John Lasseter

A lover of traditional hand-drawn animation since his adolescence, animation director and Pixar executive John Lasseter made his mark in the field as a pioneering director of computer-generated animation with "Tin Toy" (1988) and "Toy Story" (1995), both of which became the first CGI-based short film and feature film to win Academy Awards, respectively. Having been a successful animation director with Walt Disney Studios, Lasseter branched out on his own to join Pixar Studios and helped turn the fledgling animation studio into a monster success that churned out hit after hit with "Toy Story," "A Bug's Life" (1998), "Monsters, Inc." (2001) and "Finding Nemo" (2003). Having directed many of Pixar's hits, Lasseter had a direct hand in the company's extraordinary success, while also steering its financial health as both an executive producer and high-ranking executive. He returned to the Disney fold when the conglomerate bought Pixar in 2006 and made Lasseter the chief creative officer of the animation studio, where Lasseter oversaw other big hits like "Ratatouille" (2007), "Wall-E" (2008) and "Up" (2009). By the time he served as the executive producer on "Tangled" (2010) and "Toy Story 3" (2010), both of which were widely hailed by critics, Lasseter was assured of his place as one of animation's most successful pioneers. Continued work as a writer, director and producer for Disney and Pixar films kept him busy. John Lasseter was born in Hollywood on Jan. 12, 1957. While still in high school, he declared his passion for the lively medium in a letter to Disney Studio. They wrote back and told him to get an art education - learn the basics of figure drawing, design, color - and they would teach him animation. By the time Lasseter was ready for college, Disney wrote again, telling him about their new Character Animation Program at the California Institute of the Arts. He became the second student to be accepted in the very first class, with notable classmates that include