Hayao Miyazaki is one of the most revered and accomplished filmmakers and animator, with an international reputation for his work, released through his Studio Ghibli.
Miyazaki was born in 1941 and developed an early interest in animation and manga. He joined Toei Animation in 1963, contributing animation to a series of its films. After moving between studios who joined Tokyo Movie Shinsha in 1979 and directed his first feature film The Castle of Cagliostro.
He co-founded Studio Ghibli in 1985 directing a series of films which met with critical and commercial success in Japan. His Princess Mononoke (1997) gained distribution in the West and helped establish him internationally. His 2001 Spirited Away won an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, Howl’s Moving Castle (2004), Ponyo (2008) and The Wind Rises (2013) further enhanced his reputation. He returned from retirement with The Boy and the Heron (2023) and likely to be Miyazaki’s final film.
Miyazaki is one of Japan’s greatest animators who brought a distinctive style and storytelling to Western audiences, with a series of films that were critically acclaimed and commercially successful. He helped nurture and inspire a younger generation of animators, expanding the possibilities of animation with a series of films from 2001 that will continue to engage all ages across the world for generations to come.