Tony Bancroft
Tony Bancroft is an American animator and film director who frequently collaborates with Disney. He is the founder and owner of the faith-driven animation company Toonacious Family Entertainment. Tony currently serves as the Executive VP Creative Development and Production for DivideNine Animation Studios. Life and career A native Californian, Bancroft grew up in Orange County. After a two-year stint at Cypress College, he enrolled in the character animation program at CalArts. This led to a summer job as a production assistant with filmmaker Ralph Bakshi and ultimately to an internship in California with Disney Feature Animation followed by a full-time position at the new Florida animation facility. Bancroft (along with his twin brother Tom) was selected to be among the first group of animators to work at the Disney-MGM Studios. During his one-year stay in Florida, he had his first official assignment as an assistant cleanup animator on Roger Rabbit in Roller Coaster Rabbit (1990). This was followed by a credit as animating assistant on The Rescuers Down Under (1990) working on the character of "Frank the frill-necked lizard". In 1990, he returned to California and worked as a character animator on Beauty and the Beast (1991) and Aladdin (1992)