Contents
Hayao Miyazaki
Directing Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro.
My Neighbor Totoro · Spirited Away
- Born
- 5 January 1941
- Birthplace
- Tokyo, Japan
More people
Hayao Miyazaki
Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator and filmmaker who co-founded Studio Ghibli. His films combine carefully observed everyday life with flight, spirits and landscapes threatened by human activity.
Early life
Wartime childhood
Born in Tokyo during the Second World War; his family’s aircraft business helped shape a lasting fascination with flying machines.
Drawing and university
Studied economics and political science at Gakushuin University while developing his interest in manga and animation.
Career
- 1963
Animation apprentice
Joined Toei Animation and worked on animated films and television.
- 1979
Feature director
Directed his first feature, The Castle of Cagliostro.
- 1985
Studio Ghibli
Co-founded the studio after the success of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.
- 2000s–2020s
International recognition
Continued directing hand-drawn features, including two winners of the animated-feature Oscar.
Selected work
My Neighbor Totoro
Two sisters encounter forest spirits in the countryside.
Spirited Away
A girl must find her way through a bathhouse run by spirits.
The Boy and the Heron
A bereaved boy enters a strange world of birds, memory and inherited responsibility.
Beyond work
An artistic family
Married animator Akemi Ota; their son Gorō also became an animation director.
Drawing beyond cinema
Created manga as well as films, including the longer printed version of Nausicaä.
Sources & photo credit
Life and career ↗Institutional or specialist reference ↗Photo: Natasha Baucas at https://www.flickr.com/photos/sdnatasha/. CC BY 2.0 · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.
