Andreas Deja
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Andreas Deja (born 1 April 1957) is a Polish-born
German-American German Americans (, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. According to the United States Census Bureau's figures from 2022, German Americans make up roughly 41 million people in the US, which is approximately 12% of the pop ...
character animator most noted for his work at
Walt Disney Animation Studios Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that produces animated feature films and short films for the Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a s ...
. Deja's work includes serving as supervising animator on characters in several Disney animated films, including the Disney villains King Triton And Vanessa in '' The Little Mermaid'', Gaston in ''
Beauty and the Beast "Beauty and the Beast" is a fairy tale written by the French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in (''The Young American and Marine Tales''). Villeneuve's lengthy version was abridged, rewritten, and publish ...
'', Jafar in ''
Aladdin Aladdin ( ; , , ATU 561, 'Aladdin') is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with '' One Thousand and One Nights'' (often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights''), despite not being part of the original ...
'', and
Scar A scar (or scar tissue) is an area of fibrosis, fibrous tissue that replaces normal skin after an injury. Scars result from the biological process of wound repair in the skin, as well as in other Organ (anatomy), organs, and biological tissue, t ...
in ''
The Lion King ''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical coming-of-age drama film directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, produced by Don Hahn, and written by Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, and Linda Woolverton. Produced by Walt Disney ...
'', the titular character in ''
Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...
'', Lilo Pelekai in '' Lilo & Stitch'', Mama Odie and Juju in ''
The Princess and the Frog ''The Princess and the Frog'' is a 2009 American Animation, animated musical film, musical Romance film, romantic fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Inspired in part by the 2002 ...
'', and Tigger in '' Winnie the Pooh''.


Early life

Deja credits seeing Disney's ''
The Jungle Book ''The Jungle Book'' is an 1894 collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, who ...
'' as an 11-year-old with inspiring him to become an animator."Deja views"
Features, ''
The Northern Echo ''The Northern Echo'' is a regional daily morning newspaper based in the town of Darlington in North East England, serving mainly southern County Durham and northern Yorkshire. The paper covers national as well as regional news. In 2007, its the ...
'', 30 January 2010
At that young age, he promptly wrote to
Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...
to express his interest in working there, and received back a form letter which he has kept ever since. Deja later summarized the letter and how he acted on it as follows: "Please, do not send us any copies of
Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime icon and mascot of the Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large shoes, and white ...
. We can teach you that. You need to become an artist in your own right first. Watch the world around you. Draw your brothers and sisters. Go to the zoo. Sketch the animals a lot ... I took it very seriously ... I knew I had to be good. I knew I had to be above average." After graduating from Theodor-Heuss Gymnasium (secondary school) in Dinslaken, where he was taught by the artist and art teacher Alfred Grimm, he studied graphic design at the
Folkwang Hochschule The Folkwang University of the Arts is a university for music, theater, dance, design, and academic studies, located in four German cities of North Rhine-Westphalia. Since 1927, its traditional main location has been in the former Werden Abbey in ...
in Essen, Germany.


Career

A lifelong fan of Disney animated films, Deja was hired by the studio in August 1980 after he had corresponded with Eric Larson, one of Disney's senior Nine Old Men of animation who ran the studio's training department. The first film on which he worked for was ''The Black Cauldron'', during which time he shared a cubicle with future film director
Tim Burton Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and producer. Known for popularizing Goth subculture, Goth culture in the American film industry, Burton is famous for his Gothic film, gothic horror and dark fantasy films. ...
. During his rookie days at Disney, Deja sought mentorship and practical advice from seven of the then-living Nine Old Men, who were already retired before his tenure.Andreas Deja shares the lessons he learned from those animation masters, Disney's Nine Old Men
Jim Hill Media, 28 July 2016
Deja has collected information on the Nine Old Men over the years, and has stated that one of his ambitions is to publish one book for each of the Nine Old Men. Deja is best known as the supervising animator of some of the most memorable Disney villains: Gaston in ''Beauty and the Beast'', Jafar in ''Aladdin'', Scar in ''The Lion King'' and Queen Narissa in ''Enchanted''. He also animated Roger Rabbit in ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'', King Triton in ''The Little Mermaid'', the title character in ''Hercules'', Lilo Pelekai in ''Lilo & Stitch'', Mama Odie in ''The Princess and the Frog'' and Tigger in ''Winnie the Pooh''. In addition, he is the current resident specialist for the animation of Mickey Mouse. In 2011, he began a blog where he shares some of his collection of the work of the early Disney animators. In 2015, Deja authored ''The Nine Old Men: Lessons, Techniques, and Inspiration from Disney's Great Animators'' published by Focal Press. As of June 2023, he currently worked on the animated short film ''Mushka''. Deja was the guest curator for the exhibition titled ''Walt Disney's The Jungle Book: Making a Masterpiece'' which took place at The Walt Disney Family Museum from June 23, 2022, to January 8, 2023, to celebrate the film's 55th anniversary. A Members Only Preview of the exhibition which included a special talk with Deja, Darleen Carr, Floyd Norman and Bruce Reitherman took place on June 22, 2022. Deja also wrote an extensive companion book for the exhibition which was originally slated to be published by Weldon Owen on September 20, 2022, before it was changed to November 1, 2022.


Personal life

Deja is openly gay. His sexuality has been discussed as an influence on the development of some Disney characters.


Filmography


Awards

In 2006, at the
34th Annie Awards The ceremony for the 34th Annual Annie Awards, honoring the best in animation in 2006, was held on February 11, 2007, at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, California. The nominations were announced on December 4, 2006. Winners are marked in bold ...
, Deja was awarded the Winsor McCay Award for outstanding contribution to the art of animation.''Winsor McCay Award''
The Annie Awards, annieawards.org retrieved on 2008-10-26
At the 2015 D23 Expo, he was honored as a Disney Legend.


References


External links

*
Deja View
Andreas Deja's blog
IGN Interview with Deja (2003)Animated News Interview with Deja (2005)Interview with Deja, DVD Movie Guide (2003)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deja, Andreas 1957 births Living people American animators Polish emigrants Polish emigrants to West Germany Immigrants to the United States Walt Disney Animation Studios people American gay artists LGBTQ animators American LGBTQ film directors Polish gay artists Folkwang University of the Arts alumni Annie Award winners 21st-century American LGBTQ people