51 Facts About John Lasseter

John Alan Lasseter is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and animator.

John Lasseter was previously the chief creative officer of Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Disneytoon Studios, as well as the Principal Creative Advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering, and has served as the head of animation at Skydance Animation since 2019.

John Lasseter personally directed Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Cars, and Cars 2, and executive-produced all other Pixar films through 2018.

From 2006 to 2018, John Lasseter oversaw all of Walt Disney Animation Studios' films and associated projects as executive producer.

John Lasseter's works have grossed more than 19 billion, making him one of the most financially successful filmmakers of all time.

John Lasseter has won two Academy Awards, for Best Animated Short Film, as well as a Special Achievement Award.

In November 2017, John Lasseter took a six-month sabbatical from Pixar and Disney Animation after being made aware of interactions with employees that made them uncomfortable, and subsequently apologizing and acknowledging the interactions as "missteps".

John Alan Lasseter was born on January 12,1957, in Hollywood, California.

John Lasseter's mother, Jewell Mae, was an art teacher at Bell Gardens High School, and his father, Paul Eual Lasseter, was a parts manager at a Chevrolet dealership.

John Lasseter is a fraternal twin; his sister Johanna John Lasseter-Curtis, who became a baker based in the Lake Tahoe area, is six minutes older.

John Lasseter often drew cartoons during services at the Church of Christ church his family regularly attended.

The book covered the history of Disney animation and explored the making of Disney's 1959 film Sleeping Beauty, which made John Lasseter realize he wanted to do animation himself.

John Lasseter then read Preston Blair's book about animation, and made flipbooks based on Blair's walk cycles.

John Lasseter heard of a new character animation program at the California Institute of the Arts and decided to follow his dream of becoming an animator.

However, after 101 Dalmatians, which in John Lasseter's opinion was the film where Disney had reached its highest plateau, he felt that the studio had lost momentum and was often repeating itself.

John Lasseter realized that computers could be used to make films with three-dimensional backgrounds where traditionally animated characters could interact to add a new level of visually stunning depth that had not been possible before.

John Lasseter knew adding dimension to animation had been a longtime dream of animators, going back to Walt Disney.

Satisfied with the result, Lasseter, Keane and executive Thomas L Wilhite went on with the project, especially Lasseter who dedicated himself to it, while Keane eventually went on to work with The Great Mouse Detective.

Catmull inquired about The Brave Little Toaster, which John Lasseter explained had been shelved.

From his experience at Lucasfilm, Catmull assumed John Lasseter was simply between projects since Hollywood studios have traditionally laid off employees when they lack enough productions to keep them busy.

Catmull later telephoned Smith that day and mentioned that John Lasseter was not working at Disney.

John Lasseter spent a lot of time at Lucasfilm in the San Francisco Bay Area in the spring of 1984, where he worked together closely with Catmull and his team of computer science researchers.

John Lasseter learned how to use some of their software, and in turn, he taught the computer scientists about filmmaking, animation, and art.

The short turned out to be more revolutionary than John Lasseter first had visualized before he came to Lucasfilm.

John Lasseter soon learned that funding had fallen through and called Catmull with the bad news.

Catmull called back with a job offer, and John Lasseter joined Lucasfilm as a full-time employee in October 1984 and moved to the Bay Area.

John Lasseter made his first appearance in 1996 with the original theatrical release of Independence Day.

John Lasseter oversaw all of Pixar's films and associated projects as executive producer.

John Lasseter has won two Academy Awards, for Animated Short Film, as well as a Special Achievement Award.

Disney announced that it would be purchasing Pixar in January 2006, and John Lasseter was named the chief creative officer of both Pixar and Walt Disney Feature Animation, the latter of which he renamed Walt Disney Animation Studios.

John Lasseter was named principal creative adviser at Walt Disney Imagineering, where he helped design attractions for Disney Parks.

John Lasseter oversaw all of Walt Disney Animation Studios' films and associated projects as executive producer.

John Lasseter reported directly to Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger, bypassing Disney's studio and theme park executives.

John Lasseter received green-light power on films with Roy E Disney's consent.

John Lasseter said he sees this medium as an excellent way to train and discover new talent in the company as well as a testing ground for new techniques and ideas.

In June 2007, Catmull and John Lasseter were given control of Disneytoon Studios, a division of Walt Disney Animation Studios housed in a separate facility in Glendale.

John Lasseter is a close friend and admirer of Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, whom he first met when TMS Entertainment sent a delegation of animators to the Disney studio in 1981 and showed a clip from Miyazaki's first feature film, The Castle of Cagliostro.

John Lasseter was so deeply moved that in 1985 he insisted on showing that clip and other examples of Miyazaki's work after dinner to a woman he had just met.

John Lasseter visited Miyazaki during his first trip to Japan in 1987 and saw drawings for My Neighbor Totoro.

John Lasseter is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and served nine consecutive years on its board of governors from 2005 to 2014 when he had to relinquish his seat due to term limits.

John Lasseter received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood in 2011, located at 6834 Hollywood Boulevard.

In November 2017, John Lasseter took a six-month leave of absence after being made aware of interactions he had with employees that made them uncomfortable, and subsequently apologized and acknowledged said interactions as "missteps" in a memo to staff.

John Lasseter went on in the memo to emphasize his commitment to fixing his missteps and his hope to return to working with them in the new year.

In June 2018, Disney and John Lasseter announced that he would be leaving the company at the end of the year, taking a consulting role until then.

On January 9,2019, John Lasseter was hired to head Skydance Animation, a new animation division of Skydance Media formed in 2017.

The property includes a narrow gauge railroad named the Justi Creek Railway, which is approximately 2 miles long, including a train station and water tower John Lasseter purchased from former Disney animator Ward Kimball.

John Lasseter owns a collection of more than 1,000 Hawaiian shirts and wears one every day.

John Lasseter collects classic cars, such as a black 1952 Jaguar XK120.

On May 2,2009, John Lasseter received an honorary doctorate from Pepperdine University, where he delivered the commencement address.

John Lasseter's influences include Walt Disney, Chuck Jones, Frank Capra, Hayao Miyazaki, and Preston Sturges.

Critical, public and commercial reception to films John Lasseter has directed as of August 9,2022.