Byron P. Howard (born December 26, 1968) is an American animator, character designer, story artist, film director, producer, and screenwriter, best known for co-directing Walt Disney Animation Studios films such as Bolt (2008), Tangled (2010), Zootopia (2016), Encanto (2021), and the upcoming Zootopia 2 (2025). He is notably the first openly LGBT director to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature twice, for Zootopia and Encanto. Born in Misawa, Japan, and raised in both the outskirts of Philadelphia and Issaquah, Washington, Howard studied at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington.
He began his career at Disney as a tour guide at Disney-MGM Studios, driven by a childhood dream of working for the company and inspired by correspondence with Master Animator Frank Thomas, one of Disney’s “Nine Old Men.” After completing the Disney Studio Internship, he was hired in 1994 and worked as an animator on films such as Pocahontas, Mulan, Lilo & Stitch, and Brother Bear, earning a 2003 Annie Award nomination for the latter.
His directorial debut came with Bolt, which earned an Academy Award nomination, followed by Tangled (with Nathan Greno) and Zootopia (with Rich Moore), both of which further established his reputation. He and Greno also created the short Tangled Ever After, which screened before the 2012 3D re-release of Beauty and the Beast. After the success of Zootopia, Howard was a keynote speaker at the 2016 View Conference, where he presented a workshop titled “The DNA of Disney Character Design.” He later co-directed Encanto with Jared Bush and Charise Castro Smith, collaborating with Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the film’s songs. On September 20, 2024, Howard was officially named co-director of Zootopia 2 alongside Bush, who had just become Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios following Jennifer Lee’s departure to direct Frozen 3.
