.

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. He is a Christian, and highly credits God for his talents as an animator and director.

Filmography

Awards

* In 1998, Bancroft received the Annie Award for ''Outstanding Achievement in Directing'', along with co-director

for ''

''. * In 2003, Bancroft received the

Visual Effects Society The Visual Effects Society (VES) is an entertainment industry organization representing visual effects practitioners including artists, animators, technologists, model makers, educators, studio leaders, supervisors, PR/marketing specialists and ...

Award for ''Best Character Animation in an Animated Motion Picture'', along with David Schaub, Eric Armstrong, and Sean Mullen, for Stuart Little 2. * In 2019, Bancroft received the Uzeta Award at the Etna International Festival of Comics and Pop Culture in Catania, Italy for ''Best Cross-Media Artist'' for '' The Return of Mary Poppins''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bancroft, Tony 1967 births American animated film directors American animated film producers American film producers American identical twins American storyboard artists American voice directors Animators from California Annie Award winners California Institute of the Arts alumni Christians from California Film directors from California Living people People from Orange County, California Walt Disney Animation Studios people