John Wayne Stevenson

John Stevenson is a British animation filmmaker and puppeteer best known for directing the 2008 animated feature film, Kung Fu Panda with Mark Osborne. Stevenson has over 30 years of experience with animation, a veteran of DreamWorks PDI who got his start in the entertainment industry via Jim Henson's The Muppet Show. He worked as a story artist on the feature films The Great Muppet Caper, The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth and Little Shop of Horrors and as a character designer and story artist on shows like The Dreamstone, Count Duckula, and FernGully 2: The Magical Rescue. He also worked as puppeteer on James & the Giant Peach and Motion Capture Performer on The Moxy Pirate Show. In 1991, Stevenson moved to the United States, and in 1998 he was hired as a head of story at DreamWorks Animation. There he worked for many years in the art department on many films such as Shrek, Shrek 2, Madagascar and Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, before helming a number of episodes of their animated primetime show Father of the Pride. He worked for four years bringing Kung Fu Panda to the screen.