The Lion King 1994 premiere
Tuesday June 14th, Radio City Music Hall 1260 6th Ave, New York, NY 10020
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- Actor
- Producer
- Director
British actor Jeremy Irons was born in Cowes, Isle of Wight, a small island off the south coast of England. He is the son of Barbara Anne Brereton (Sharpe) and Paul Dugan Irons, an accountant. Young Jeremy didn't prove very fond of figures. He visited mainland England only once a year. He wound up being grounded when his family settled down in Hertfordshire. At the age of 13 he enrolled in Sherborne School, Dorset, where he could practice his favorite sport, horse-riding. Before becoming an actor, he had considered a veterinarian surgeon's career.
He trained at the Bristol Old Vic School for two years, then joined Bristol Old Vic repertory company where he gained experience working in everything from Shakespeare to contemporary dramas. He moved to London in 1971 and had a number of jobs before landing the role of "John the Baptist" in the hit musical "Godspell". He went on to have a successful early career in the West End theatre and on TV, and debuted on-screen in Nijinsky (1980). In the early 80s, he gained international attention with his starring role in the Granada Television serial adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's classic novel Brideshead Revisited (1981), after which he was much in demand as a romantic leading man. He went on to a steady film career. In 1984, he debuted on Broadway opposite: Glenn Close in Tom Stoppard's "The Real Thing" and, in the mid-80s, he appeared in three lead roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Once described as 'the thinking woman's pin up', he has made his name in thought provoking films such as David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers (1988), for which he won the New York Critics Best Actor Award. He gained a Golden Globe Award in addition to an Oscar for Best Actor in 1990 for his role as Claus von Bulow in Reversal of Fortune (1990) alongside Glenn Close. Among his many achievements, his role as Professor Higgins in Loewe-Lerner's famous musical "My Fair Lady" mustn't be forgotten. It was in London, back in 1987.
He is married to actress Sinéad Cusack, with whom he appeared in Waterland (1992) and in the Royal Shakespeare Company plays. He appeared with his son Samuel Irons and his father-in-law Cyril Cusack in the film Danny the Champion of the World (1989). His son Max Irons is also an actor.- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Rob Minkoff was born on 11 August 1962 in Palo Alto, California, USA. He is a producer and director, known for The Lion King (1994), Stuart Little 2 (2002) and The Forbidden Kingdom (2008). He has been married to Crystal Kung Minkoff since 29 September 2007. They have two children.- Director
- Writer
- Animation Department
Roger Allers is an American animated film director and writer who is known for co-directing the influential 1994 Disney musical film The Lion King. He also worked on Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Little Mermaid. He was intended to direct the musical drama Kingdom of the Sun, which got retooled into the 2000 comedy The Emperor's New Groove.- Animation Department
- Art Department
- Director
Tony Bancroft has spent the past 16 years developing his skills as an Animator/Director with Walt Disney Feature Animation, Sony Imageworks, and currently with Toonacious Family Entertainment, his own animation studio.
Tony was accepted into the exclusive, Disney-sponsored California Institute of the Arts (Cal-Arts) after graduating from high school in 1987. While there, his work caught the attention of Walt Disney Studios. He was offered a position in the prestigious Feature Animation division in 1989.
Following his work on such feature length productions as "The Rescuers Down Under", "Beauty and the Beast", and "Aladdin", Tony was appointed Supervising Animator on the 1992 Academy Award winning feature "The Lion King", and was responsible for creating, designing and overseeing the animation of Pumbaa, the warthog.
His exemplary work led, at the age of 30, to the opportunity to co-direct Disney's 36th animation masterpiece, "Mulan". "Mulan's" 1998 release grossed over $300 million worldwide. It earned Tony an Annie Award for Best Director, the animation industry's highest honor. He was also the Supervising Animator of the character Kronk in Disney's Christmas 2000 release of "The Emperor's New Groove".
Tony also served as the Animation Director for Sony Pictures' summer 2002 release, "Stuart Little 2" and, in 2003, was voice director of the English language version of the Miyasaki film "Porco Rosso" through Walt Disney Studios.
In 2001, with his two partners, Tony started Toonacious Family Entertainment, as Executive VP/Creative Production. Using his 16 years experience in the animation industry, Tony has helped to make Toonacious an animation studio committed to producing quality family entertainment.
Along with developing their own projects, Toonacious, through his direction, successfully completed Disney's "Thumper's Story-time", a Lilo and Stitch short, "The Origin of Stitch" and is currently involved with Disney's direct-to-DVD "Tinkerbell" project.
Tony resides in Burbank, California with his wife, Rene, and their three children.- Music Artist
- Actor
- Music Department
Sir Elton John is one of pop music's great survivors. Born 25 March, 1947, as Reginald Kenneth Dwight, he started to play the piano at the early age of four. At the age of 11, he won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. His first band was called Bluesology. He later auditioned (unsuccessfully) as lead singer for the progressive rock bands King Crimson and Gentle Giant. Dwight teamed up with lyricist Bernie Taupin and changed his name to Elton John (merging the names of saxophonist Elton Dean and Long John Baldry). The duo wrote songs for Lulu and Roger Cook. In the early 1970s, he recorded the concept album "Tumbleweed Connection." He became the most successful pop artist of the 1970s, and he has survived many different pop fads including punk, the New Romantics and Britpop to remain one of Britain's most internationally acclaimed musicians.
Elton John announced he was a bisexual in 1976, and in 1984, he married Renate Blauel. The marriage lasted four years before he finally came to terms with the fact that he was actually homosexual. In the 1970s and 1980s, he suffered from drug and alcohol addiction and bulimia but came through it. He is well known as a campaigner for AIDS research and he keeps his finger on the pulse of modern music, enjoying artists such as Eminem, Radiohead, Coldplay and Robbie Williams. He was knighted in 1997.- Music Department
- Writer
- Producer
A prolific lyricist and librettist, Tim Rice was born in Amersham, Buckinghamshire. He was educated at Aldwickbury School in Hertfordshire, St Albans School and finally Lancing College. He briefly attended Sorbonne Université. He was considering a legal career around the time that he met Andrew Lloyd Webber in 1965. Three years later, the two young men composed a 20-minute pop oratorio that would eventually become "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat". The piece was premiered on 1st March 1968 at the Colet Court School in the City of London. During the following months, Rice and Webber lengthened the oratorio to 30 minutes, and a record album of "Joseph" (with Rice singing the role of "Pharaoh") was made at the end of 1968.
Remaining in partnership with Webber, his next project was "Jesus Christ Superstar". Introduced to the public as a concept album in 1970, the opera propelled Rice and Webber to international stardom. Staged versions appeared the following year, and their popularity led to the film Jesus Christ Superstar (1973).
Following "Superstar", Rice and Webber returned to their previous project and expanded it into (more or less) its finalised form. The concept album for "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" was released in 1974.
Inexplicably eclipsed by his collaborator, Rice may never have received the acclaim that he deserved for his contributions to the partnership. The death-throws of the Rice-Webber collaboration produced a third opera, called "Evita". Its concept album was released in 1976.
Rice continued on with a piece called "Blondel", which appeared in 1983. Set to music by Stephen Oliver, "Blondel" was arguably the most comic and witty of Rice's major works. The opera "Chess" followed, with its concept album arriving in 1984. Former ABBA songwriters Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson provided the music for "Chess", and the concept album was an international hit. "Chess" was staged in London in 1986 with great success, but the 1988 Broadway production was radically revised without Rice's knowledge or permission, and it was quickly shut down.
In 1987 Rice was asked by Freddie Mercury and Mike Moran to write lyrics for Freddie's album with Montserrat Caballé "Barcelona", released in 1988, one entitled "The Fallen Priest" and the other "The Golden Boy".
In 1991, he was hired to finish the lyrics for the Walt Disney film Aladdin (1992). Disney subsequently teamed him with Elton John for The Lion King (1994). Rice also composed additional lyrics for the stage version of Disney's film Beauty and the Beast (1991), which opened on Broadway in 1994. A stage version of The Lion King (1994) opened on Broadway in 1997, as he was working with Elton John on two new projects - "Aida", which opened on Broadway in 2000, and the Dreamworks film The Road to El Dorado (2000).
The 1991 to 2000 period also saw a flurry of activity for Tim Rice's earlier works. Major revival productions of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" and "Jesus Christ Superstar" were staged in many parts of the world. Additionally, there was the film Evita (1996), as well as the video-films Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat (1991), and Jesus Christ Superstar (2000).
Apart from theatre and film, Rice has written recurring columns for UK newspapers, as well as having shown up regularly on BBC Radio and Television. In 1973, he founded a cricket side - The Heartaches - for which he serves as a manager as well as a player. He also makes regular contributions to various cricket magazines. He continues to have projects in development for the theatre and for film. Most anxiously awaited - especially by audiences in Canada and the United States - is, perhaps, a revival of the authentic 1986 London version of "Chess".- Animation Department
- Art Department
- Actor
Michael Surrey was born on 17 August 1964. He is an actor, known for Tarzan (1999), Aladdin (1992) and Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001).- Animation Department
- Art Department
Ruben A. Aquino was born on 18 December 1953 in Okinawa, Japan. He is known for Mulan (1998), The Little Mermaid (1989) and Meet the Robinsons (2007).- Visual Effects
- Animation Department
- Art Department
Scott F. Johnston is known for The Lion King (1994), Pacific Rim (2013) and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011).- Actor
- Director
- Producer
A slight comic actor chiefly known for his boyish charm, Matthew Broderick was born on March 21, 1962 in New York City, to Patricia Broderick (née Biow), a playwright and painter, and James Broderick, an actor. His father had Irish and English ancestry, and his mother was from a Jewish family (from Germany and Poland).
Matthew initially took up acting at New York's upper-crust Walden School after being sidelined from his athletic pursuits (football and soccer) by a knee injury. His father got him his stage debut at age 17 in a workshop production of the play "On Valentine's Day". Matthew's career then accelerated with parts in two Neil Simon projects: the play "Brighton Beach Memoirs" (1982-83) and the feature film Max Dugan Returns (1983). Broderick reprised the role of Eugene in "Biloxi Blues" (1988), the second installment of the Simon trilogy, for both the Broadway production and the film adaptation (Biloxi Blues (1988)). For the third and final installment of the trilogy, he was replaced by Jonathan Silverman. In 1983, the same year as Max Dugan Returns (1983), Broderick had his first big-screen success in the light comedy WarGames (1983). Since then he has had his fair share of hits and misses, with some of his better films including Project X (1987) also starring Helen Hunt, whom he subsequently dated; Addicted to Love (1997); and Inspector Gadget (1999). Other films he has appeared in which may be known but not so much respected include Out on a Limb (1992) with his Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) co-star Jeffrey Jones; The Night We Never Met (1993); The Road to Wellville (1994); and The Cable Guy (1996) with Jim Carrey, which got him an MTV "Best Fight" award nomination; and the MTV film Election (1999) with Reese Witherspoon. In 1985 he was involved in a controversial car crash while driving in Ireland with his then fiancée Jennifer Grey. The crash killed a woman and her daughter. Broderick paid a small fine to the family of the victims. He broke his leg in the accident, which happened just as Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), his biggest hit, was coming out in the US. The box office success (but critical flop) and special effects blockbuster Godzilla (1998) gave Broderick his first action role (should any "Godzilla" sequels be planned, he is under contract for two more). He has occasionally returned to the stage in New York, either in revivals of old musical warhorses such as "How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying" or in revivals of old "show people"plays, such as "Night Must Fall". In 1996 Broderick attempted to wear three hats as co-producer/director/actor in Infinity (1996), working very closely with his mother, who also wrote the screenplay. It was not a critical or commercial success, and he has not directed or produced since. Since May 1997 he has been married to actress Sarah Jessica Parker. He was previously engaged to both Helen Hunt and dated Lili Taylor. In 1999 he donned a trenchcoat for the children's film Inspector Gadget (1999), alongside Rupert Everett as the evil villain Claw. In March 2001 Broderick returned to Broadway in the musical smash "The Producers" (based on the 1968 Mel Brooks film of the same name). He was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, which he lost to his co-star, Nathan Lane.- Additional Crew
- Director
- Actress
Barnette Ricci was born on 17 June 1947 in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. She is a director and actress, known for Fantasmic! (1992), A Magic Kingdom Yuletide Special (1985) and Golden Anniversary of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1987).- Music Department
- Composer
Bruce Healey is known for Fantasmic! (1992), Disney's Fantillusion! (1995) and Sayonara Disney's Fantillusion! (2001).- Producer
- Writer
- Director
Roy Edward Disney began working for the Walt Disney Company as an assistant film editor on the True-Life Adventure film in 1954. In 1967, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the company. In 1984, he returned to the company as vice chairman of the board, and head of the animation department. On October 16, 1998, in a surprise presentation made at the newly unveiled Disney Legends Plaza at the company's headquarters, Disney Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner presented him with the prestigious Disney Legends Award.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Cheech Marin was born on 13 July 1946 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Born in East L.A. (1987), Tin Cup (1996) and Up in Smoke (1978). He has been married to Natasha Rubin since 8 August 2009. He was previously married to Rikki Marin and Patti Heid.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Whoopi Goldberg was born Caryn Elaine Johnson in the Chelsea section of Manhattan on November 13, 1955. Her mother, Emma (Harris), was a teacher and a nurse, and her father, Robert James Johnson, Jr., was a clergyman. Whoopi's recent ancestors were from Georgia, Florida, and Virginia. She worked in a funeral parlor and as a bricklayer while taking small parts on Broadway. She moved to California and worked with improv groups, including Spontaneous Combustion, and developed her skills as a stand-up comedienne. Goldberg came to prominence doing an HBO special and a one-woman show as Moms Mabley. She has been known in her prosperous career as a unique and socially conscious talent with articulately liberal views. Among her boyfriends were Ted Danson and Frank Langella. Goldberg was married three times and was once addicted to drugs.
Goldberg had her first big film starring role in The Color Purple (1985). She received much critical acclaim, and an Oscar nomination for her role and became a major star as a result. Subsequent efforts in the late 1980s were, at best, marginal hits. These movies mostly were off-beat to formulaic comedies like Burglar (1987), The Telephone (1988) and Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986). She made her mark as a household name and a mainstay in Hollywood for her Oscar-winning role in the box office smash Ghost (1990). Whoopi Goldberg was at her most famous in the early 1990s, making regular appearances on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987). She admitted to being a huge fan of the original Star Trek (1966) series and jumped at the opportunity to star in "Star Trek: The Next Generation".
Goldberg received another smash hit role in Sister Act (1992). Her fish-out-of-water with some flash seemed to resonate with audiences and it was a box office smash. Whoopi starred in some highly publicized and moderately successful comedies of this time, including Made in America (1993) and Soapdish (1991). Goldberg followed up to her success with Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993), which was well-received but did not seem to match up to the first.
As the late 1990s approached, Goldberg seemed to alternate between lead roles in straight comedies such as Eddie (1996) and The Associate (1996), and took supporting parts in more independent minded movies, such as The Deep End of the Ocean (1999) and How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998). Goldberg never forgot where she came from, hosting many tributes to other legendary entertainment figures. Her most recent movies include Rat Race (2001) and the quietly received Kingdom Come (2001). Goldberg contributes her voice to many cartoons, including The Pagemaster (1994) and Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1990), as Gaia, the voice of the earth. Alternating between big-budget movies, independent movies, tributes, documentaries, and even television movies (including Theodore Rex (1995)).
Whoopi is accredited as a truly unique and visible talent in Hollywood. Perhaps she will always be remembered as well for Comic Relief, playing an integral part in almost every benefit concert they had. Whoopi is also the center square in Hollywood Squares (1998), sometimes hosts the Academy Awards, and is an author, with the book "Book."- Cinematographer
- Director
- Editor
Noah Hutton is a writer and director of documentary and narrative films. He was nominated for the 2021 Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay for Lapsis, a sci-fi feature he wrote, directed, scored, and edited, which premiered in the narrative feature competition at SXSW 2020 and was acquired by Film Movement for theatrical release in 2021. In 2020 he completed In Silico, a ten-year documentary begun in 2009 and supported by Sandbox Films and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation about a ten-year project to simulate the human brain on supercomputers. Previously he directed the documentary features Deep Time (SXSW 2015) and Crude Independence (SXSW 2009).- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Tatum Beatrice O'Neal is an American actress and author. She is the youngest person ever to win a competitive Academy Award, winning at age 10 for her performance as Addie Loggins in Paper Moon (1973) opposite her father, Ryan O'Neal. She also starred as Amanda Wurlitzer in The Bad News Bears (1976), followed by Nickelodeon (1976), and Little Darlings (1980). O'Neal later appeared in guest roles in Sex and the City, 8 Simple Rules and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. From 2006 to 2007, she portrayed Blythe Hunter in the My Network TV drama series Wicked Wicked Games.- Samuel Irons was born on 16 September 1978. He is an actor, known for Danny the Champion of the World (1989), Danny and the Dirty Dog: The Making of 'Roald Dahl's Danny the Champion of the World' (1989) and Giffoni Film Festival (1990).
- Maximilian Paul Diarmuid Irons is an English-Irish actor and model. He is known for his roles in Red Riding Hood (2011), The White Queen and The Host (2013), Woman in Gold and The Riot Club (2014), his first leading role in Bitter Harvest (2017), and The Wife (2018). Irons also played the lead role of Joseph Turner in the spy thriller series Condor (2018-2020).
- Actress
- Writer
Emily McEnroe, born in Los Angeles and raised in New York City, is an actor, voice actor, and singer who made her acting debut in the feature film Futra Days starring opposite Rosanna Arquette and Tania Raymonde. Additionally, Emily was Scarlett Johansson's voice double for Ghost In The Shell. Most recently, Emily shot an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm which will air on their upcoming season.- Producer
Dick Cook was born on 20 August 1950 in Kern County, California, USA. He is a producer, known for 42 (2013), The Alchemyst and Ranger's Apprentice. He has been married to Bonnie S. Drury since 6 July 1974. They have two children.- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Hallie Eisenberg was born August 2, 1992, in East Brunswick, New Jersey, to parents Amy and Barry Eisenberg, who are both professors in the health care field. Beginning her acting career at age 4, Hallie has appeared in many films including The Insider with Al Pacino and Russell Crowe, and Bicentennial Man with Robin Williams, as well as the Broadway production of The Women. She also starred in a series of commercials for Pepsi with guest stars such as Faith Hill, KISS, Aretha Franklin, and Jeff Gordon. Her older brother is Academy Award nominee Jesse Eisenberg.- Actress
- Costume and Wardrobe Department
- Executive
Anna Wintour was born in Hampstead, London, England, the daughter of an American mother, Eleanor Trego (Baker), and an English father, Charles Wintour, former Editor of the Evening Standard. She is from an upper-class family, with many prominent ancestors. She started her career in 1970, working in the fashion department at Harpers & Queen in London. Six years later, she joined its sister New York publication Harper's Bazaar as its Fashion Editor. After a stint as Senior Editor at New York magazine, controlling the title's fashion and lifestyle coverage, Wintour was named Creative Director of American Vogue in 1983. British Vogue hired her back as Editor in Chief for two years. In 1988, she rejoined American Vogue as Editor-in-Chief and in that capacity, has helped raise over $10 million for AIDS charities since 1990.
Like her image, Wintour's daily regime is legendary. Now based in Manhattan, she wakes up at 5:45am every morning, plays tennis for an hour before being professionally made-up, coiffed and chauffeured to the offices of American Vogue. Though one of New York's most prolific party throwers, she never stays at any one event for more than the first ten minutes, preferring to be in bed by 10pm.
Wintour has held the position of Editor-in-Chief of Vogue since July 1988, and was named Artistic Director of Condé Nast in March 2013. In addition to editing Vogue, Wintour executed the development and successful launch of Teen Vogue in 2001, and serves as Editorial Director for the title. Wintour's career has included positions at Harpers & Queen, Harper's Bazaar, New York Magazine, HG, and British Vogue. During her tenure at Vogue, Wintour has been actively involved in philanthropic fundraising, particularly for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute, for which she has raised more than $100 million. She has been the recipient of numerous awards for her leadership and charitable efforts, including the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Lifetime Achievement Award and the Award of Courage for AIDS Research from the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amFAR). In 2008, Wintour was appointed to the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her service to British journalism and fashion. In October 2009, President Obama appointed Wintour to the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. Most recently, in 2011 she was awarded the Legion d'Honneur by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Wintour also serves as an Elective Trustee of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.- Ronald O. Perelman was born on 1 January 1943 in Greensboro, North Carolina, USA. He was previously married to Ellen Barkin, Patricia Duff and Claudia Cohen.
- Producer
- Writer
- Executive
For four decades, Michael Eisner has been a leader in the American entertainment industry. He began his career at ABC, overseeing shows including Happy Days, Barney Miller, and Roots. He became president of Paramount Pictures in 1976, turning out hit films including Raiders of the Lost Ark, Saturday Night Fever, and Grease. IN 1984 Michael assumed the position of Chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company and, in the ensuing 21 years, transformed it from a film and theme park company worth $1.8 billion into a global media empire now valued at over $170 billion. In 2005, Michael founded The Tornante Company, a privately held media & entertainment holding company. Today Tornante owns Topps, Inc., Portsmouth Football Club in England, and has a large and growing television division, including ownership of BoJack Horseman and Tucca and Bertie for Netflix, as well as Undone for Amazon. He and his wife, Jane, founded The Eisner Foundation in 1996 and recently focused the foundation on inter-generational solutions. He was born on March 7, 1942 in New York and later attended Lawrenceville School and Denison University. He and Jane have three sons, Breck, Eric and Anders and three daughters-in-law, plus nine grandchildren.- Actress
- Director
Born March 6, 1968 in Queens, New York, she is the third of six kids. Her father, Peter, was trained as a concert violinist. Her mother, Anne, is a nurse. Both are Irish immigrants. Moira was raised in Ronkonkoma, NY. She attended Connetquot Senior High School and graduated in the class of 1986. Later Moira attended Marymount Manhattan College. In 1984 Moira was cast in a small role in Connetquot Senior High School's production of Annie. Due to illness, the young woman playing Miss Hannigan was replaced, causing a series of cast changes. Director Eric Martinsen chose to recast Moira as Grace Farrell. She was a great success, and so began her career.- Music Artist
- Composer
- Music Department
Joseph Williams was born on 1 September 1960 in Santa Monica, California, USA. He is a music artist and composer, known for The Lion King (1994), The Goonies (1985) and Pitch Perfect (2012). He has been married to Amye Williams since 17 October 1992. They have three children.- Animation Department
- Director
- Art Department
Mark Henn was born on 6 April 1958 in Dayton, Ohio, USA. He is a director, known for The Lion King (1994), Winnie the Pooh (2011) and Mulan (1998). He has been married to Debra Lou Hall since 1 August 1981.- Actor
- Director
- Soundtrack
Jonathan Taylor Thomas was born Jonathan Taylor Weiss on September 8, 1981 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to Claudine (Gonsalves) and Stephen Weiss. He has an older brother, Joel, and has Pennsylvania Dutch (German) and Portuguese ancestry. Growing up, he liked the music group Boyz II Men, and his favorite TV shows were Roseanne (1988) and Grace Under Fire (1993), but he also liked watching CNN news, to keep up to date with current events. One thing that Jonathan does not like is meat. He has been a vegetarian since he was four years old, and he doesn't use products that are tested on animals because he believes that it is wrong to hurt them.
When Jonathan was four years old, his family moved from Bethlehem to Sacramento, California. At the age of seven, Jonathan was working as a model for print advertisements in Sacramento, and over the next few years, he appeared in TV commercials for Kelloggs cereal, Mattel toys and for many other products. By this time, Jonathan was ready for bigger roles, and in 1989, he landed the part of Greg Brady's son Kevin in the TV special The Bradys (1990). In 1990, he landed his biggest role yet, as Randy Taylor on Home Improvement (1991). Jonathan's audition went well, but what really gave him an edge over the other boys was that the casting directors thought that he looked a lot like his TV dad-to-be, Tim Allen.
In 1991, Jonathan's parents divorced. He lived with his mother and his brother. He began work in feature length movies, as the voice of young Simba in Disney's The Lion King (1994), and as Ben Archer in Man of the House (1995) opposite Chevy Chase. Among his other movies are Tom and Huck (1995), The Adventures of Pinocchio (1996), Wild America (1997), and I'll Be Home for Christmas (1998).- Actor
- Soundtrack
Born on July 18, 1979 in Chicago, Illinois, Jason Weaver has always been surrounded by the world of entertainment. His mother Kitty Haywood, a legendary studio singer, was a staple in his young life and encouraged his pursuit of singing as well as acting. In being surrounded by the some of the best entertainers to date, Jason learned some of the most intricate works of the industry and found himself even more intrigued and driven in his goal of stardom.
Weaver got his break in acting as a kid named Ernie, in the movie, "The Kid Who Loved Christmas". By the age of 12, Jason had appeared in two other projects; "The Long Walk Home", a film by Whoopi Goldberg and "Brewster's Place", a television series produced by Oprah Winfrey. Having been successful in his previous three roles, it was imminent that this young man's career would be of legendary status. In 1992, Weaver landed the role of a lifetime. He was cast to play the young and most talented Michael Jackson in the small screen film, "The Jackson's: An American Dream." This made for television movie garnered him raved reviews and proved to be a launching pad for other areas of his career.
1993 branded Weaver in one of the two most notable roles of his career. Playing alongside Brandy in the television series "Thea", Jason continued his acting success until the abrupt cancellation of the show later that year. Weaver landed a role in one of the top Disney film's in 1994. Jason was blessed with the opportunity to display his other talent; singing. He graced us with his passionate sound as the singing voice of Simba in the box office hit, "The Lion King". In 1997, he continued his on screen success as teenage sibling, Marcus Henderson, in the hit television series "Smart Guy".
After a two year hiatus, Jason was back at it with a role in the civil rights movie, "Freedom Song", starring Danny Glover and Loretta Divine, to name a few. The turn of the millennium also brought about a huge turn in Weaver's career. In 2002, he enjoyed a highly successful role as Earnest in the mega hit movie "Drumline", opposite Nick Cannon. The movie was set in Jason's hometown of Atlanta. In 2004, Weaver followed the success of "Drumline" with a role in "The Lady Killers", starring Tom Hank.
In 2006, Jason Weaver was back in Atlanta to shoot "ATL", starring T.I. The Chris Robinson film was set in a roller rink and depicted the life of a teenage male that deals with the everyday struggles of finance, school, and friendship, but finds solace in a female that he meets at the roller rink he frequents. Let it be known that TI's female costar is not as she appears. The movie was a huge box office success.
In addition to Jason's enormous success as an actor, he sets his site on his other love, music. After releasing only one of his two albums with Motown in the early 90s, Weaver enjoyed short lived success from "Love Ambition". He has since refocused his energy and dedication to long hours in the studio in pursuit of his musical dreams. The 2004 hit, "One Call Away" by Chingy, featured a rejuvenated Weaver singing the hook. This single topped the Billboard 100 chart at #2 in the U.S and #26 in the UK. In late 2006, Jason worked with BG on his new album and did several collaborations with close friend and super producer/writer Roger "Mista Raja" Green on his album, "Chip off the Ol' Block", due to be released in mid 2007.
With Weaver's long list of accomplishments in his star career, many power hitters in the entertainment industry suggest that this Hollywood story is only at its midpoint. Jason is set to release his second album, entitled, "Declaration of Independance", in early summer 2007.- Animation Department
- Art Department
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Andreas Deja was born on 1 April 1957 in Gdansk, Pomorskie, Poland. He is an assistant director, known for Mushka (2023), The Princess and the Frog (2009) and Winnie the Pooh (2011).- Actor
- Soundtrack
Widely regarded as the one of greatest stage and screen actors both in his native USA and internationally, James Earl Jones was born on January 17, 1931 in Arkabutla, Mississippi. At an early age, he started to take dramatic lessons to calm himself down. It appeared to work as he has since starred in many films over a 40-year period, beginning with the Stanley Kubrick classic Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). For several movie fans, he is probably best known for his role as Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy (due to his contribution for the voice of the role, as the man in the Darth Vader suit was David Prowse, whose voice was dubbed because of his British West Country accent). In his brilliant course of memorable performances, among others, he has also appeared on the animated series The Simpsons (1989) three times and played Mufasa both in The Lion King (1994) and The Lion King (2019), while he returned too as the voice of Darth Vader in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016).- Animation Department
- Art Department
- Actor
Tony Fucile was born in 1964 in San Francisco, California, USA. He is an actor, known for The Incredibles (2004), The Iron Giant (1999) and Ratatouille (2007). He is married to Stacey. They have two children.- Actress
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Sally Gail Dworsky is an American singer and actress who is known for providing the singing voices of Nala from The Lion King and Miriam from The Prince of Egypt. Her songs "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" and "When You Believe" were nominated for Best Original Song, with "When You Believe" winning in the 1998 Academy Awards.- Animation Department
- Director
- Art Department
Aaron Blaise is an animator and filmmaker. He was born in 17 February 1968 at Burlington, Vermont, United States and completed his graduation from Ringling College of Art and Design. He is known for his work on Brother Bear (2003), Aladdin (1992) and Beauty and the Beast (1991). He was nominated for Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film.- Animation Department
- Art Department
Anthony de Rosa is known for Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003), Hercules (1997) and Zootopia (2016).- Actress
- Producer
Niketa Calame was born in Los Angeles, California She is most noted for her role as the original voice of "Young Nala" in Disney's 32nd Animated Feature Film, "The Lion King". She received her Masters Of Fine Arts from The Actors Studio Drama School in New York and her B.A from University of California at Santa Cruz. Actress/Professor/Photographer- Actress
- Soundtrack
Laura Williams was born on 22 April 1979 in Oceanside, California, USA. She is an actress, known for The Lion King (1994), Downtown (1990) and Luster (2002).- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Nathan Lane is an American actor and singer from New Jersey who is known for playing Timon from The Lion King, Spot Helperman/Scott Leadready II from Teacher's Pet, Max Bialystock from The Producers, Snowball from Stuart Little, Hamegg from Astro Boy and Ernie Smuntz from Mouse Hunt. He is married to his husband Devlin Elliott since 2015.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Ernie Sabella is an American actor and singer from Westchester County, New York who is widely known for voicing Pumbaa the Warthog, Timon's best friend from The Lion King franchise except for the 2019 reboot. He also acted in Mouse Hunt, That's So Raven, In & Out, Cheers, and Seinfeld. He is married to Cheryl, a computer programmer.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Robert Peter Williams Guillaume was an actor from St. Louis, Missouri who was known for playing Rafiki from The Lion King, Benson DuBois from Soap and Benson, and Nathan Detroit from Guys and Dolls. He had five children from two marriages. He passed away in October 24, 2017 due to prostate cancer complications.- Animation Department
- Art Department
- Actor
James Baxter was born in May 1967 in Bristol, England, UK. He is an actor, known for Kung Fu Panda (2008), Mary Poppins Returns (2018) and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996).- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Rowan Sebastian Atkinson was born on 6 January, 1955, in Consett, Co. Durham, UK, to Ella May (Bainbridge) and Eric Atkinson. His father owned a farm, where Rowan grew up with his two older brothers, Rupert and Rodney. He attended Newcastle University and Oxford University where he earned degrees in electrical engineering. During that time, he met screenwriter Richard Curtis, with whom he wrote and performed comedy revues.
Later, he co-wrote and appeared in Not the Nine O'Clock News (1979), which was a huge success and spawned several best-selling books. It won an International Emmy Award and the British Academy Award for "Best Light Entertainment Programme of 1980." He won the "British Academy Award" and was named "BBC Personality of the Year" for his performance in Not the Nine O'Clock News (1979).
Atkinson also appeared in several movies, including Dead on Time (1983), Pleasure at Her Majesty's (1976) (aka "Monty Python Meets Beyond the Fringe"), Never Say Never Again (1983), and The Tall Guy (1989). He played "Mr. Bean" in the TV series, Mr. Bean (1990) but, apart from that and Not the Nine O'Clock News (1979), he also appeared in several other series like Blackadder (1982) and Funny Business (1992), etc.
Atkinson enjoys nothing more than fast cars. He has two children, named Benjamin and Lily, with ex-wife Sunetra Sastry.- Animation Department
- Visual Effects
- Madge Sinclair was born Madge Dorita Walters on April 28, 1938 in Kingston, Jamaica, married young and had two sons. Madge worked as a teacher in Jamaica until she was 30. She left her two boys with their father and moved in 1968 to New York City to be an actress.
She began modeling and later acted with the New York Shakespearean Festival and at Joseph Papp's Public Theatre. In 1974, Madge made her film debut, playing Mrs. Scott in Conrack (1974). She was nominated for an Emmy Award for her performance as Bell Reynolds in the miniseries Roots (1977).
In 1982, shortly after joining the cast of Trapper John, M.D. (1979), Sinclair was diagnosed with leukemia. She continued to work, outliving the doctors' predictions by several years. On December 20, 1995, Madge Sinclair died at age 57 in Los Angeles, California, after a 13 year battle with leukemia. - Animation Department
- Art Department
Russ Edmonds was born on 11 October 1961. He is known for The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), The Little Mermaid (1989) and Aladdin (1992).- Animation Department
- Writer
- Visual Effects
Alex Kupershmidt was born on 27 January 1960 in Lviv, Ukraine. He is a writer, known for Lilo & Stitch (2002), Aladdin (1992) and The Princess and the Frog (2009). He has been married to Leanne Marguerite Johnson since 1 November 1992.- Animation Department
- Visual Effects
Dave Burgess is known for The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019), Megamind (2010) and Mrs. Doubtfire (1993).- Actor
- Soundtrack
- Additional Crew
Born James Jonah Cummings on November 3, 1952, he grew up in Youngstown, Ohio.
Sooner or later, he moved to New Orleans. There, he designed Mardi Gras floats, was a singer, door-to-door salesman, and a Louisiana riverboat deckhand.
Then Cummings moved to Anaheim, California, where he started his career playing Lionel from the program Dumbo's Circus (1985).- Zoe Leader has only appeared in the Disney movie The Lion King (1994) and its sequel, The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998). She has exactly one line in each movie. Zoe was born in Los Angeles, California and has lived there for most of her life until her death in 2015.
- Producer
- Director
- Additional Crew
Don Hahn was born on 26 November 1955 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is a producer and director, known for Maleficent (2014), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) and The Lion King (1994). He has been married to Denise Meara-Hahn since 12 June 1987. They have one child.- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
- Additional Crew
Irene Mecchi was born on 21 September 1949 in San Francisco, California, USA. She is a writer, known for The Lion King (1994), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) and Brave (2012).- Writer
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Jonathan Roberts was born in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He is known for The Lion King (1994), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) and James and the Giant Peach (1996).- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Linda Woolverton was born in Long Beach, California, graduating from high school in 1969 and having been an honors student in her schools theater program. She enrolled at California State University, Long Beach, graduating with a BFA in Theater Arts in 1973. She worked full-time for a year in the entertainment division at Disneyland, and began working toward her Masters Degree in Theater for Children at California State Fullerton, while working as a substitute teacher.
Upon the completion of her Masters Degree in 1976, she formed her own children's theater company. She wrote, directed and performed all over California in churches, malls, schools, and local theaters. She also began in 1979, to work as a coach to children acting in commercials. In 1980 she began working as a development executive for CBS, concentrating on both children's and late-night programming.
In 1984 she began working as a children's television writer, penning scripts for shows such as Star Wars: Ewoks (1985), The Real Ghostbusters (1986), Alvin & the Chipmunks (1983) and DuckTales (2017). She also had two young adult novels published: Starwind and Running Before the Wind.
When one of her novels caught the attention of a Disney executive, she was hired to write the script for the animated motion picture Beauty and the Beast (1991). Upon its release in 1991, Beauty and the Beast (1991) became the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
Woolverton also co-wrote the script for The Lion King (1994) and Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993). She also adapted the script of Beauty and the Beast for the stage, which opened to critical acclaim on Broadway in Spring 1994, and was later nominated for a Tony Award for Best Book in a Musical. She also wrote the book for Disney's third Broadway production 'Aida.- Animation Department
- Writer
- Art Department
Brenda Chapman is an American animator, animation film director and writer from Beason, Illinois. She directed the Pixar film Brave and the DreamWorks Animation film The Prince of Egypt. She wrote the storylines of The Lion King and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. She is married to Kevin Lima, fellow animation director. She did the singing voice of Miriam during the River Lullaby reprise of The Prince of Egypt.- Art Department
- Animation Department
- Writer
- Art Department
- Animation Department
- Additional Crew
Andrew Alan Gaskill was born in Camden, New Jersey, December 29, 1951. His father was a U.S. soldier in the Pacific and after the war, was stationed in Tokyo, Japan. There, he met and married a Japanese woman. Andrew spent his childhood in Japan in the Tokyo/Yokohama region. Finally, at age 9 he and his parents returned to the United States for good and he spent his teen years in the South Jersey/ Philadelphia environs. He attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts as a sculpture major but painted and photographed as well. An offer from Disney brought Andrew to Los Angeles in 1973 where he embarked on a lifetime career in the animation industry. He has been privileged to work on such films as The Lion King, Hercules and Treasure Planet.- Art Department
- Writer
- Animation Department
Kevin has worked on five of the top twenty five grossing and critically acclaimed animated feature films of all time. He has boarded on such classics as Frozen, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Lion King, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Tarzan , and How to Train your Dragon.
Kevin lives in Vermont where he recently boarded for Netflix Studio's Wendell and Wild and the Gaumont Studio's production of Paul McCartney's children's book, High in the Clouds.
Kevin was born in Southern California and moved to Vermont with his family over 20 years ago after establishing himself as a story artist for Disney Feature Animation. He has story boarded remotely for such clients as Disney, DreamWorks, Laika and other animation studios while living three miles down a dirt road in Northern Vermont.
Kevin was initially inspired by Norman Rockwell and how he caricatured people and life. Kevin found story boarding was an outlet for his take on life's silly, ironic moments.
"The best part about being a story artist is collaborating with of a team of writers, animators and actors to create cinematic magic."- Art Department
- Animation Department
- Director
Tom Sito was born on 19 May 1956 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He is a director, known for The Lion King (1994), Shrek (2001) and Aladdin (1992). He has been married to Pat Sito since 4 January 1980.- Production Designer
- Animation Department
- Art Department
- Writer
- Animation Department
- Art Department
Burny Mattinson's helmed the Academy Award-nominated 1983 animated featurette "Mickey's Christmas Carol." In 1986, wrote, produced and directed "The Great Mouse Detective." Mattinson's worked on"Sleeping Beauty," "101 Dalmatians," "The Sword in the Stone," "The Jungle Book," "The Aristocats" and "The Rescuers." He was a key story team member on Disney's contemporary classics: "Aladdin," "Beauty & the Beast," "The Lion King, "Pocahontas," "Mulan," "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" and "Tarzan." Mattinson joined Disney in 1953 at age 18 without formal art training, and started work as an in-betweener for "Lady and the Tramp" less than 6 months later.- Animation Department
- Art Department
- Writer
Lorna Cook directed of "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron", nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and winner of four Annie Awards. Her extensive credits as an animator include 'The Land Before Time' and the Universal Picture's "An American Tail". Ms. Cook was an animator on two Academy Award-winning films from Walt Disney Pictures "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Lion King". Ms. Cook spent several years as a valued story artist at Disney as well, including the position of key story artist on "The Lion King", "Mulan", and was co-head of Story on DreamWorks "The Prince of Egypt".- Director
- Writer
- Art Department
Gary Trousdale was born in La Crescenta, California. His fascination with animation was fostered as a child, where he drew cartoons from an elementary school age. He planned to become an architect, but decided instead to study animation at CalArts, where he studied for three years. He was hired in 1982 to design storyboards and do other animation. He then went to work designing restaurant menus and t-shirts. He was hired in 1985 by Disney to work on "The Black Cauldron," and continued his relationship with the company for years. He gained true prominence in his field with the success of his animated film directorial debut "Beauty and the Beast," which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. He continues to work with Disney, and lives in the San Fernando Valley, a suburban area of Los Angeles, California.- Art Department
- Animation Department
- Writer
Jorgen Klubien is known for Dumbo (2019), Frankenweenie (2012) and Cars (2006). He is married to Trine Dahl Klubien. They have three children.- Art Department
- Animation Department
- Writer
Larry Leker is known for Aladdin (1992), Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002) and All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989).- Animation Department
- Art Department
- Writer
Ed Gombert was born on 16 November 1951 in Duarte, California, USA. He is a writer, known for Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994) and Pocahontas (1995).- Animation Department
- Director
- Art Department
Mark Kausler was born on 10 August 1948. He is a director, known for The Lion King (1994), Osmosis Jones (2001) and Beauty and the Beast (1991). He is married to Cathy Hill.- Art Department
- Animation Department
- Production Designer
- Animation Department
- Writer
- Actor
Jim Capobianco received the 2008 Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay for Ratatouille. He went on to write and direct the short film, "Your Friend The Rat," found on the Ratatouille DVD, winning the 2008 ASIFA-Hollywood Annie Award for short films. Jim followed YFtR up with directing the critically acclaimed end titles for Pixar's 2008 release Wall.E. A graduate of the California Institute of the Arts, Jim started in the story department at Walt Disney Feature Animation on The Lion King. After five years at Disney, Jim relocated to Pixar Animation Studios where he was influential on the stories of many of Pixar's films from A Bug's Life to Coco. In 2009 Jim finished Leonardo, his first independent film, now in the permanent collection of the MoMA NYC. He also formed Aerial Contrivance Workshop a 'story design studio'. With ACW, Jim created and directed the 2D animation sequence for Walt Disney Motion Pictures, Mary Poppins Returns, winning his second Annie Award. Following that up as the Animation director of Philharmonia Fantastique an animated concert film similar to Fantasia for live symphony in collaboration with Mason Bates and Gary Rydstorm. Jim has recently written and directed his first feature film The Inventor and is working on writing and developing numerous scripts and books for children. Including a new concert film once again with Mason Bates and Gary Rydstorm.- Writer
- Actor
- Animation Department
Born and raised in Colorado, Chris Sanders fell in love with animation at the age of ten after seeing Ward Kimball animated shorts on 'The Wonderful World of Disney'. He began drawing, and applied to CalArts after his grandmother told him about the animation program at the school. He majored in character animation, and graduated in 1984, moving on to work at Marvel Comics. He helped draw the characters for the show _Muppet Babies (1984)_. He then moved over to the Walt Disney Company in 1987, working in the visual development department. After doing some minor work on The Rescuers Down Under (1990), Sanders catapulted to the top of Disney animation through his work on Beauty and the Beast (1991) and The Lion King (1994). He helped write the 1998 Disney animated hit Mulan (1998), which moved him into the position to write, direct, and voice Lilo & Stitch (2002). Sanders moved to Dreamworks where he co-wrote, co-directed and did character design for How to Train Your Dragon (2010). Regardless of which studio he works for, he has become a recognizable force as an animator in both cel- and CGI-based features.- Writer
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Joseph Ranft was an American writer, voice actor, animator, storyboard artist and magician. He worked for Disney and Pixar. He worked on The Lion King, The Brave Little Toaster, Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Cars, Monsters, Inc and Finding Nemo. He voiced in the many films he worked on, notably as Heimlich the Caterpillar from A Bug's Life and the outtakes of Toy Story 2. He passed away in August 2005.- Art Department
- Director
- Animation Department
Francis Glebas was born on April 12, 1953. He is known for his work on Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), Hercules (1997), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Pocahontas (1995) and Piglet's Big Movie (2003). He also worked on The Thief and the Cobbler (1993). He is married to Denise Kress. He has taught and consulted on animation, story, storytelling and storyboarding at the New York Institute of Technology, University of California, Los Angeles, Gnomon School of Visual Effects and Walt Disney Imagineering. He has given Keynote speeches at TMRE 2016, CalArts 2016, Gnomon School of Visual Effects 2017.- Music Department
- Composer
- Actor
German-born composer Hans Zimmer is recognized as one of Hollywood's most innovative musical talents. He featured in the music video for The Buggles' single "Video Killed the Radio Star", which became a worldwide hit and helped usher in a new era of global entertainment as the first music video to be aired on MTV (August 1, 1981).
Hans Florian Zimmer was born in Frankfurt am Main, then in West Germany, the son of Brigitte (Weil) and Hans Joachim Zimmer. He entered the world of film music in London during a long collaboration with famed composer and mentor Stanley Myers, which included the film My Beautiful Laundrette (1985). He soon began work on several successful solo projects, including the critically acclaimed A World Apart, and during these years Zimmer pioneered the use of combining old and new musical technologies. Today, this work has earned him the reputation of being the father of integrating the electronic musical world with traditional orchestral arrangements.
A turning point in Zimmer's career came in 1988 when he was asked to score Rain Man for director Barry Levinson. The film went on to win the Oscar for Best Picture of the Year and earned Zimmer his first Academy Award Nomination for Best Original Score. The next year, Zimmer composed the score for another Best Picture Oscar recipient, Driving Miss Daisy (1989), starring Jessica Tandy, and Morgan Freeman.
Having already scored two Best Picture winners, in the early 1990s, Zimmer cemented his position as a preeminent talent with the award-winning score for The Lion King (1994). The soundtrack has sold over 15 million copies to date and earned him an Academy Award for Best Original Score, a Golden Globe, an American Music Award, a Tony, and two Grammy Awards. In total, Zimmer's work has been nominated for 7 Golden Globes, 7 Grammys and seven Oscars for Rain Man (1988), Gladiator (2000), The Lion King (1994), As Good as It Gets (1997), The The Preacher's Wife (1996), The Thin Red Line (1998), The Prince of Egypt (1998), and The Last Samurai (2003).
With his career in full swing, Zimmer was anxious to replicate the mentoring experience he had benefited from under Stanley Myers' guidance. With state-of-the-art technology and a supportive creative environment, Zimmer was able to offer film-scoring opportunities to young composers at his Santa Monica-based musical "think tank." This approach helped launch the careers of such notable composers as Mark Mancina, John Powell, Harry Gregson-Williams, Nick Glennie-Smith, and Klaus Badelt.
In 2000, Zimmer scored the music for Gladiator (2000), for which he received an Oscar nomination, in addition to Golden Globe and Broadcast Film Critics Awards for his epic score. It sold more than three million copies worldwide and spawned a second album Gladiator: More Music From The Motion Picture, released on the Universal Classics/Decca label. Zimmer's other scores that year included Mission: Impossible II (2000), The Road to El Dorado (2000), and An Everlasting Piece (2000), directed by Barry Levinson.
Some of his other impressive scores include Pearl Harbor (2001), The Ring (2002), four films directed by Ridley Scott; Matchstick Men (2003), Hannibal (2001), Black Hawk Down (2001), and Thelma & Louise (1991), Penny Marshall's Riding in Cars with Boys (2001), and A League of Their Own (1992), Tony Scott's True Romance (1993), Tears of the Sun (2003), Ron Howard's Backdraft (1991), Days of Thunder (1990), Smilla's Sense of Snow (1997), and the animated Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002) for which he also co-wrote four of the songs with Bryan Adams, including the Golden Globe nominated Here I Am.
At the 27th annual Flanders International Film Festival, Zimmer performed live for the first time in concert with a 100-piece orchestra and a 100-voice choir. Choosing selections from his impressive body of work, Zimmer performed newly orchestrated concert versions of Gladiator, Mission: Impossible II (2000), Rain Man (1988), The Lion King (1994), and The Thin Red Line (1998). The concert was recorded by Decca and released as a concert album entitled "The Wings Of A Film: The Music Of Hans Zimmer."
In 2003, Zimmer completed his 100th film score for the film The Last Samurai, starring Tom Cruise, for which he received both a Golden Globe and a Broadcast Film Critics nomination. Zimmer then scored Nancy Meyers' comedy Something's Gotta Give (2003), the animated Dreamworks film, Shark Tale (2004) (featuring voices of Will Smith, Renée Zellweger, Robert De Niro, Jack Black, and Martin Scorsese), and Jim Brooks' Spanglish (2004) starring Adam Sandler and Téa Leoni (for which he also received a Golden Globe nomination). His 2005 projects include Paramount's The Weather Man (2005) starring Nicolas Cage, Dreamworks' Madagascar (2005), and the Warner Bros. summer release, Batman Begins (2005).
Zimmer's additional honors and awards include the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award in Film Composition from the National Board of Review, and the Frederick Loewe Award in 2003 at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. He has also received ASCAP's Henry Mancini Award for Lifetime Achievement. Hans and his wife live in Los Angeles and he is the father of four children.- Editorial Department
- Editor
Ivan Bilancio is known for Hercules (1997), The Transformers: The Movie (1986) and The Lion King (1994).- Music Department
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Known for his wide-ranging talents, Mark Mancina's film scores traverse almost every genre: drama, action, comedy, suspense, and period epic. His dark, edgy music for the Oscar-winning Training Day (2001), is a benchmark score that expanded the boundaries of scoring street-wise drama, and is widely used as a temp track, while his breakout score for Speed (1994), another innovative work, influenced the sound of subsequent action movies. Mancina's orchestral originality on Return to Paradise (1998), reflecting the haunting gloom of its subject, and his score for the period epic Moll Flanders (1996), which appeared on Billboard's Classical Crossover Chart, further point to Mancina's considerable compositional range. Other films include Twister (1996), Bad Boys (1995), Con Air (1997), Domestic Disturbance (2001), Tarzan (1999), Brother Bear (2003), The Haunted Mansion (2003), and Sony's 3-D animated short, Early Bloomer (2003).
But Mancina's achievements as composer for some of the top-grossing films of recent years comprise only one aspect of his diverse career. Composer, producer, songwriter and three-time Grammy winner, he has also added Broadway to his list of accomplishments by writing, producing and arranging the score for Disney's Tony-winning stage production of The Lion King. The foundation for this expansion into theatre was set in the early 1990s when Oscar winning composer Hans Zimmer, recognizing Mancina's varied gifts, asked him to arrange and produce three Elton John songs for what would become the enormously successful original film version of The Lion King. Mancina's efforts on "Can You Feel the Love Tonight," "I Just Can't Wait To Be King," and "Hakuna Matata" were rewarded with a multi-platinum record that has sold over ten million copies worldwide, and earned him a Grammy for Best Musical Album for Children and two American Music Awards for Best Pop Album. On the heels of the success of The Lion King (1994), Mancina went on to write and produce additional songs for a Lion King follow-up album entitled Rhythm of the Pridelands featuring South African artist 'Lebo M'. One of Mancina's original songs, "He Lives In You," became a thematic centerpiece for The Lion King theatrical production which opened on Broadway in 1997, and has since been performed to great acclaim in numerous cities around the world. In his role as producer of music for the stage, Mancina collaborated with 'Lebo M', and director Julie Taymor to create the distinctive musical atmosphere of the Tony award winning show. Mancina received a Tony nomination, was awarded Britain's Ivor Novello Award for the London production, and earned his second Grammy for producing the Original Broadway Cast Album.
Born in Santa Monica, Mancina spent his childhood in Culver City, then Huntington Beach, California. Commencing his musical training at a very early age, he has performed all his life as a singer, guitarist and pianist. His film and television scores frequently feature Mancina's own performances on piano, guitar, bass, percussion, and drums, highlighting unique sounds harvested from a personal collection of traditional, exotic, and custom instruments from all over the world.
After studying composition and performance as a classical guitar major at Cal State Fullerton, he went on to perform on Trevor Rabin's solo tour, and later to write and produce for Yes. He also worked on several records with producer Trevor Horn, including the song "Crazy," performed by Grammy-winning artist Seal. In 1990, Mancina moved from Los Angeles to London for a year to work with Emerson, Lake and Palmer, producing and composing their "Black Moon" album for PolyGram. More recently, he has composed and arranged songs with Kenny Loggins. His extensive partnership with Phil Collins includes Disney's animated hit Tarzan (1999), for which Mancina composed the score and co-produced several Collins songs. The ballad "You'll Be In My Heart," which Mancina arranged and co-produced, won the Oscar for Best Song. They renewed their collaborative efforts for the recent Brother Bear for which Mancina co-produced songs and co-composed the dramatic score. In addition to his work in film, theatre and the recording industry, Mancina also writes score and themes for many television projects, which have included "The Outer Limits," "Poltergeist," "Millennium," "Lifepod," and HBO's "From the Earth to the Moon." Among his countless television commercial clients are Nike, Mountain Dew, Jaguar, Skittles, McDonald's, Verizon, Computer Associates, Goodyear, The U.S. Army, American Express and AT&T. Working from his studio in Pasadena, and his home studio, a mountaintop farmhouse/barn, he continues to expand his repertoire, and is currently developing songs for musicals and films.- Music Department
- Producer
- Composer
Jay Rifkin was born on 6 July 1955 in Los Angeles, California, USA. Jay is a producer and composer, known for The Lion King (1994), 2012 (2009) and Speed (1994).- Music Department
- Composer
- Producer
Chris Thomas was born on 13 January 1947. He is a composer and producer, known for The Lion King (1994), The Three Musketeers (1993) and Great Expectations (1998).- Actress
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Carmen Twillie was born on 8 April 1950 in Playa del Rey, Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress, known for The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Norbit (2007) and License to Wed (2007).- Music Department
- Actor
- Composer
Lebo M. was born on 11 July 1964 in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is an actor and composer, known for Congo (1995), The Lion King (1994) and Tears of the Sun (2003).- Kristie Edwards is known for Christmas Glory: In the Key of Love (2007).
- Actor
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Eldred Gregory Peck was born on April 5, 1916 in La Jolla, California, to Bernice Mae (Ayres) and Gregory Pearl Peck, a chemist and druggist in San Diego. He had Irish (from his paternal grandmother), English, and some German, ancestry. His parents divorced when he was five years old. An only child, he was sent to live with his grandmother. He never felt he had a stable childhood. His fondest memories are of his grandmother taking him to the movies every week and of his dog, which followed him everywhere. He studied pre-med at UC-Berkeley and, while there, got bitten by the acting bug and decided to change the focus of his studies. He enrolled in the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York and debuted on Broadway after graduation. His debut was in Emlyn Williams' play "The Morning Star" (1942). By 1943, he was in Hollywood, where he debuted in the RKO film Days of Glory (1944).
Stardom came with his next film, The Keys of the Kingdom (1944), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. Peck's screen presence displayed the qualities for which he became well known. He was tall, rugged and heroic, with a basic decency that transcended his roles. He appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound (1945) as an amnesia victim accused of murder. In The Yearling (1946), he was again nominated for an Academy Award and won the Golden Globe. He was especially effective in westerns and appeared in such varied fare as David O. Selznick's critically blasted Duel in the Sun (1946), the somewhat better received Yellow Sky (1948) and the acclaimed The Gunfighter (1950). He was nominated again for the Academy Award for his roles in Gentleman's Agreement (1947), which dealt with anti-Semitism, and Twelve O'Clock High (1949), a story of high-level stress in an Air Force bomber unit in World War II.
With a string of hits to his credit, Peck made the decision to only work in films that interested him. He continued to appear as the heroic, larger-than-life figures in such films as Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951) and Moby Dick (1956). He worked with Audrey Hepburn in her debut film, Roman Holiday (1953). Peck finally won the Oscar, after four nominations, for his performance as lawyer Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). In the early 1960s, he appeared in two darker films than he usually made, Cape Fear (1962) and Captain Newman, M.D. (1963), which dealt with the way people live. He also gave a powerful performance as Captain Keith Mallory in The Guns of Navarone (1961), one of the biggest box-office hits of that year.
In the early 1970s, he produced two films, The Trial of the Catonsville Nine (1972) and The Dove (1974), when his film career stalled. He made a comeback playing, somewhat woodenly, Robert Thorn in the horror film The Omen (1976). After that, he returned to the bigger-than-life roles he was best known for, such as MacArthur (1977) and the monstrous Nazi Dr. Josef Mengele in the huge hit The Boys from Brazil (1978). In the 1980s, he moved into television with the miniseries The Blue and the Gray (1982) and The Scarlet and the Black (1983). In 1991, he appeared in the remake of his 1962 film, playing a different role, in Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear (1991). He was also cast as the progressive-thinking owner of a wire and cable business in Other People's Money (1991).
In 1967, Peck received the Academy's Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. He was also been awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom. Always politically progressive, he was active in such causes as anti-war protests, workers' rights and civil rights. In 2003, his Peck's portrayal of Atticus Finch was named the greatest film hero of the past 100 years by the American Film Institute. Gregory Peck died at age 87 on June 12, 2003 in Los Angeles, California.- Writer
- Producer
- Actress
Rosie O'Donnell was born into an Irish-American family in Commack, Long Island. She is the third of five children born to Roseann Teresa (Murtha) and Edward Joseph O'Donnell, an electrical engineer for the defense industry. Her mother died when she was 10. She said that she watched TV nearly 24 hours a day. When she was 18, she dropped out of college and went on to do shows like Gimme a Break! (1981), and she produced and hosted Stand-Up Spotlight (1988). She worked on her own down-to-earth syndicated daytime talk show: The Rosie O'Donnell Show (1996).- Producer
- Writer
- Actress
Barbara Walters was born on 25 September 1929 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She was a producer and writer, known for The Barbara Walters Summer Special (1976), The View (1997) and 20/20 (1978). She was married to Merv Adelson, Lee Guber and Robert Henry Katz. She died on 30 December 2022 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Cicely Tyson was born in Harlem, New York City, where she was raised by her devoutly religious parents, who had come from the Caribbean island of Nevis. Her mother Theodosia was a domestic worker and her her father William was a carpenter and painter. Tyson was discovered by a fashion editor at Ebony Magazine, and with her stunning looks she quickly rose to the top of the modeling industry. In 1957 she began acting in Off-Broadway productions. She had small roles in feature films before she was cast as Portia in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968). Four years later, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her sensational performance in the critically-acclaimed film Sounder (1972). In 1974, she went on to portray a 110-year-old former slave in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974), which earned her two Emmy Awards. She also appeared in the television miniseries Roots (1977), King (1978), and A Woman Called Moses (1978). While Cicely has not appeared steadily onscreen because of her loyalty to solely portraying strong, positive images of Black women, she is definitely one of the most talented, beautiful actresses who ever graced stage or screen.- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Mary Tyler Moore was born in Flatbush, Brooklyn, on December 29, 1936. Moore's family relocated to California when she was eight. Her childhood was troubled, due in part to her mother's alcoholism. The eldest of three siblings, she attended a Catholic high school and married upon her graduation, in 1955. Her only child, Richard Meeker Jr., was born soon after.
A dancer at first, Moore's first break in show business was in 1955, as a dancing kitchen appliance - Happy Hotpoint, the Hotpoint Appliance elf, in commercials generally broadcast during the popular sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952). She then shifted from dancing to acting and work soon came, at first a number of guest roles on television series, but eventually a recurring role as Sam, Richard Diamond's sultry answering service girl, on Richard Diamond, Private Detective (1956), her performance being particularly notorious because her legs (usually dangling a pump on her toe) were shown instead of her face.
Although these early roles often took advantage of her willowy charms (in particular, her famously-beautiful dancer's legs), Moore's career soon took a more substantive turn as she was cast in two of the most highly regarded comedies in television history, which would air first-run for most of the '60s and '70s. In the first of these, The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961), Moore played Laura Petrie, the charmingly loopy wife of star Dick Van Dyke. The show became famous for its very clever writing and terrific comic ensemble - Moore and her fellow performers received multiple Emmy Awards for their work. Meanwhile, she had divorced her first husband, and married advertising man (and, later, network executive) Grant Tinker.
After the end of The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961), Moore focused on movie-making, co-starring in five between the end of the sitcom and the start of The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970), including Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), in which she plays a ditsy aspiring actress, and an inane Elvis Presley vehicle, Change of Habit (1969), in which she plays a nun-to-be and love interest for Presley. Also included in this mixed bag of films was a first-rate television movie, Run a Crooked Mile (1969), which was an early showcase for Moore's considerable talent at dramatic acting.
After trying her hand at movies for a few years, Moore decided, rather reluctantly, to return to television, but on her terms. The result was The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970), which was produced by MTM Enterprises, a company she had formed with Tinker, and which later went on to produce scores of other television series. Moore starred as Mary Richards, who moves to Minneapolis on the heels of a failed relationship. Mary finds work at the newsroom of WJM-TV, whose news program is the lowest-rated in the city, and establishes fast friendships with her colleagues and her neighbors. The sitcom was a commercial and critical success and for years was a fixture of CBS television's unbeatable Saturday night line-up. Moore and Tinker were determined from the start to make the sitcom a cut above the average, and it certainly was - instead of going for a barrage of gags, the humor took longer to develop and arose out of the interaction between the characters in more realistic situations. This was also one of the earliest television portrayals of a woman who was happy and successful on her own rather than simply being a man's wife. The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970) is generally included amongst the finest television series ever produced in America.
Moore ended the sitcom in 1977, while it was still on a high point, but found it difficult to flee the beloved Mary Richards persona - her subsequent attempts at television series, variety programs, and specials (such as the mortifying disco-era Mary's Incredible Dream (1976)) usually failed, but even her dramatic work, which is generally excellent, fell under the shadow of Mary Richards. With time, however, her body of dramatic acting came to be recognized on its own, with such memorable work as in Ordinary People (1980), as an aloof WASP mother who not-so-secretly resents her younger son's survival; in Finnegan Begin Again (1985), as a middle-aged widow who finds love with a man whose wife is slowly slipping away, in Lincoln (1988), as the troubled Mary Todd Lincoln, and in Stolen Babies (1993), as an infamous baby smuggler (for which she won her sixth Emmy Award). She also inspired a new appreciation for her famed comic talents in Flirting with Disaster (1996), in which she is hilarious as the resentful adoptive mother of a son who is seeking his birth parents. Moore also acted on Broadway, and she won a Tony Award for her performance in "Whose Life Is It Anyway?"
Widely acknowledged as being much tougher and more high-strung than her iconic image would suggest, Moore had a life with more than the normal share of ups and downs. Both of her siblings predeceased her, her sister Elizabeth of a drug overdose in 1978 and her brother John of cancer in 1991 after a failed attempt at assisted suicide, Moore having been the assistant. Moore's troubled son Richie shot and killed himself in what was officially ruled an accident in 1980. Moore was diagnosed an insulin-dependent diabetic in 1969, and had a bout with alcoholism in the early 1980s. Divorced from Tinker in 1981 after repeated separations and reconciliations, she married physician Robert Levine in 1983. The union with Levine proved to be Moore's longest run in matrimony and her only marriage not to end in divorce. Despite the opening credits of The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970), in which she throws a package of meat into her shopping cart, Moore was a vegetarian and a proponent of animal rights. She was an active spokesperson for both diabetes issues and animal rights.
On January 25, 2017, Mary Tyler Moore died at age 80 at Greenwich Hospital in Greenwich, Connecticut, from cardiopulmonary arrest complicated by pneumonia after having been placed on a respirator the previous week. She was laid to rest during a private ceremony at Oak Lawn Cemetery in Fairfield, Connecticut.- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Julia Elizabeth Wells was born on October 1, 1935, in England. Her mother, Barbara Ward (Morris), and stepfather, both vaudeville performers, discovered her freakish but undeniably lovely four-octave singing voice and immediately got her a singing career. She performed in music halls throughout her childhood and teens, and at age 20, she launched her stage career in a London Palladium production of "Cinderella".
Andrews came to Broadway in 1954 with "The Boy Friend", and became a bona fide star two years later in 1956, in the role of Eliza Doolittle in the unprecedented hit "My Fair Lady". Her star status continued in 1957, when she starred in the TV-production of Cinderella (1957) and through 1960, when she played "Guenevere" in "Camelot".
In 1963, Walt Disney asked Andrews if she would like to star in his upcoming production, a lavish musical fantasy that combined live-action and animation. She agreed on the condition if she didn't get the role of Doolittle in the pending film production of My Fair Lady (1964). After Audrey Hepburn was cast in My Fair Lady, Andrews made an auspicious film debut in Walt Disney's Mary Poppins (1964), which earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress.
Andrews continued to work on Broadway, until the release of The Sound of Music (1965), the highest-grossing movie of its day and one of the highest-grossing of all time. She soon found that audiences identified her only with singing, sugary-sweet nannies and governesses, and were reluctant to accept her in dramatic roles in The Americanization of Emily (1964) and Alfred Hitchcock's thriller Torn Curtain (1966). In addition, the box-office showings of the musicals Julie subsequently made increasingly reflected the negative effects of the musical-film boom that she helped to create. Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967) was for a time the most successful film Universal had released, but it still couldn't compete with Mary Poppins or The Sound of Music for worldwide acclaim and recognition. Star! (1968) and Darling Lili (1970) also bombed at the box office.
Fortunately, Andrews did not let this keep her down. She worked in nightclubs and hosted a TV variety series in the 1970s. In 1979, Andrews returned to the big screen, appearing in films directed by her husband Blake Edwards, with roles that were entirely different from anything she had been seen in before. Andrews starred in 10 (1979), S.O.B. (1981) and Victor/Victoria (1982), which earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
She continued acting throughout the 1980s and 1990s in movies and TV, hosting several specials and starring in a short-lived sitcom. In 2001, she starred in The Princess Diaries (2001), alongside then-newcomer Anne Hathaway. The family film was one of the most successful G-Rated films of that year, and Andrews reprised her role as Queen Clarisse Renaldi in The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004). In recent years, Andrews appeared in Tooth Fairy (2010), as well as a number of voice roles in Shrek 2 (2004), Shrek the Third (2007), Enchanted (2007), Shrek Forever After (2010), and Despicable Me (2010).- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Francis Ford Coppola was born in 1939 in Detroit, Michigan, but grew up in a New York suburb in a creative, supportive Italian-American family. His father, Carmine Coppola, was a composer and musician. His mother, Italia Coppola (née Pennino), had been an actress. Francis Ford Coppola graduated with a degree in drama from Hofstra University, and did graduate work at UCLA in filmmaking. He was training as assistant with filmmaker Roger Corman, working in such capacities as sound-man, dialogue director, associate producer and, eventually, director of Dementia 13 (1963), Coppola's first feature film. During the next four years, Coppola was involved in a variety of script collaborations, including writing an adaptation of "This Property is Condemned" by Tennessee Williams (with Fred Coe and Edith Sommer), and screenplays for Is Paris Burning? (1966) and Patton (1970), the film for which Coppola won a Best Original Screenplay Academy Award. In 1966, Coppola's 2nd film brought him critical acclaim and a Master of Fine Arts degree. In 1969, Coppola and George Lucas established American Zoetrope, an independent film production company based in San Francisco. The company's first project was THX 1138 (1971), produced by Coppola and directed by Lucas. Coppola also produced the second film that Lucas directed, American Graffiti (1973), in 1973. This movie got five Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture. In 1971, Coppola's film The Godfather (1972) became one of the highest-grossing movies in history and brought him an Oscar for writing the screenplay with Mario Puzo The film was a Best Picture Academy Award-winner, and also brought Coppola a Best Director Oscar nomination. Following his work on the screenplay for The Great Gatsby (1974), Coppola's next film was The Conversation (1974), which was honored with the Golden Palm Award at the Cannes Film Festival, and brought Coppola Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay Oscar nominations. Also released that year, The Godfather Part II (1974), rivaled the success of The Godfather (1972), and won six Academy Awards, bringing Coppola Oscars as a producer, director and writer. Coppola then began work on his most ambitious film, Apocalypse Now (1979), a Vietnam War epic that was inspired by Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness (1993). Released in 1979, the acclaimed film won a Golden Palm Award at the Cannes Film Festival, and two Academy Awards. Also that year, Coppola executive produced the hit The Black Stallion (1979). With George Lucas, Coppola executive produced Kagemusha: The Shadow Warrior (1980), directed by Akira Kurosawa, and Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985), directed by Paul Schrader and based on the life and writings of Yukio Mishima. Coppola also executive produced such films as The Escape Artist (1982), Hammett (1982) The Black Stallion Returns (1983), Barfly (1987), Wind (1992), The Secret Garden (1993), etc.
He helped to make a star of his nephew, Nicolas Cage. Personal tragedy hit in 1986 when his son Gio died in a boating accident. Francis Ford Coppola is one of America's most erratic, energetic and controversial filmmakers.