Barry Cook

Barry Cook is an American film director who has worked in the animated film industry since the 1980s. Cook and Tony Bancroft directed Mulan and won the 1998 Annie Award for Best Animated Feature. Cook was also the co-director for Arthur Christmas, directed by Sarah Smith. Cook also directed Walking with Dinosaurs with Neil Nightingale. Cook was born in Nashville, Tennessee in 1958/1959. He made his first film when he was ten years old. Cook interned as an assistant animator at the animation studio Hanna-Barbera, where he contributed to the pilot episode of the 1981 TV series The Smurfs. In 1981, Disney hired Cook as an effects animator for Tron. Cook subsequently animated or supervised effects for various films including The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin. He became the supervisor for the special-effects animation department at Disney. In 1992, he directed the animated short film Off His Rockers, which was about a child and his rocking horse. Peter Schneider, then president of feature animation, saw potential in Cook's film and supported its production.