John Lasseter trivia: 90 facts about the well- known American animator!

John Lasseter is one of the best known animators in the world! His movies have been the best of their kind!

Lately he was been part of a controversy! So it’s the perfect time to find out some facts and trivia about his life and career!

1. His full name is John Alan Lasseter
2. He was born on January 12, 1957
3. John Lasseter is an American animator, filmmaker
4. And former chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar and the defunct Disneytoon Studios
5. He was also the Principal Creative Advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering
6. John Lasseter began his career as an animator with The Walt Disney Company
7. After being fired from Disney for promoting computer animation
8. He joined Lucasfilm
9. There he worked on the then-groundbreaking use of CGI animation
10. The Graphics Group of the Computer Division of Lucasfilm was sold to Steve Jobs
11. It became Pixar in 1986
12. John Lasseter oversaw all of Pixar’s films and associated projects as executive producer
13. In addition, he directed Toy Story (1995), A Bug’s Life (1998), Toy Story 2 (1999), Cars (2006), and Cars 2 (2011)
14. From 2006 to 2018,John Lasseter also oversaw all of Walt Disney Animation Studios’ films
15. And associated projects as executive producer
16. The films he has made have grossed more than $19 billion (USD)
17. Making him one of the most successful filmmakers of all time
18. Of the seven animated films that have grossed more than $1 billion
19. Five of them are films executive produced by John Lasseter
20. The films include Toy Story 3 (2010)
21. The first animated film to pass $1 billion
22. Frozen (2013)
23. The current highest- grossing animated film of all time
24. As well as Zootopia (2016), Finding Dory (2016), and Incredibles 2 (2018)
25. He has won two Academy Awards
26. One for Best Animated Short Film (for Tin Toy)
27. As well as a Special Achievement Award (for Toy Story)
28. In November 2017, John Lasseter took a six-month sabbatical from Pixar and Disney Animation
29. After acknowledging “missteps” in his behavior with employees
30. According to various news outlets, John Lasseter had a history of alleged sexual misconduct towards employees
31. In June 2018, Disney announced that he would be leaving the company at the end of the year
32. When his contract expired
33. But would take on a consulting role until then
34. On January 9, 2019, John Lasseter was hired to head Skydance Animation
35. John Lasseter was born in Hollywood, California
36. His mother is Jewell Mae
37. She was an art teacher at Bell Gardens High School
38. And his father was Paul Eual Lasseter
39. He was a parts manager at a Chevrolet dealership
40. John Lasseter is a fraternal twin
41. His sister is Johanna Lasseter- Curtis
42. She became a baker based in the Lake Tahoe area
43. She is six minutes older than him
44. John Lasseter grew up in Whittier, California
45. His mother’s profession contributed to his growing preoccupation with animation
46. He often drew cartoons during church services at the Church of Christ his family attended
47. As a child, John Lasseter would race home from school to watch Chuck Jones cartoons on television
48. While in high school, he read The Art of Animation by Bob Thomas
49. The book covered the history of Disney animation and explored the making of Disney’s 1959 film Sleeping Beauty
50. This made John Lasseter realize he wanted to do animation himself
51. When he saw Disney’s 1963 film The Sword in the Stone, he finally made the decision that he should become an animator
52. John Lasseter heard of a new character animation program at the California Institute of the Arts
53. He then decided to follow his dream of becoming an animator
54. His mother further encouraged him to take up a career in animation
55. In 1975 he enrolled as the second student in the CalArts Character Animation program created by Disney animators Jack Hannah and T. Hee
56. John Lasseter was taught by three members of Disney’s Nine Old Men team of veteran animators
57. And his classmates included future animators and directors like Brad Bird, John Musker, Henry Selick, Tim Burton, and Chris Buck
58. During his time there, he produced two animated shorts
59. They were Lady and the Lamp (1979) and Nitemare (1980)
60. Each won the student Academy Award for Animation
61. While at CalArts, Lasseter first started working for the Walt Disney Company at Disneyland in Anaheim
62. This was happenning during summer breaks
63. He got a job as a Jungle Cruise skipper
64. There he learned the basics of comedy and comic timing to entertain captive audiences on the ride
65. John Lasseter lives in Glen Ellen, California
66. He has a wife Nancy
67. She is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University
68. Whom he met at a computer graphics conference in San Francisco in 1985
69. Nancy majored in computer graphics applications
70. For a short period of time worked as a household engineer and as a computer graphics engineer at Apple Computer
71. They married in 1988
72. They have five sons
73. They were born between 1979/1980 and 1997
74. The Lasseters own Lasseter Family Winery in Glen Ellen, California
75. The property includes a narrow gauge railroad named the Justi Creek Railway
76. It is approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) long
77. Including a train station and water tower Lasseter purchased from former Disney animator Ward Kimball
78. Their residence has a swimming pool with a lazy river that runs through a cave
79. John Lasseter owns a collection of more than 1,000 Hawaiian shirts
80. He wears one every day
81. John Lasseter also inherited his late father’s passion for cars
82. Besides having directed two films about them
83. He watches auto races at Sonoma Raceway near his home
84. He also collects classic cars
85. One of his favorites is his black 1952 Jaguar XK120
86. On May 2, 2009, John Lasseter received an honorary doctorate from Pepperdine University
87. There he delivered the commencement address
88. His influences include Walt Disney, Chuck Jones, Frank Capra, Hayao Miyazaki, and Preston Sturges
89. John Lasseter’s favorite film is Walt Disney’s Dumbo
90. He recently became a headline due to Emma Thompson’s open letter addressed to him and not wanting to work with him