Bruce W. Smith

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Bruce W. Smith
Born
Bruce Wayne Smith

(1961-09-06) September 6, 1961 (age 60)
OccupationAnimator, character designer
Years active1984–present
EmployerWalt Disney Animation Studios (1996–present)
Notable work
The Proud Family

Bruce Wayne Smith (born September 6, 1961) is an American animator, character designer, film director, and television producer. He is best known as the creator of Disney Channel's The Proud Family, as well as the supervising animator of Kerchak in Tarzan, Pacha in The Emperor's New Groove, Dr. Facilier in The Princess and the Frog, and Piglet, Kanga, and Roo in Winnie the Pooh.

Biography[]

Smith studied animation in the Character Animation program at the California Institute of the Arts. He joined the Walt Disney Studios as an animator on Who Framed Roger Rabbit and various other Roger Rabbit shorts that the studio produced. Soon after, Smith was handpicked by producer/director Reginald Hudlin (House Party, Boomerang) to direct the Paramount Pictures animated film Bébé's Kids.

Smith also served as co-director on the Warner Bros. live action/animated film Space Jam before returning to Disney as supervising animator on such films as Tarzan (Kerchak and Baboons) and The Emperor's New Groove (Pacha).

While working animation on the feature film side, Smith started feeding into his love of television animation and created The Proud Family for Disney Channel. He co-founded Jambalaya Studios for the production of the series and crafted over 50 episodes of the series along with The Proud Family Movie. Smith then rejoined the Walt Disney Studios and Duncan Studio Production to supervise animation on The Princess and the Frog (Dr. Facilier), the 2011 Winnie the Pooh movie (Piglet, Kanga and Roo), and as the lead animator on the short Tangled Ever After. Smith's knack for unique character design led him into the visual development of other projects at the studio such as Wreck-It Ralph and Frozen.

He is set to return to The Proud Family with The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, which is set to air on Disney+.[1]

Smith grew up in Los Angeles, California. More recently, he signed an overall deal with Disney.[2]

Filmography[]

Year Title Credits Characters
1984 Garfield in the Rough (TV Short) Key assistant animator
1985 ThunderCats (TV Series) Writer - 2 Episodes
1986 SilverHawks (TV Series) Writer - 5 Episodes
1987 Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night Animator
1988 Who Framed Roger Rabbit Animator: additional animation
1989 Back to Neverland (Short) Key animator
Tummy Trouble (Short) Animator
Vytor: The Starfire Champion (TV Movie)
1990 Happily Ever After
1991 Michael & Mickey
Rover Dangerfield Storyboard Artist / Character Designer / Character Animator / Sequence Director
Rock-A-Doodle Character Animator
1992 Bébé's Kids Director / Principal Character Designer
1993 A Cool Like That Christmas (TV Movie) Character Designer
1994 The Pagemaster Supervising Animator
1995 Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child (TV Series) Director - 12 Episodes / Character Designs - 2 Episodes/ Character Designer - 12 Episodes
A Goofy Movie Character Designer
1996 C Bear and Jamal (TV Series) Creative Consultant - 3 Episodes / Character Designer
Quack Pack (TV Series) Animation Director / Supervising Animator - 1 Episode
Space Jam Animation Director
1997 Cats Don't Dance Character Designer / Supervising Animator Sawyer and Max
1999 Tarzan Supervising Animator Kerchak, Baboons & Baby Baboons
John Henry Character Designer / Visual Development
2000 The Indescribable Nit (Short) Animator
The Emperor's New Groove Supervising Animator Pacha
2001–2005 The Proud Family (TV Series) Director - 1 Episode / Executive Producer / Writer / Creator - 52 Episodes / Developer - 2 Episodes
2004 Home on the Range Supervising Animator Pearl Gesner
One by One (Video short) Visual Development Artist
Da Boom Crew (TV Series) Co-Creator / Executive Producer
2005 The Proud Family Movie Director / Executive Producer
The Picnic (TV Movie) Director
The Beach (TV Movie)
2009 The Princess and the Frog (Video Game) Voice
The Princess and the Frog Supervising Animator / Voice Dr. Facilier
2011 Winnie the Pooh Supervising Animator Kanga, Roo and Piglet
Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Masters (Video short) Animator: Duncan Studio Production
2012 Tangled Ever After (Short) Lead Animator
Wreck-It Ralph Additional Visual Development
2013 Frozen
2014 The Pirate Fairy (Video) Senior Creative Team
Planes: Fire & Rescue
2016 Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life Animator: animation sequences
2018 Teen Titans Go! To the Movies Animator: additional animator
The Late Batsby Storyboard artist
2019 Hair Love Director
TBA The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder Director / Executive Producer / Writer / Creator
TBA Hullabaloo Animator

Internet[]

Year Title Notes
2016 Cartoons vs. Cancer Himself

References[]

  1. ^ Swift, Andy (February 27, 2020). "The Proud Family Revival Ordered at Disney+ With Original Cast — First Look". TVLine. Retrieved February 27, 2020.
  2. ^ Petski, Denise (December 15, 2020). "Bruce W. Smith & Ralph Farquhar Ink Overall Deal With Disney Branded Television". Deadline. Retrieved December 16, 2020.

External links[]

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