Biography for
Hayao Miyazaki More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

5 January 1941, Tokyo, Japan

Nickname

the Japanese Walt Disney

Height

5' 4½" (1.64 m)

Mini Biography

Hayao Miyazaki is one of Japan's greatest animation directors. The entertaining plots, compelling characters, and breathtaking animation in his films have earned him international renown from critics as well as public recognition within Japan. The Walt Disney Company's commitment to introduce the films to the rest of the world will let more people appreciate the high-quality works he has given the movie-going public.

Hayao Miyazaki was born in Tôkyô on January 5, 1941. He started his career in 1963 as an animator at the studio Toei Douga studio, and was subsequently involved in many early classics of Japanese animation. From the beginning, he commanded attention with his incredible drawing ability and the seemingly endless stream of movie ideas he proposed.

In 1971, he moved to the A Pro studio with Isao Takahata, then to Nippon Animation in 1973, where he was heavily involved in the World Masterpiece Theater TV animation series for the next five years. In 1978, he directed his first TV series, "Mirai shônen Konan" (1978) (Conan, The Boy in Future), then moved to Tôkyô Movie Shinsha in 1979 to direct his first movie, the classic Rupan sansei: Kariosutoro no shiro (1979). In 1984, he released Kaze no tani no Naushika (1984), based on the manga (comic) of the same title he had started two years before. The success of the film led to the establishment of a new animation studio, Studio Ghibli (Sutajio Jiburi), at which Miyazaki has since directed, written, and produced many other films with Takahata and, more recently, Toshio Suzuki. All of these films enjoyed critical and box office successes. In particular, Miyazaki's Mononoke-hime (1997) received the Japanese equivalent of the Academy Award for Best Film and was the highest-grossing (about USD$150 million) domestic film in Japan's history at the time of its release.

In addition to animation, Miyazaki also draws manga. His major work was the Nausicaä manga, an epic tale he worked on intermittently from 1982 to 1984 while he was busy making animated films. Another manga, Hikoutei Jidai, was later evolved into his 1992 film Kurenai no buta (1992).

Miyazaki's latest film is Hauru no ugoku shiro (2004), based on the novel by Diana Wynne Jones. Even though he has said this would be at last film, a statement he has said before after the completion of some of his earlier films, one hopes that additions to his extraordinary body of work will continue to be produced as long as he remains alive.

IMDb Mini Biography By: A+8

Spouse

Akemi Ôta

(October 1965 - ?) 2 children

Trade Mark

Likes to make films with stories that have flying as part of the theme and the action.

His films usually focus on young protagonists or have children that play key roles in the plot.

Frequently includes scenes or sequences in which characters fly.

Frequently uses music by Jô Hisaishi

Frequently makes references to nature, ecology, and polution by man in his films (My Neighbor Totoro, Nausicca, Princess Mononoke, and Spirited Away)

Films often involve human protaganists entering a strange land that are forbidden or otherwise inaccessible (ie: the floating islands of Castle in the Sky, the forests in Princess Mononoke, the spirit land in Spirited Away)

Films often have two main characters (male and female) one of which is magical or has an unusual past.

Usually includes scenes or stills during the closing titles that let the viewer see what happened to the characters after the events described in the movie.

[Labour] Films involve scenes with labour or hommages to working-class people and children or women helping out (esp. in "Spirited Away" and "Mononoke")

[Aliases] Main characters often have an alias, like "Princess Mononoke" or "Porco Rosso" and are seldomly referred to their real names

Often sets his films in Japanese-influenced versions of European cities.

Films often feature incredibly complex machines maintained by strange male characters. (The pirate's airship by the old man in Tenkû no shiro Rapyuta; The bathhouse boiler room by Kamaji in Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi; Howl's moving castle by Calcifer in Hauru no ugoku shiro.)

Female protagonists often become part of residences which are monumentally dirty in some respect and need their skills to clean it. (Howl's moving castle by Sophie in Hauru no ugoku shiro; The large bath in Yubaba's bathhouse by Chihiro/Sen in Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi; The pirate's kitchen by Sheeta in Tenkû no shiro Rapyuta.)

Many of his films criticize the use of violence as a means to an end while promoting peaceful reconciliation with one's enemies

Trivia

He is sometimes called the "Walt Disney of Japan", but he hates that title.

Frequently makes references to nature, ecology, and pollution by humankind in his films, such as Tonari no Totoro (1988), Kaze no tani no Naushika (1984), Mononoke-hime (1997), and Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001).

He sometimes bases characters in his movies on people he knows in real life. For example, in Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001), Chihiro is based on a daughter of one of his friends.

Is an Anglophile.

Graduated from Gakushuin University with a degree in political science & economics (1963)

Is a fan of Bugs Bunny, particularly of the Bugs Bunny shorts directed by Chuck Jones.

Allows no more than 10% of footage in his films to be computer generated.

Is good friends with famed Pixar director John Lasseter

Father of Goro Miyazaki

The majority of the characters he creates are based on real people in his life.

Invited to join AMPAS in 2006.

A fan of Lauren Bacall, who later did the English voice of the Witch of the Waste in Hauru no ugoku shiro (2004).

In 1985, along with friend and fellow animator Isao Takahata, founded Studio Ghibli.

For a long time many of his films were not available in America following the original poor English language version of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984), which cut roughly 20 to 30 minutes of time, changed character names and diluted the film's themes. Miyazaki was so upset over this poor handling that he refused to give the distribution rights to anyone who did not agree to follow a more strict translation of the Japanese dialogue and not remove any scenes. Walt Disney Studios eventually agreed to these terms and have been steadily releasing his films ever since, including a new English language version of Nausicaa that restores the lost footage and plays at its proper length.

Refused to attend 2002 Academy Awards out of protest over the American invasion of Iraq.

Personal Quotes

I'm not going to make movies that tell children, "You should despair and run away".

The concept of portraying evil and then destroying it - I know this is considered mainstream, but I think it is rotten. This idea that whenever something evil happens someone particular can be blamed and punished for it, in life and in politics is hopeless.

When I talk about traditions, I'm not talking about temples, which we got from China anyway. There is an indigenous Japan, and elements of that are what I'm trying to capture in my work.

[asked about his work's role in modern pop-culture] The truth is I have watched almost none of it. The only images I watch regularly come from the weather report.

[discussing CGI animation] I've told the people on my CGI staff not to be accurate, not to be true. We're making a mystery here, so make it mysterious.

If [hand-drawn animation] is a dying craft, we can't do anything about it. Civilization moves on. Where are all the fresco painters now? Where are the landscape artists? What are they doing now? The world is changing. I have been very fortunate to be able to do the same job for 40 years. That's rare in any era.

When you watch the subtitled version you are probably missing just as many things. There is a layer and a nuance you're not going to get. Film crosses so many borders these days. Of course it is going to be distorted.

Actually I think CGI has the potential to equal or even surpass what the human hand can do. But it is far too late for me to try it.

Personally I am very pessimistic. But when, for instance, one of my staff has a baby you can't help but bless them for a good future. Because I can't tell that child, "Oh, you shouldn't have come into this life." And yet I know the world is heading in a bad direction. So with those conflicting thoughts in mind, I think about what kind of films I should be making.

Well, yes. I believe that children's souls are the inheritors of historical memory from previous generations. It's just that as they grow older and experience the everyday world that memory sinks lower and lower. I feel I need to make a film that reaches down to that level. If I could do that I would die happy.

[response to the otaku view of cute female lead characters as a form of wish fulfillment] It's difficult. They immediately become the subjects of rorikon gokko [play toy for Lolita Complex guys]. In a sense, if we want to depict someone who is affirmative to us, we have no choice but to make them as lovely as possible. But now, there are too many people who shamelessly depict such heroines as if they just want such girls as pets, and things are escalating more and more.

I can't believe companies distribute my movies in America. They're baffling in Japan! I'm well aware there are spots . . . where I'm going to lose the audience . . . Well, it's magic. I don't provide unnecessary explanations. If you want that, you're not going to like my movie. That's just the way it is.

When I think about the way the computer has taken over and eliminated a certain experience of life, that makes me sad. When we were animating fire some staff said they had never seen wood burning. I said, "Go watch!" It has disappeared from their daily lives. Japanese baths used to be made by burning firewood. Now you press a button. I don't think you can become an animator if you don't have any experience.

I think 2-D animation disappeared from Disney because they made so many uninteresting films. They became very conservative in the way they created them. It's too bad. I thought 2-D and 3-D could coexist happily.

[on the future of hand-drawn animation] I'm actually not that worried. I wouldn't give up on it completely. Once in a while there are strange, rich people who like to invest in odd things. You're going to have people in the corners of garages making cartoons to please themselves. And I'm more interested in those people than I am in big business.

Do everything by hand, even when using the computer.

[pitching the proposal for Mononoke-hime (1997)] There cannot be a happy ending to the fight between the raging gods and humans. However, even in the middle of hatred and killings, there are things worth living for. A wonderful meeting, or a beautiful thing can exist. We depict hatred, but it is to depict that there are more important things. We depict a curse, to depict the joy of liberation. What we should depict is, how the boy understands the girl, and the process in which the girl opens her heart to the boy. At the end, the girl will say to the boy, "I love you, Ashitaka.  But I cannot forgive humans." Smiling, the boy should say, "That is fine.  Live with me."

[When asked if Studio Ghibli and Pixar have a rivalry] The illustrators at Pixar are all people I hold dear, we are not in competition. Our relationship is one that is based on friendship.

Where Are They Now

(December 2008) Preparing Studio Ghibli for two new feature film productions.

Browse biographies section by name

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z