Bruce W. Smith

Early life

Smith grew up in Los Angeles, California. At age 10, he made his first animated film based on designs of One Hundred and One Dalmatians. Smith attended the Character Animation program at California Institute of the Arts. He later stated that while at CalArts he became aware of the lack of Black characters in animated films, which motivated him to create his own animated series.

Early career

In 1984, he was the key assistant animator on a TV short of Garfield in the Rough. In 1986, he served as an animator for Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night, and joined the Walt Disney Studios as an animator for Who Framed Roger Rabbit, as well as other Roger Rabbit shorts produced by the studio. In a 2022 retrospective interview, Smith said that the "big old tree Afro" with lips (when Eddie Valiant enters Toontown) is a caricature of himself that he drew while working on the film.

He was an animator for the Back to Neverland short, Michael & Mickey. He was credited on the 1990s Don Bluth films Rock-A-Doodle and Rover Dangerfield—for which he served as a storyboard artist, character designer, character animator, and sequence director. In 1997, Smith served as a scenic artist for the film The Peacemaker and was an animator for The Indescribable Nth and Garfield in the Rough. He also worked as a character designer for the Fox Kids musical comedy C-Bear and Jamal.

Also in the early 1990s, Smith was selected by produced Reginald Hudlin (House Party, Boomerang) to direct the Paramount Pictures animated film Bebe's Kids. Upon its release in 1992, the film was a box office bomb and saw mixed to negative reviews from critics. In years that followed, he was credited as a character designer for Ted Turner's A Cool Like That Christmas, The Pagemaster, as well as the television series Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child.

Smith also served as co-director on the Warner Bros. live-action animated film Space Jam before returning to Disney as supervising animator on such films as Tarzan (Kerchak and Baboons) and The Emperor's New Groove (Pacha).

Career

While working in animation on the feature film side, Smith furthered his interest in television animation by creating The Proud Family for Disney Channel in 2001. Initially pitched to Nickelodeon in 1998, a pilot was created for the network and remains partial lost media. He co-founded Jambalaya Studios, which worked in conjunction with Willard Carroll's Hyperion Pictures to produce the series, for which he worked on over 50 episodes as well as The Proud Family Movie (2005).

The name of the series, the first venture for Jambalaya Studio, came from something he told his co-founder, Tom Wilhite when he showed him the show's main characters drawn as though they were in a family portrait.

In 2004, he served as a supervising animator for Disney's Home on the Range. That same year, co-created and served as executive producer for the series Da Boom Crew for The WB. Smith later described the series as mixing concepts of Star Wars with Boyz-N-The Hood, and argued that the series tries to recreate the "black experience in animated form." Although 13 episodes were produced, only four of which aired; the series was a commercial failure.

In 2009, Smith returned to the Walt Disney Animation Studios and Duncan Studio Production to supervise 2D animation on The Princess and the Frog—for the character Dr. Facilier—as well as the 2011 film Winnie the Pooh—for the characters Piglet, Kanga and Roo. In addition, he served as the lead animator for the animated short Tangled Ever After. Smith's character design ability led him into visual development for the studio's subsequent projects, namely Wreck-It Ralph and Frozen.

In 2015, he served as part of the senior creative team for the direct-to-TV film Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast. In 2018, he served as an animator for Teen Titans Go! To the Movies. In 2019, he directed the short film Hair Love, which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. In 2019, he worked on the traditionally-animated indie steampunk short series Hullabaloo.

He returned to The Proud Family with the reboot The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, which began airing on Disney+ in February 2022. This was spurred by the fact that on January 1, 2020, the original The Proud Family series began streaming on Disney+, and shortly thereafter, Disney executives approached Smith and Ralph Farquhar regarding a reviving of the series. On February 27, 2020, the show was formally ordered on the streaming service. Smith concurred with Farquhar, saying that the "show never really went away" and called it the "perfect time to bring back this show." Smith also argued that the series is "blazing a path...[in] this animated sphere," saying it has parts of the horror, sci-fi, and Western genres. The show is rated TV-PG, making this Disney Television Animation's first series to carry the rating.

In December 2020, he and Farquhar signed an overall deal with Disney to further produce television properties. On April 18, 2022, Disney+ renewed The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder for a second season.

Filmography

Internet

References

References

1. "Bebe's Kids Turns 30: Faizon Love, Myra J, and Marques Houston Share Oral History Behind This Classic".
2. (2003). "Disney's The Proud Family Producer, Bruce Smith to present at Animae Caribe 2003".
3. https://calarts.edu/news/calartians-shine-animation-and-kids-entertainment-power-lists
4. (February 18, 2022). "Cartoonist Bruce Smith on the art and technology of animation". USBE Information Technology.
5. (2003). "Proud Family Creator to Talk About Animation".
6. "Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night".
7. Beck, Jerry. (2005). "The Animated Movie Guide". Chicago Review Press.
8. (February 24, 2022). ""The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder" Creator/Executive Producer Bruce Smith Visits The Disneyland Resort".
9. Beck, Jerry. (2005). "The Animated Movie Guide". Chicago Review Press.
10. Reif, Alex. (May 29, 2020). "10 Things We Learned from "Proud Family" Creator Bruce W. Smith During WDFM Happily Ever After Hours".
11. Ward, Carla. (February 23, 2022). "The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder Creator-Executive Producer Bruce Smith Visits Disneyland Resort". [[Walt Disney Company]].
12. Korkis, Jim. (August 25, 2018). "A Forgotten Disney Short: "Back To Neverland" (1989)".
13. "Rock-a-Doodle Credits".
14. "The Peacemaker (1997)".
15. "A Cook Like That Christmas Credits".
16. "A Goofy Movie".
17. "The Pagemaster (1994)".
18. Bierbaum, Tom. (March 23, 1995). "Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child".
19. Sullivan, Leo. (Fall 1997). "Diversity Programming and Distribution: Leo Sullivan, Animation Pioneer". [[International Animated Film Association.
20. Perlburg, Steve. (February 20, 2020). "The Hidden Pro-Union Politics of 'Space Jam'".
21. Beck, Jerry. (2005). "The Animated Movie Guide". Chicago Review Press.
22. Beck, Jerry. (2005). "The Animated Movie Guide". Chicago Review Press.
23. "The Emperor's New Groove – Animating The Characters". Cinema Review.
24. Beck, Jerry. (2005). "The Animated Movie Guide". Chicago Review Press.
25. "Animator Bruce W. Smith Reveals How 'The Proud Family' Almost Ended up at Nickelodeon".
26. Mallory, Michael. (September 21, 2001). "A New Neighborhood for Animated Series". [[Los Angeles Times]].
27. Adalian, Josef. (October 5, 1999). "Jambalaya cooks up multi-ethnic toons".
28. (2005). "The Proud Family Movie".
29. "Home on the Range (2004)".
30. Beck, Jerry. (2005). "The Animated Movie Guide". Chicago Review Press.
31. Gates, Anita. (October 31, 2004). "For Young Viewers; Be Careful What Video Games You Wish For".
32. Scott, Angela. (October 26, 2004). "Da Boom Crew Rockets into Space".
33. Kennell, Tiana. (June 22, 2016). "Winnie the Pooh,' 'Princess and the Frog' artist in Shreveport today".
34. Laman, Douglas. (July 15, 2021). "How 'Winnie the Pooh' Provided a Gentle Send-Off to Hand-Drawn Animation at Disney".
35. (2020). "Happily Ever After Hours--Animator, Director, and Producer Bruce W. Smith".
36. (December 20, 2014). "Disney Tinker Bell and the Legend of the Neverbeast".
37. "Teen Titans Go! To the Movies Credits".
38. (August 5, 2019). "Animated Short 'Hair Love' Gets Theatrical Run with 'The Angry Birds Movie 2'".
39. "The Production Team".
40. Anderson, Ross. (2019). "Pulling a Rabbit Out of a Hat: The Making of Roger Rabbit". [[University Press of Mississippi]].
41. (November 24, 2023). "Hullabaloo: Episode 1 'The Great Race'".
42. Swift, Andy. (February 27, 2020). "The Proud Family Revival Ordered at Disney+ With Original Cast — First Look".
43. Swift, Andy. (January 14, 2022). "''The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder'' Sets February Premiere Date — Watch New Trailer for Disney+ Revival". [[TVLine]].
44. Jackson, Leigh Ann. (February 23, 2022). "A Groundbreaking Cartoon Family Returns, 'Louder and Prouder'".
45. Swift, Andy. (February 27, 2020). "The Proud Family Revival Ordered at Disney+ With Original Cast — First Look".
46. Otterson, Joe. (February 27, 2020). "'Proud Family' Revival Ordered to Series at Disney Plus". [[Variety (magazine).
47. Alexander, Jared. (May 13, 2021). "'Proud Family' reboot to star Billy Porter, Zachary Quinto as gay couple".
48. Radulovic, Petrana. (February 17, 2022). "The Proud Family creators: 'There's not just one view of Blackness or a Black family'".
49. Petski, Denise. (December 15, 2020). "Bruce W. Smith & Ralph Farquhar Ink Overall Deal With Disney Branded Television".
50. Disney+. (April 18, 2022). "Even louder 👏 Even prouder 👏 Season 2 of @TheProudFamily: #LouderAndProuder, is officially in production! #DisneyPlus".