Kirk Wise

Kirk Wise
Born	(1963-08-24) August 24, 1963 San Francisco, California
Occupation	Film director, animator, screenwriter, producer
Years active	1985–present

Kirk Wise (born August 24, 1963) is an American film director, animator and screenwriter best known for his work at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Wise has directed such Disney animated films as Beauty and the Beast, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He also directed the English language translation of Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away.

Career

Wise graduated from Palo Alto High School and went on to study character animation at California Institute of the Arts. Early in his career, Wise worked as an animator on Disney's Sport Goofy in Soccermania (1987), The Great Mouse Detective (1986) and The Brave Little Toaster (1987), as well as Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories episode "Family Dog".

Returning to Walt Disney Feature Animation, he began work on Oliver & Company (1988) as an assistant animator, but eventually joined the story department, where he was reunited with former CalArts classmate, Gary Trousdale. After working as storyboard artists on The Rescuers Down Under and The Prince and the Pauper, Wise and Trousdale were responsible for helming the celebrated Beauty and the Beast (1991), the first animated feature to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.

Filmography

Title	Year	Role
The Great Mouse Detective	1986	Assistant animator
Amazing Stories	1987	Principal animator (1 episode)
Sport Goofy in Soccermania	1987	Animator
The Brave Little Toaster	1987	Animation director (development)
Oliver & Company	1988	Director, writer, animating assistant
Cranium Command	1989	Voice of Hypothalamus, opening sequence director
The Rescuers Down Under	1990	Storyboard artist
The Prince and the Pauper	1990	Storyboard artist
Beauty and the Beast	1991	Director
Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey	1993	Executive producer
The Lion King	1994	Additional story material
The Hunchback of Notre Dame	1996	Director
Atlantis: The Lost Empire	2001	Director, story
Spirited Away	2002	Director, ADR Director (U.S. production)
Open Season	2006	Special thanks
Oceans	2009	Executive Producer
Waking Sleeping Beauty	2009	Himself, caricaturist
Chimpanzee	2012	Creative consultant
Untitled Animated Project	TBA	Director

External links

• Kirk Wise at the Internet Movie Database
• Kirk Wise at Filmbug