Mike Gabriel (born November 5, 1954) is an American

animator An animator is an artist who creates images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video games. Animat ...

and

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

, best known 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 ...

and as co-director of the Disney animated films '' The Rescuers Down Under'' (1990) and ''

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).

Early life

He was born in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

, although he grew up in various small towns like Salina, Kansas while moving around due to his father's

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

job.Mike Gabriel
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Career

Gabriel was inspired with animation after watching ''

Sleeping Beauty "Sleeping Beauty" (, or ''The Beauty Sleeping in the Wood''; , or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess curse, cursed by an evil fairy to suspended animation in fi ...

'' (1959) at the age of five. Soon after, he started drawing and practicing it for six hours every day to meet his goal as an Animation Director. It was in 1979 when he got his first chance to make his debut. Gabriel originally began his career as an assistant 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). He later was assigned as a Disney animator on the animated short '' Fun with Mr. Future'' (1982). He was mentored under Eric Larson's training program, and went to work on '' The Black Cauldron'' (1985). He also served as an animator on ''

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), '' Technological Threat'' and '' Oliver & Company'' (1988). Hendel Butoy joined Gabriel to direct '' The Rescuers Down Under'', a sequel to the 1977 Disney animated film ''

The Rescuers ''The Rescuers'' is a 1977 American Animated film, animated adventure film, adventure comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Buena Vista Distribution. Bob Newhart and Eva Gabor respectively star as Bernard and B ...

'', while Eric Goldberg and Gabriel collaborated on ''

''. In 2004, Gabriel directed an animated short for Disney entitled '' Lorenzo'', a hybrid of traditional and

computer animation Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating Film, moving images. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both still images and moving images, while computer animation refers to moving images. Virtu ...

about a lazy cat who has a spell cast on his tail that forces it to tango with him.

Accolades

''Lorenzo'' was nominated for the 2005 Academy Award for Best Animated Short. It was also included in the Animation Show of Shows in 2004.

Personal life

He was hired to re-design the Walt Disney cinematic logo which plays before every

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

picture since 2006.

Filmography

References

External links

* 1954 births Living people American storyboard artists Animators from California American art directors American production designers American animated film directors American male screenwriters Animation screenwriters Film directors from California Walt Disney Animation Studios people Mass media people from Long Beach, California {{US-animator-stub