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Tony Bancroft is an American animator and film director who frequently collaborates with
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 ...
. He is the founder and owner of the faith-driven animation company Toonacious Family Entertainment. Tony is the Executive VP Creative Development and Production for DivideNine Animation Studios.


Life and career

A native Californian, Bancroft grew up in Orange County. 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 associat ...
, he enrolled in the character animation program at CalArts. This led to a summer job as a production assistant with filmmaker
Ralph Bakshi Ralph Bakshi (; born October 29, 1938) is a Mandatory Palestine-born American retired animator and filmmaker, known for his fantastical animated films. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent anim ...
and ultimately to an internship in California with Disney Feature Animation followed by a full-time position at the new
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 ...
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. During his one-year stay in Florida, he had his first official assignment as an assistant cleanup animator on
Roger Rabbit Roger Rabbit is a fictional 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 ...
in ''Roller Coaster Rabbit''. This was followed by a credit as animating assistant on ''The Rescuers Down Under'' 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'' and ''Aladdin'' before being promoted to supervising animator role on ''The Lion King''. After working on the character design and some preliminary animation for the gargoyle characters in ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'', he was tapped to join Barry Cook as a director on ''Mulan''. He was animation supervisor on ''Stuart Little 2'' at
Sony Pictures Imageworks Sony Pictures Imageworks Inc. (simply known as Imageworks) is a visual effects and computer animation studio headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia and Montreal, Quebec, with an additional office on the Sony Pictures Studios lot in Culver C ...
during 2002, and founded Toonacious that same year. Bancroft also served as English voice director on
Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, filmmaker, and manga artist. He co-founded Studio Ghibli and serves as honorary chairman. Throughout his career, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Anime, Japanese ani ...
's ''
Porco Rosso is a 1992 Japanese Anime, animated Adventure film, adventure fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, based on his 1989 manga ''Hikōtei Jidai''. The film stars the voices of Shūichirō Moriyama, Tokiko Kato, Akemi Okamura and Akio ...
'' in 2003. In 2012, Bancroft authored the book: ''Directing for Animation : Everything You Didn't Learn in Art School'' published by
Focal Press Focal Press is a publisher of creative and applied media books and it is an imprint of Routledge/Taylor & Francis. Company history The firm was founded in London in 1938 by Andor Kraszna-Krausz, a Hungarian photographer who migrated to England ...
. The book explores the directing process, with insights from noted directors including
Dean DeBlois Dean Allan DeBlois ( ; born June 7, 1970) is a Canadian filmmaker and writer. He is best known for co-writing and directing the Oscar-nominated animated feature films '' Lilo & Stitch'' (2002) for Walt Disney Animation Studios (with Chris Sande ...
,
Pete Docter Peter Hans Docter (born October 9, 1968) is an American filmmaker and animator, who has served as chief creative officer (CCO) of Pixar since 2018. He has directed the company's animated films ''Monsters, Inc.'' (2001), ''Up (2009 film), Up'' ( ...
, Eric Goldberg, Tim Miller,
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 ...
, Jennifer Yuh Nelson,
Nick Park Nicholas Wulstan Park (born 6 December 1958) is an English filmmaker and animator who created '' Wallace & Gromit'', '' Creature Comforts'', '' Chicken Run'', '' Shaun the Sheep'', and '' Early Man''. Park has been nominated for an Academy ...
and
Chris Wedge John Christian Wedge (born March 20, 1957) is an American filmmaker, animator, and voice actor. He is best known for being the lead animator of the sci-fi action film ''Tron'' (1982), co-founding the now defunct animation studio Blue Sky Studios ...
. 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 work includes animated characters for Walt Disney Animation Studios films, most notably leading or titular characters and heroines. He served as the lead animator f ...
in July 2018 live show presented via Skype, for animation classes at
Lipscomb University Lipscomb University is a Private university, private Christian university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. It is affiliated with the Churches of Christ. The campus is located in the Green Hills, Nashville, Tennessee, Green Hills neighborho ...
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 Azusa Pacific University (APU) is a private evangelical research university in Azusa, California, United States. The university was founded in 1899 in Whittier, California, with classes first held on March 3, 1900, and degrees offered in 193 ...
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''. Bancroft is currently a storyboard artist at
Warner Bros. Animation Warner Bros. Animation Inc. (abbreviated as WBA) is an American animation studio which is part of the Warner Bros. Television Group, a division of Warner Bros., which is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery and serves as the animation divis ...
, 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 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 ...
, and highly credits God for his talents as an animator and director.


Filmography


Awards

* In 1998, Bancroft received the
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 ...
for ''Outstanding Achievement in Directing'', along with co-director
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 ...
for ''
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 ...
''. * 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 p ...
Award for ''Best Character Animation in an Animated Motion Picture'', along with David Schaub, Eric Armstrong, and Sean Mullen, for
Stuart Little 2 ''Stuart Little 2'' is a 2002 American live-action/animated comedy film loosely based on E.B. White's novel ''Stuart Little''. Directed by Rob Minkoff and screenplay by Bruce Joel Rubin, the film stars Geena Davis, Hugh Laurie, and Jonathan ...
. * 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 American animated film directors American animated film producers Film producers from California 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 Year of birth missing (living people) Warner Bros. Animation people