Mark Alan Henn (born April 6, 1958) is an American animator and film director. His work includes animated characters for
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 ...
films, most notably leading or titular characters and heroines. He served as the lead animator for Basil, Dr. David Q. Dawson, and Olivia in ''
The Great Mouse Detective
''The Great Mouse Detective'' (released as ''Basil the Great Mouse Detective'' in some countries and ''The Adventures of the Great Mouse Detective'' during its 1992 re-release) is a 1986 American animated mystery adventure film produced by W ...
'' (1986), Oliver, Jenny, and Dodger in ''
Oliver & Company'' (1988),
Ariel in ''
The Little Mermaid
"The Little Mermaid" (), sometimes translated in English as "The Little Sea Maid", is a fairy tale written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. Originally published in 1837 as part of a collection of fairy tales for children, the story foll ...
'' (1989), Bernard and Bianca in ''
The Rescuers Down Under'' (1990),
Belle 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 ...
'' (1991),
Jasmine
Jasmine (botanical name: ''Jasminum'', pronounced ) is a genus of shrubs and vines in the olive family of Oleaceae. It contains around 200 species native to tropical and warm temperate regions of Eurasia, Africa, and Oceania. Jasmines are wid ...
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 ...
'' (1992), Young
Simba
Simba is a fictional character in Walt Disney Animation Studios, Disney's ''The Lion King (franchise), The Lion King ''franchise. First appearing as a cub in ''The Lion King'' (1994), the character flees his homeland when his father, Mufasa, is ...
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 ...
'' (1994),
the title character in ''
Mulan
Hua Mulan () is a legendary Chinese folk heroine from the Northern and Southern dynasties era (4th to 6th century Common Era, CE) of Chinese history. Scholar, Scholars generally consider Mulan to be a fictional character. Hua Mulan is depicte ...
'' (1998), Grace, Wesley, Rusty, and Pearl Gesner in ''
Home on the Range'' (2004), Ronno in ''
Bambi
''Bambi'' is a 1942 American Animated film, animated Coming of age, coming-of-age drama film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. Loosely based on Felix Salten's 1923 novel ''Bambi, a Life in the Woods'', the ...
'' (2006),
Tiana 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 ...
'' (2009), and
Winnie the Pooh and
Christopher Robin
Christopher Robin is a character created by A. A. Milne, based on his son Christopher Robin Milne. The character appears in the author's popular books of poetry and ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' stories, and has subsequently appeared in various Disney ...
in ''
Winnie the Pooh'' (2011). Since many of these characters are
Disney Princesses, he came to be known as the "princess guy" around the studio.
He directed the
short films
A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...
''
John Henry'' (2000) and ''
D.I.Y. Duck'' (2024). Henn spent a total of 43 years 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 ...
, from 1980 until his retirement in 2023.
Early life
Henn grew up in Dayton, Ohio. At seven years old, Henn watched a reissue of ''
Cinderella
"Cinderella", or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a Folklore, folk tale with thousands of variants that are told throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988. The protagonist is a you ...
'' (1950) and decided to become an animator. He also viewed ''
The Reluctant Dragon'' remembering a scene of "
Ward Kimball
Ward Walrath Kimball (March 4, 1914 – July 8, 2002) was an American animator employed by Walt Disney Animation Studios. He was part of Walt Disney's main team of animators, known collectively as Disney's Nine Old Men. His films have been honor ...
drawing a scene of Goofy. He picked up all that paper, started flipping and everything kind of came to life. From then on, the animation bug beats hard for me."
In 1976, Henn graduated from
Trotwood-Madison High School. He next attended
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a Public university, public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized progr ...
and sent an animation portfolio to the Disney studios, but did not accept it though they recognized his potential. He then attended
Sinclair Community College and sent a second portfolio, which was rejected. He sent a third portfolio a semester later, to which he received a rejection letter from Don Duckwall, the studio's production manager. Henn recalled, "
uckwallsent a nice rejection letter back and he wrote a sentence that was burned into my memory saying that it wasn't that I wasn't a good artist, but they just didn't think I had what it took to travel the narrow roads that their animators travel."
In 1978, he attended the
California Institute of the Arts
The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a Private university, private art school in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for ...
(CalArts) and was accepted into the Character Animation program. His professors there included former Disney animators
Jack Hannah
John Fredrick Hannah (January 5, 1913 – June 11, 1994) was an American animator, writer and director of animated shorts. He worked for Disney and Walter Lantz.
Biography
Hannah was born on January 5, 1913, in Nogales, Arizona. After attend ...
,
Elmer Plummer,
Jack Kinney
John Ryan Kinney (March 29, 1909 – February 9, 1992)Lenburg (2006), pp. 180 was an American animator, director and producer of animated shorts. Kinney is the older brother of fellow Disney animator Dick Kinney.
Early life
Jack Kinney was born ...
,
T. Hee, Bob McCrea, and Ken O'Connor, while his fellow classmates included
Joe Ranft,
Mark Dindal and
John Lasseter
John Alan Lasseter ( ; born January 12, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and animator. He was previously the chief creative officer of Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Disneytoon Studios, a ...
.
Career
1980–1988: Initial years
In 1980, Henn was hired by Walt Disney Productions and entered the animation training program where he was mentored by
Eric Larson. He began work as an inbetweener for
Glen Keane
Glen Keane (born April 13, 1954) is an American animator, director, author and illustrator. As a character animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios for 38 years (1974–2012), he worked on feature films including ''The Little Mermaid'', ''Beau ...
on ''
The Fox and the Hound
''The Fox and the Hound'' is a 1981 American animated buddy drama film produced by Walt Disney Productions and loosely based on the 1967 novel of the same name by Daniel P. Mannix. It tells the story of the unlikely friendship between a r ...
'' (1981). According to Henn, Keane was finishing the climactic bear fight scene and Henn worked with him on that.
He was promoted to animator less than a year later for ''
Mickey's Christmas Carol'' (1983), in which he animated
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 ...
. Henn looked to past Mickey Mouse shorts animated by
Freddie Moore,
Frank Thomas, and
Ollie Johnston for inspiration; overall, he remembered, "He
ickeywas an easy character to get, for me at least. Putting him in the role of
Bob Cratchit
Robert "Bob" Cratchit is a fictional character in the Charles Dickens 1843 novel ''A Christmas Carol''. The overworked, underpaid clerk of Ebenezer Scrooge, Cratchit has come to symbolise the poor working conditions, especially long working hou ...
was a perfect match as far as casting goes."
On ''
The Black Cauldron'' (1985), Henn was initially assigned the role of Creeper, the Horned King's assistant. He also animated scenes of Gurgi and Fflewddur Fflam.
He next joined ''
The Great Mouse Detective
''The Great Mouse Detective'' (released as ''Basil the Great Mouse Detective'' in some countries and ''The Adventures of the Great Mouse Detective'' during its 1992 re-release) is a 1986 American animated mystery adventure film produced by W ...
'' (1986), primarily animating Basil, Dawson and Olivia, as well as Ratigan in a few scenes where he confronts Basil. On the next animated film ''
Oliver & Company'' (1988), Henn mainly animated Oliver and his human owner, Jenny.
For the
60th Academy Awards
The 60th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on April 11, 1988, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles beginning at 6:00 p.m. PDT. During the ceremony, AMPAS presented ...
telecast, in April 1988, Henn, along with
Rob Minkoff
Robert Ralph Minkoff (born August 11, 1962) is an American director, animator, and producer. He is best known for co-directing ''The Lion King'' (along with Roger Allers), and live-action films including ''Stuart Little (film), Stuart Little'' (1 ...
and Nancy Beiman, animated Mickey Mouse as he presented the
Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film
The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as part of the annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, since the 5th Academy Awards (with different names), covering the year ...
''.''
1989–1998: Move to Orlando, animating Disney Princesses
In 1988, Henn was selected by directors
John Musker
John Edward Musker (born November 8, 1953) is an American animator, film director, screenwriter, and film producer. He often collaborates with fellow director Ron Clements and is best known for writing and directing the Disney animated films ''Th ...
and
Ron Clements
Ronald Francis Clements (born April 25, 1953) is an American animator, film director, screenwriter, and film producer. He often collaborates with fellow director John Musker and is best known for writing and directing the Disney animated films ...
as one of the two supervising animators for the character
Ariel in ''
The Little Mermaid
"The Little Mermaid" (), sometimes translated in English as "The Little Sea Maid", is a fairy tale written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. Originally published in 1837 as part of a collection of fairy tales for children, the story foll ...
'' (1989), alongside Glen Keane. The animation workload was divided by Keane, who mostly animated Ariel during the underwater scenes, whereas Henn animated her in the film's opening scene and when she was a human.
A year later, Henn moved to
Orlando
Orlando commonly refers to:
* Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States
Orlando may also refer to:
People
* Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name
* Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...
,
Florida
Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
to work at the newly-opened Feature Animation Florida studio at the
Disney-MGM Studios. His first assignment there was ''
The Rescuers Down Under'' (1990) animating the lead characters Bernard and Miss Bianca, as well as the villain Percival C. McLeach.
For the mice characters, Henn studied the mannerisms of
Bob Newhart
George Robert Newhart (September 5, 1929 – July 18, 2024) was an American comedian and actor. Newhart was known for his deadpan and stammering delivery style. Beginning his career as a stand-up comedian, he transitioned his career to acting in ...
and
Eva Gabor
Eva Gabor ( ; February 11, 1919 – July 4, 1995) was a Hungarian-American actress and socialite. Gabor voiced Duchess and Miss Bianca in the Disney animations ''The Aristocats'' (1970), ''The Rescuers'' (1977), and ''The Rescuers Down Under'' ...
during voice recording sessions, and looked to
George C. Scott's performance in ''
Dr. Strangelove'' (1964) for inspiration while animating McLeach.
For ''
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 ...
'' (1991), Henn was next assigned as the supervisor animator for
Belle, sharing the role with
James Baxter.
For character reference, Henn decorated his studio with photographs of famous women, specifically Hollywood actresses
Natalie Wood
Natalie Wood (née Zacharenko; July 20, 1938 – November 29, 1981) was an American actress. She began acting at age four and co-starred at age eight in ''Miracle on 34th Street'' (1947). As a teenager, she was nominated for an Academy Award f ...
,
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was an English and American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 19 ...
,
Grace Kelly
Grace Patricia Kelly (November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982), also known as Grace of Monaco, was an American actress and Princess of Monaco as the wife of Prince Rainier III from their marriage on April 18, 1956, until her death in 1982. ...
, and
Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Kathleen Hepburn ( Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress. Recognised as a film and fashion icon, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the third-greatest female screen legend from the Classical Holly ...
.
However, Henn hardly met the character's voice actress
Paige O'Hara apart from rare occasions when he would travel to California for production meetings. Regardless, he incorporated O'Hara's mannerisms during the recording sessions into the animation, including her pushing a lock of hair off her forehead.
Meanwhile, Glen Keane was the supervising animator for the Beast at the studio's California division. To coordinate the staging of the characters, Keane and Henn agreed the characters who were most dominant in their scenes would be animated first. For scenes in which the Beast was most dominant, Keane animated first and placed scribbles for Belle. The animation was then exchanged through the 3000–mile distance via an overnight courier.
Having animated two previous Disney heroines—Ariel from ''The Little Mermaid'' and Belle from ''Beauty and the Beast'', respectively—Henn was afraid he had been typecast when he was assigned his third heroine,
Jasmine
Jasmine (botanical name: ''Jasminum'', pronounced ) is a genus of shrubs and vines in the olive family of Oleaceae. It contains around 200 species native to tropical and warm temperate regions of Eurasia, Africa, and Oceania. Jasmines are wid ...
.
By this point, he had been dubbed as the "
Julia Roberts
Julia Fiona Roberts (born October 28, 1967) is an American actress. Known for her leading roles across various genres, she has received multiple accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and three Golden Globe Award ...
of Disney animation".
In search for new inspiration, Henn stated, "I just reached into my pocket, and I still had my sister's high-school graduation picture. I looked at it, and at the time her hair was a roundish haircut shape that surrounded her face, and we were playing with things like that, so I essentially modeled Jasmine on my younger sister Beth."
Linda Larkin
Linda Larkin (born March 20, 1970) is an American voice actress, best known for her role as the speaking voice of Princess Jasmine in Disney's 1992 animated feature film ''Aladdin''.
Career
Larkin began her career in 1990, with the film '' Zap ...
was hired to provide Jasmine's speaking voice and discussed the role with Henn during a dinner meeting at the Disney-MGM studios. Robina Ritchie, a model, was hired to provide live-action reference for the animation, pantomiming actions to the recording of Larkin's voice-overs so, in Henn's words, "the animator gets the feeling of what the real human movement would be."
In 1993, Henn starred as himself in ''
Full House
''Full House'' is an American television sitcom created by Jeff Franklin for American Broadcasting Company, ABC. The show is about the recently widowed father Danny Tanner who enlists his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis and childhood best friend ...
'' for "
The House Meets the Mouse" episode. Henn remembered
Max Howard
Max Howard is a film producer and studio executive, based in Los Angeles. He has run studios for Walt Disney Feature Animation in London, Paris, Orlando and Los Angeles, and was president of Warner Bros. Feature Animation. His credits include '' ...
, then the head of the Feature Animation Florida studio, called him into his office and asked if he was willing to appear in the episode. Henn agreed and was handed his dialogue pages.
When he became involved with ''
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 ...
'' (1994), Henn initially expressed interest in animating the film's villain,
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 ...
, because he wanted to do "something different."
However, producer Don Hahn felt that he was better suited for animating
Simba
Simba is a fictional character in Walt Disney Animation Studios, Disney's ''The Lion King (franchise), The Lion King ''franchise. First appearing as a cub in ''The Lion King'' (1994), the character flees his homeland when his father, Mufasa, is ...
. Before animating the character, Henn and his animators visited the
Miami Metrozoo to observe African lions.
His colleague
Ruben Aquino handled the animation for adult Simba at the studio's California division. To ensure a smooth transition between the cub and adult versions, Henn animated adult Simba at the end of the "
Hakuna Matata
"Hakuna matata" () is a Swahili language phrase. In English, it means "no trouble" or "no worries" and "take it easy" (literally ''hakuna'': "there is no/there are no"; ''matata'': "worries"). The 1994 Walt Disney Animation Studios animated film ...
" sequence.
Before the film's release, during the summer of 1994, Henn was slated to work on ''
Mulan
Hua Mulan () is a legendary Chinese folk heroine from the Northern and Southern dynasties era (4th to 6th century Common Era, CE) of Chinese history. Scholar, Scholars generally consider Mulan to be a fictional character. Hua Mulan is depicte ...
'' (1998), in which he accompanied
Pam Coats,
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 film), Mulan'' (1998), for which they won the 1998 Annie Award for Best Ani ...
, Ric Sluiter, and
Robert Walker on a research trip to
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
.
However, ''Mulan'' (1998) was pushed back into development due to unresolved story problems. Henn then joined ''
Pocahontas
Pocahontas (, ; born Amonute, also known as Matoaka and Rebecca Rolfe; 1596 – March 1617) was a Native American woman belonging to the Powhatan people, notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. S ...
'' (1995), which was already in production, and animated several scenes of the title character.
When ''Mulan'' was ready for production, Henn animated Fa Mulan and her father Fa Zhao.
During production, Henn stated: "I was asked to not only animate Mulan, but I was also asked by the directors to animate her father as well, Fa Zhou because it was that relationship which was the heart and soul of that picture. That was the tension."
1999–2006: Directorial debut, transition to computer animation
In 1999, Henn made his directorial debut with the animated short ''
John Henry'' (2000).
Afraid it would offend Black American audiences, the film's release was suppressed by Disney. It premiered at the
Heartland International Film Festival
The Heartland International Film Festival (HIFF) is a high academy qualifying film festival held each October in Indianapolis, Indiana
Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States ...
, where Henn was awarded the Crystal Heart Award. Afterwards, it was screened for three days as a double feature with a re-release of ''
The Nightmare Before Christmas
''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (formerly known as ''Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas'') is a 1993 American stop motion Animation, animated Gothic film, gothic musical film, musical fantasy film directed by Henry Selick in his f ...
'' (1993) at the
El Capitan Theatre
El Capitan Theatre is a fully restored movie palace at 6838 Hollywood Boulevard in the Hollywood neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, United States. The theater and adjacent Hollywood Masonic Temple (now known as the El Capitan Entert ...
.
During early development on ''
Lilo & Stitch
''Lilo & Stitch'' () is a 2002 American animated Science fiction film, science fiction comedy-drama film, comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation for Walt Disney Pictures. It was written and directed by Chris Sanders and De ...
'' (2002), Henn was initially meant to animate Stitch, but after ten years in Florida, he decided to relocate to Burbank, California. Despite this, Henn was asked to animate female hula dancers during the opening scene, in which he returned to Orlando.
Back in California, Henn animated on ''
Home on the Range'' (2004) animating several characters such as the cow Grace, the dog Rusty, Wesley, and the farm owner Pearl Gesner (shared with
Bruce W. Smith).
Henn began his first CG animation role on ''
Meet the Robinsons
''Meet the Robinsons'' is a 2007 American animated science-fiction comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is based on the 1990 children's book ''A Day with Wilbur Robinson'' by William Jo ...
'' (2007), animating Lewis and the family members. However, he struggled with the transition to computer animation and found the assignment very difficult.
Shortly after, Henn, along with
Andreas Deja
Andreas Deja (born 1 April 1957) is a Polish-born German-American character animator most noted for his work at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Deja's work includes serving as supervising animator on characters in several Disney animated films, in ...
and other 2D animators, were loaned out to James Baxter Animation to animate Giselle for the live-action/animated film ''
Enchanted'' (2007).
2007–2023: Return to traditional animation
In 2006,
John Lasseter
John Alan Lasseter ( ; born January 12, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and animator. He was previously the chief creative officer of Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Disneytoon Studios, a ...
and
Ed Catmull became the new management heads of Walt Disney Animation Studios. Lasseter and Catmull reopened a new shorts program to experiment with the new animation techniques. Henn returned to Disney to animate Goofy on the 2007 animated short ''
How to Hook Up Your Home Theater''. The short implemented a paperless technique by using Harmony and
Wacom Cintiq pressure-sensitive tablets, but Henn found the approach too difficult and resumed using pencil and paper.
In 2007, he was assigned his next heroine
Tiana for ''
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 ...
'' (2009). In an interview, Henn stated he animated her human form "fairly naturalistically" while he went more broad when animating her as a frog.
Following this, he was the supervising animator of
Winnie the Pooh and
Christopher Robin
Christopher Robin is a character created by A. A. Milne, based on his son Christopher Robin Milne. The character appears in the author's popular books of poetry and ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' stories, and has subsequently appeared in various Disney ...
in the 2011 film ''
Winnie the Pooh''.
In December 2011, the long-gestating ''
Snow Queen'' project, initially planned to be a 2D animated film, was rechristened into a CG animated film titled ''
Frozen'' (2013). Henn remained on the project as an animation consultant, providing 2D character tests for the CG animation team to improve the performance and timing. During the same time, he animated
Pete on the
short film
A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...
''
Get a Horse!'' (2013), which was attached with ''Frozen''.
He again served as an animation consultant on ''
Big Hero 6'' (2014) and ''
Ralph Breaks the Internet
''Ralph Breaks the Internet'' is a 2018 American animated comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. It is the sequel to the 2012 film ''Wreck-It Ralph''. The film was directed by Rich Moore and Phil Johnston (filmmaker), Phil Joh ...
'' (2018).
On ''
Moana'' (2016), Henn animated Maui's tattoos, as well the prologue and the stylized visuals on the
tapa cloth
Tapa cloth (or simply ''tapa'') is a barkcloth made in the islands of the Pacific Ocean, primarily in Tonga, Samoa and Fiji, but as far afield as Niue, Cook Islands, Futuna, Solomon Islands, Java, New Zealand, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and Ha ...
for several sequences. In 2022, Henn, along with
Eric Goldberg,
Jin Kim, and others, were featured in the
Disney+
The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...
documentary series ''Sketchbook''.
In December 2023, Henn retired from Disney Animation Studios, having worked there for 43 years. His last project for the studio was ''D.I.Y Duck'', a short film starring
Donald Duck
Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by the Walt Disney Company. Donald is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit, sailor shirt and cap with ...
, which he directed.
Accolades
Throughout his career, Henn has been nominated for an
Annie Award
The Annie Awards are accolades which the Los Angeles branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood, has presented each year since 1972 to recognize excellence in animation shown in American cinema and television. Origina ...
four times: three times for Character Animation for ''The Lion King'', ''Mulan'', and ''Winnie the Pooh'', and once for Short Animated Film Direction for ''John Henry''.
In 2013, Henn was the recipient of the
Winsor McCay Award
The Winsor McCay Award is given to individuals in recognition of lifetime or career contributions to the art of animation in producing, directing, animating, design, writing, voice acting, sound and sound effects, technical work, music, professio ...
for lifetime achievement in animation.
On August 11, 2024, Henn was honored by the Walt Disney Company as a
Disney Legend at the
Honda Center
Honda Center (formerly known as the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim) is an indoor arena located in Anaheim, California. The arena is home to the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League.
Originally named the Anaheim Arena during construction, it w ...
in
Anaheim, California
Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States, part of the Greater Los Angeles area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orang ...
at the conclusion of that year's
D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event. The actresses who played the five Disney Princesses for whom he had served as the supervising animator―
Jodi Benson
Jodi Benson (née Marzorati; born October 10, 1961) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for providing the voice of Ariel (The Little Mermaid), Ariel in The Walt Disney Company, Disney's ''The Little Mermaid (1989 film), The Litt ...
,
Paige O'Hara,
Anika Noni Rose
Anika Noni Rose (born September 6, 1972) is an American actress. She is best known for voicing Tiana (The Princess and the Frog), Tiana in ''The Princess and the Frog'' (2009). She was named a Disney Legends, Disney Legend in 2011.
Rose starred ...
,
Linda Larkin
Linda Larkin (born March 20, 1970) is an American voice actress, best known for her role as the speaking voice of Princess Jasmine in Disney's 1992 animated feature film ''Aladdin''.
Career
Larkin began her career in 1990, with the film '' Zap ...
, and
Ming-Na Wen―appeared together on stage to express their gratitude to Henn for creating such memorable animated characters.
Personal life
In 1981, Henn married Deborah Lou Hall and has two children. In 1998, he started a hobby in
sculpting
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
to celebrate American history. He is a
Christian
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
.
Filmography
References
External links
*
Personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henn, Mark
1958 births
Living people
American Christians
American sculptors
Animators from Ohio
Film directors from Ohio
California Institute of the Arts alumni
Disney Legends
Sculptors from Ohio
Walt Disney Animation Studios people