Voice Actor (Coyote vs. Acme, Teen Titans Go!)

Bauza has quietly become the voice of an entire cartoon universe. One of the successors to the legendary Mel Blanc as the voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Marvin the Martian and a dozen more iconic characters, the Canadian actor outdid himself with Coyote vs. Acme, voicing everything from Bugs Bunny to Foghorn Leghorn and Tweety Bird. Says Bauza: “A lot of talented folks worked really hard to make this film, and to be able to see it celebrated by so many people across the globe has really made the wait worth it.”

Animator/Influencer

Becker built an empire out of stick figures. The self-taught animator behind Animator vs. Animation — known to 34 million-plus YouTube subscribers as Noogai — Becker turned a scrappy Flash experiment into a launchpad for a new kind of animation career, one built on tutorials, software tools and brand collaborations rather than a studio contract.

CEO, GKIDS

Beckman has brought international indie animation to the American mainstream, from The Secret of Kells and The Breadwinner to the Studio Ghibli catalog. GKIDS has built an audience, and an awards platform, for non-Hollywood animation, creating a sustainable distribution model for ambitious features made outside the major studios.

Presidents, Sony Pictures Animation

Sony Pictures Animation’s presidents are having a moment. Belson oversaw the development and production of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Sony’s first best animated feature Oscar winner, then, after de Froberville joined as president in 2025, conquered the world with KPop Demon Hunters. The duo say their proudest moment of 2026 is the commercial success of sports comedy GOAT: “Seeing audiences embrace an original story with such a distinctive point of view has been enormously gratifying.”

Director (The Incredibles, Iron Giant, Ray Gunn)

Bird doesn’t make small movies. The Oscar-winning director has spent decades proving animation can carry the same emotional and visual weight as any big-budget tentpole. After stints at Pixar and Disney, Bird returned to original feature animation this year with sci-fi noir Ray Gunn for Netflix, a passion project 30 years in the making.

Chief Creative Officer, Walt Disney Animation Studios

Bush has become a key creative force shaping the next phase of Disney Animation. Under his leadership, the studio is expanding established franchises while developing new original features, including the upcoming Hexed. His latest effort behind the camera, on Zootopia 2, which grossed $1.87 billion worldwide, wasn’t too shabby either.

Director (Luca, Gatto)

Italian-born auteur Casarosa first caught the world’s attention with the lyrical Pixar short La Luna, a visual poem about family rituals set against a moonlit seascape. Casarosa’s style, which brings the warmth, looseness and imperfection of hand-drawn illustration into 3D animation, will be on full display in his upcoming feature, the animated gangster comedy Gatto. The film will be Pixar’s big spring release of 2027.

Voice Actors (KPop Demon Hunters)

In 2025, KPop Demon Hunters didn’t just become Netflix’s biggest movie of all time, it also turned Cho, Hong and Yoo, as Rumi, Mira and Zoey of fictional K-pop girl group Huntrix, into a genuine voice-cast phenomenon (with EJAE, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami singing the Huntrix tracks). Cho’s combination of confidence and vulnerability, Hong’s sardonic self-assurance, and Yoo’s playful energy and comic timing combine into a chemistry that couldn’t have worked without all three.

Managing Director, Aardman Animations

Clarke runs the studio that refuses to give up the clay. As managing director of Aardman Animations, he’s kept the British stop-motion house behind Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep and Chicken Run in business without losing the handmade charm that’s kept audiences coming back for decades (Aardman celebrates its 50th anniversary this year). What would Clarke love to have made in the past year? “It would have to be Toy Story 5,” he says. “I worked at Disney when the first film was released and thought it was groundbreaking both in terms of its technique and storytelling.”

Director (Despicable Me, Minions)

The French director and co-creator of Despicable Me — who came up with the Minions’ multilingual nonsense language and still voices all the little yellow men — has built one of the world’s most successful animated franchises on slapstick timing and character design alone. Coffin continues to develop new animated concepts, but the Minions remain his calling card. Banana!

President, DreamWorks Animation

Since taking over as president in 2019, Cohn has pushed DreamWorks toward a broader creative slate and greater stylistic diversity, supporting films such as The Wild Robot. She has argued for a studio without a single house style, emphasizing distinctive filmmaker-driven approaches across both original films and established franchises.

Directors (Forgotten Island)

Crawford and Mercado have been creative collaborators since meeting as storyboard artists on Kung Fu Panda 2, their shared sensibility for broad comedy, kinetic action and character-driven storytelling finding expression in their work together on The Croods: A New Age and the Oscar-nominated Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. Forgotten Island, their first original feature as writers/directors, stylistically combines 3D CGI with expressive 2D shifts inspired by 1990s anime.

President & Chief Creative Officer, Warner Bros. Pictures Animation

Damaschke is leading Warner Bros. Pictures Animation’s theatrical comeback after a turbulent stretch of shelved projects (The Day the Earth Blew Up, Coyote vs. Acme). At Annecy this year, he unveiled a new studio logo and a seven-film slate that starts with the long-awaited The Cat in the Hat feature. “[This year] marks a defining milestone for Warner Bros. Pictures Animation,” says Damaschke. “After three and a half years of building this studio from the ground up, we finally get to share what we’ve been creating with the world!”

Voice & Sound Artists

The collective of disabled voice actors, singers and sound artists was formed in 2025 through the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge, which advocates for disability inclusion in the entertainment industry. This year they made history on Sony Pictures Animation’s GOAT, becoming the first disability loop group to work on a major studio production. “Having so many talented, disabled voiceover artists working on GOAT was our proudest achievement,” says Nic Novicki, who set up the Disability Loop Group (and is a member) through a partnership with the EDFC.

YouTube Animator

Dittfach turned her own life into a cartoon and built an audience of more than 15 million subscribers doing it. Since launching Jaiden Animations on YouTube in 2014, she’s pioneered a format that mixes autobiographical storytelling with whimsical illustration, expanding from web series into merchandise, live events and brand collaborations — proof of how far creator-driven animation can travel.

Chief Creative Officer, Pixar Animation Studios

With three Oscars and a body of work that has redefined what emotional storytelling can look like in animation, Docter needs no introduction. As Pixar’s chief creative officer since 2018, he’s overseen the studio’s next wave, balancing new voices and IP — with the likes of Elio and Hoppers — with careful curation of the studio’s blockbuster franchises.

President, Paramount Animation

Since taking over Paramount Animation in January, amid the shake-up that accompanied the studio’s $8 billion merger with Skydance, Dodge has quickly moved to build her own slate, drawing on the experience, at PAW Patrol producer Spin Master, of developing, producing and expanding global franchises. She has moved forward with a wide range of new titles, including Robert Rodriguez’s original Christmas feature The Naughty List, Dan Trachtenberg’s animated horror comedy Freddy the 13th and Bollywood-set animated musical Diya from Nitya Mehra.

President, Skydance Animation

Edwards joined Skydance in 2019 after two decades at DreamWorks working on such global juggernauts as Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon. Under her watch, Skydance’s Swapped became one of Netflix’s biggest animated hits, while Brad Bird’s Ray Gunn, also released by Netflix, is leading this season’s awards conversation.

Creator (The Simpsons, Futurama)

Groening changed what animation could be on American television, and The Simpsons is still proving it. The longest-running primetime scripted series in TV history hit its 800th episode in February and, thanks to Disney+’s library of all 37 completed seasons, a new generation is being introduced to Bart, Maggie, Lisa, Marge and Homer. (A new Simpsons film is set for 2027.) What Groening did for the family sitcom, he repeated for sci-fi with Futurama, which is set to finish its revived Hulu run with three extended specials next year, and with fantasy with Disenchantment on Netflix. Animation’s living legend says he is not worried about an AI-dominated future. “I, for one, welcome our new A.I. overlords,” Groening says. “I’d like to remind them that, as a trusted TV personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground data caves.”

Director (Maya and the Three)

Gutierrez has spent his career putting Mexican folklore front and center in his animation, from the Guillermo del Toro-produced feature The Book of Life to Netflix’s Maya and the Three. Now he’s bringing that sensibility to Speedy Gonzales, the Warner Bros. Pictures Animation feature he is developing to reimagine the classic Looney Tunes character for a modern, more culturally attuned audience.

2D Animator

Henn’s fingerprints are on some of the most iconic hand-drawn characters in Disney history — Ariel, Belle, Aladdin, Mulan — and he has been a key figure in linking the studio’s 2D past with its CGI present, serving as consultant on projects from Frozen to Big Hero 6 to Ralph Breaks the Internet.

Animation Director (Neon Genesis Evangelion, The Boy and the Heron)

Honda is the animator’s animator, equally adept at crafting epic action sequences — see his work on the Neon Genesis Evangelion series — and subtle, emotional scenes with delicate human figures, a trait the great Hayao Miyazaki relied on when he brought Honda in as animation director on his 2024 Oscar winner The Boy and the Heron.

Creator (Beavis and Butt-Head, King of the Hill)

Judge has been animation’s sharpest cultural barometer since Beavis and Butt-Head first premiered on MTV back in the early ’90s. But his animation legacy arguably sits on the shoulders of King of the Hill, the Texas-set family comedy, rebooted last year, which somehow manages to bridge the political divide while being heartfelt and deeply funny.

Directors (KPop Demon Hunters)

Kang and Appelhans cemented their arrival as major animation players with 2025 phenom KPop Demon Hunters, which combined American 3D CGI style with elements of anime and Korean aeni to become a two-time Oscar winner and Netflix’s most watched film of all time.

Character Designer (Frozen, Zootopia)

Kim worked on Elsa’s visual development in Frozen and supervised character design on Big Hero 6. His work across Wreck-It Ralph and Moana, Zootopia, Encanto, Strange World and more helped define Disney’s contemporary approach to characters. As the first Korean animator to work at Disney, his career also marked an important opening for Korean artists at the studio.

President & CEO, Laika

Knight has pushed stop-motion into spectacular new territory through 3D-printed facial animation and elaborate action, earning Oscar nominations for producing The Boxtrolls and directing Kubo and the Two Strings and Missing Link. His new feature, Wildwood, promises to take stop-motion places it’s never been before.

CEO, Ufotable

Kondo has overseen Ufotable’s transformation into one of anime’s most globally recognized names. The 2020 release Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — The Movie: Mugen Train was Japan’s highest-grossing film ever, taking in more than $500 million worldwide, a feat topped by 2025’s Infinity Castle, which has earned more than $790 million, confirming anime’s arrival in the global mainstream.

CEO, Cartoon Saloon

Leo hasn’t changed much about the animation being done at the Kilkenny-based studio set up by Tomm Moore, Nora Twomey and Paul Young back in 1999. The outfit behind Oscar nominees The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea and Wolfwalkers is still making hand-drawn tales steeped in the stories and aesthetics of Celtic folklore. Leo has been expanding its global reach, forging co-production deals with the likes of Netflix and Apple TV.

Producers & Directors (The Lego Movie, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)

Lord and Miller have helped rewrite the rules of mainstream CG animation, with pop culture savvy and an anarchic approach to visual storytelling, from Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and The Lego Movie to the groundbreaking, Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which pushed animation pipelines and comic book aesthetics further than most thought possible.

FX Supervisor, Sony Pictures Imageworks

Maccari’s visual effects work has powered some of the decade’s most striking animated films, from the Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and its sequel, to KPop Demon Hunters. His command of particle simulation, lighting and compositing turns ambitious director visions into fully realized worlds.

Creator & EP (Family Guy, American Dad!)

MacFarlane built a media empire out of Family Guy, American Dad! and, through his Fuzzy Door banner, a willingness to push every boundary in sight. Family Guy premiered its 24th season on Fox this year, with a milestone 450th episode, and American Dad! hit 400. “I’m really not involved over there. I should probably send them a taco truck or something,” quips MacFarlane.

Ted: The Animated Series, a spin-off of MacFarlane’s feature film franchise, hits Peacock Dec. 17, and he has a new Family Guy spinoff, Stewie, which received a two-season order for Fox and Hulu, starting for the 2027-28 season. As a voiceover artist, MacFarlane has a record-tying four Emmy wins for outstanding voiceover performance. But his proudest work achievement of the past year? “Despite all the temptation, never even coming close to starting a podcast.”

Animator (Hazbin Hotel, Helluva Boss)

Medrano, aka VivziePop, has become one of the breakout creators of the online animation boom, turning her self-produced 2019 YouTube pilot for Hazbin Hotel into a global adult animation franchise, partnering with A24 and Bento Box Entertainment to turn it into a Prime Video series. At Annecy, Medrano announced she will make her feature debut with Prehistoria, an original animated musical, which Warner Bros. will produce.

Founder & CEO, Illumination

Meledandri has built Illumination Entertainment into one of the industry’s most profitable animation studios on the back of hits from Despicable Me and Minions to Sing and The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Meledandri’s cost-efficient, data-driven production model has kept the studio’s development cycles fast and its merchandising machine humming, while still providing space for individual creative expression.

Producer (Moana 2, Zootopia 2, Hexed)

Merino made animation history by becoming the first Latina producer to win the Oscar for best animated feature (Encanto), and the first animation producer ever to have back-to-back billion-dollar hits (with Moana 2 and Zootopia 2). Disney’s hit machine is looking to continue her run with the upcoming original film Hexed, which comes out in November.

Head, Netflix Animation

Minghella oversaw Netflix’s biggest-ever animated hit with two-time Oscar winner KPop Demon Hunters, produced with Sony Pictures Animation, and helped shepherd through the summer hit Swapped and Brad Bird’s Ray Gunn, both with Skydance. Her upcoming slate includes Steps, a revisionist take on Cinderella, and the Roald Dahl spinoff Charlie vs. the Chocolate Factory.

Director (Spirited Away, The Boy and the Heron)

Miyazaki, the great master of Japanese animation and co-founder of Studio Ghibli, has built, after only perhaps Walt Disney, animation’s most influential body of work. Miyazaki films have set a global standard for lush hand-drawn animation, richly painted backgrounds and worlds that balance fantasy with deeply human stories. Officially retired or not, Miyazaki’s influence on the medium remains enormous.

CEO, MAPPA

Since becoming president of MAPPA in 2016, Otsuka has built the Japanese anime studio into a global powerhouse, with such crossover hits as Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man, whose feature spinoff Chainsaw Man — The Movie: Reze Arc, directed by Tatsuya Yoshihara, was a surprise cross over hit, earning more than $43 million domestically and $162 million worldwide. MAPPA marked its 15th anniversary this year with an expanded strategic partnership with Netflix aimed at developing and distributing new anime globally.

Director (Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run)

Park’s painstakingly crafted Oscar-winning shorts — Creature Comforts, The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave — turned Aardman Animations’ handmade aesthetic into an international signature, while Chicken Run, co-directed with Peter Lord, showed that clay animation could power a major theatrical feature, grossing more than $220 million worldwide. Park remains an executive director at Aardman, where his influence extends through a generation of animators. On the subject of AI, Park is measured but firm: “We at Aardman must stick to our values. It will always be about the human touch for us.”

Creators (South Park)

Parker and Stone rewired adult animation with South Park, pioneering a rapid production model that allows the show to turn around topical satire while events are still unfolding. That approach has taken on new relevance in the Trump era, as the series has repeatedly used its speed and anything-goes irreverence to tackle Trump, his administration, political polarization, media pressure and the increasingly blurred line between politics and spectacle.

Co-Founders/Directors, Ludo Studio

Pearson and Aspinwall’s Ludo Studio turned an Australian blue heeler into a global children’s entertainment phenomenon with Bluey, whose warm, sharply observed depiction of family life has earned two International Emmy Awards and made the Brisbane-based studio one of Australia’s most successful animation exporters. A special mention has to go to Bluey creator Joe Brumm, who stepped away from the series in 2024 to focus on the upcoming Bluey movie, set to hit theaters Aug. 6, 2027.

Founder, Xilam

Du Pontavice built Xilam into one of Europe’s most durable animation exporters, launching the French studio in the mid-1990s and steering it toward family-friendly slapstick hits like Oggy and the Cockroaches and Zig & Sharko, as well as the Oscar-nominated I Lost My Body and Zack Snyder’s Norse mythology series Twilight of the Gods for Netflix.

Head, 20th TV Animation

Proietto’s tenure has been defined by extending the commercial life of animation’s biggest franchises across broadcast and streaming: In 2025, she helped secure unprecedented four-season renewals for The Simpsons, Family Guy and Bob’s Burgers, while bringing American Dad! back to Fox through the 2028-29 season. Says Proietto: “After 30 years in the business, getting to work alongside the best teams in animation is, hands down, what I’m proudest of.”

Co-Founders, President and Co-President, Titmouse

Chris and Shannon Prynoski turned a T-shirt company they launched in 2000 into Titmouse, one of the most distinctive independent forces in contemporary animation. From Metalocalypse to The Legend of Vox Machina, the Prynoskis have built a studio, now with more than 700 employees in L.A., New York, Vancouver and Paris, that has repeatedly given animators room to experiment across styles, genres and platforms, proving that an animation company can operate at scale without adopting a conventional studio identity.

President, Crunchyroll

Once a niche anime streaming service, Crunchyroll, under Purini’s leadership, has become a major force in the U.S. entertainment business and done more than pretty much anyone else to bring Japanese animation directly into the American mainstream. Crunchyroll’s release of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — Infinity Castle became the highest-grossing anime film ever in the U.S., earning more than $136 million stateside.

Director (The Wild Robot, Lilo & Stitch)

Sanders has helped shape mainstream animation for four decades, from story work on Disney classics including Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin to writing and directing Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon. A four-time Oscar nominee, Sanders has shown that big-studio animation can combine commercial appeal with adventurous design and deeply emotional storytelling.

Head of Animation, Laika

Schiff oversees Laika’s stop-motion pipeline, the one responsible for Coraline, ParaNorman and the eagerly anticipated fantasy epic Wildwood. His work, pairing painstaking practical craftsmanship with newer tools like 3D-printed facial rigs, keeps Laika’s tactile, handmade identity intact even as the studio pushes into hybrid CGI territory.

Showrunner (The Simpsons)

Seven-time Emmy winner Selman came up writing for Seinfeld before landing at the show he now runs day-to-day, charged with keeping its satirical edge and protecting its legacy. “You don’t want to be the person who ruins The Simpsons,” he notes. Four decades in, he still sounds like a fan: “I’m so very, very, very proud that the writers of this 40-year-old show are still whipping up weird, funny, deep, surprising stories that are worthy of these iconic characters.”

Director (Turning Red, Elio)

Shi has risen through the Pixar ranks, starting as a story intern, working on Inside Out, Incredibles 2 and Toy Story 4, before writing and directing the Oscar-winning short Bao in 2019. Shi is now a Pixar vp creative, involved in key creative decisions across the studio.

Director (Your Name., Suzume)

Shinkai has turned hyper-detailed backgrounds and aching romantic longing into box office gold, with Your Name. and Suzume both breaking records in Japan and helping spark a broader global anime moment. His meticulous, digitally driven visual style and commercial success won over Crunchyroll, which has picked up worldwide rights outside Asia and India to his next, unnamed feature.

President, Aniplex

Nishimoto oversees an anime giant whose portfolio includes major franchises such as Demon Slayer, Fate and Sword Art Online, alongside games, theatrical distribution, licensing, merchandise and live events. Under Nishimoto, Aniplex is putting greater emphasis on international markets, working with Crunchyroll on global distribution.

Director (WALL-E, Finding Nemo, Toy Story 5)

A four-time Oscar winner, Stanton has spent more than three decades at Pixar as a writer, director and creative force behind some of the studio’s most influential films. After his triumphant animated return with Toy Story 5, Stanton has said he wants to shift his focus to live action, but will keep a foot in Pixar, if only to help protect up-and-coming talents, like Daniel Chong, whose debut, Hoppers, Stanton helped defend against studio skeptics.

CEO, Flying Bark

Stephen has helped transform Flying Bark Productions from an Australian children’s animation company into an international production powerhouse, combining original productions with animation services for global partners including Disney, Marvel, Netflix, Paramount and Nickelodeon. On AI, she takes a pragmatic view. “To me, the role of all emerging technologies is as a tool in service of the craft, to find real efficiencies in the pipeline, free up our crew to focus on higher-value work and facilitate more original storytelling,” she says.

Voice Actor (The Powerpuff Girls, Teen Titans Go!, Samurai Jack)

Strong is animation’s woman of a thousand voices, a prolific performer who has helped define the sound of multiple generations of animated characters, from Bubbles of The Powerpuff Girls and Twilight Sparkle in My Little Pony, to Batgirl, Raven and Harley Quinn in the DC animated universe.

Chairman, Studio Ghibli

Suzuki has spent his tenure as Studio Ghibli’s chairman protecting the studio’s handcrafted legacy while still finding room to grow — expanding into digital distribution and international collaboration without diluting what made classics like Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke and Howl’s Moving Castle work in the first place.

Director & Creator (Hotel Transylvania, Samurai Jack)

Tartakovsky created Samurai Jack and the Hotel Transylvania franchise on the strength of a kinetic visual style and sharp comedic instincts that have carried through decades of work, including Dexter’s Laboratory and Primal. He’s now developing an animated Conan the Barbarian series for Prime Video, as executive producer and showrunner, that promises to bring the legendary swordsman into a fresh, action-driven format.

Art Director (KPop Demon Hunters, Raya and the Last Dragon)

As an art director, Thompson’s distinctive strength is her ability to combine characters and visual influences from very different worlds into a unified, graphic identity, whether that’s bringing together Disney princesses from multiple eras into a contemporary 3D aesthetic on Ralph Breaks the Internet or her bold mashup of K-pop glamour, anime-influenced character design and Korean mythology and shamanism on KPop Demon Hunters.

CEO, Studio Mir

Yoo has built Studio Mir into one of Korea’s most prominent animation studios for international productions, working on Nickelodeon’s The Legend of Korra and Voltron: Legendary Defender for DreamWorks and Netflix and on Netflix’s The Witcher animated spinoffs. He has used Mir’s blend of 2D animation craft and CGI production to move the studio from an overseas production partner toward a creator and production company in its own right.

President & CEO, Toei Co.

Yoshimura has led Toei Co., the parent company of Toei Animation, as president and CEO since 2023, bringing a background in content, media and international business to the company behind some of Japan’s most enduring entertainment franchises. His remit extends beyond animation to Toei’s film, television and live-entertainment operations, while Toei Animation remains the engine behind global properties including One Piece, Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon.

Director (Ne Zha 2)

Better known as Jiaozi, Yang directed Ne Zha 2, the Chinese animated sequel that became a global box office phenomenon in 2025, earning $2.27 billion at the box office to become the most successful animated movie in history. (Disney’s Zootopia 2, Hollywood’s top earner, is a distant second at $1.87 billion.) Unlike Japanese anime, Chinese animation hasn’t yet made the leap to mainstream success in the West, but with these numbers, it’s not clear why it needs to.

Director (Flow)

Zilbalodis turned an intimate, dialogue-free survival story into one of animation’s most unlikely recent breakthroughs with Flow, his independently produced feature about a cat navigating a world submerged by a catastrophic flood. Made mainly in Latvia on Blender, a free and open-source 3D graphics software, Flow won the 2025 best animated feature Oscar, becoming the first independent film to take the prize (as well as the first-ever Latvian Oscar). Zilbalodis is already chasing that same spirit of risk on his follow-up. “I’ve been working on my new film Limbo,” he says. “With my team, we have been challenging ourselves to try some crazy ideas and to do things in very unconventional ways, which have been scary, but also very rewarding.”

This story appeared in the Oct. 7 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.