The faces behind the fantasy, meet Ruben Aquino, an Annie Award winning animator who spent the majority of his career with Walt Disney Feature Animation bringing to life memorable characters that will live on forever. Interviewed on site at the CTN animation eXpo.
His credits include:
“Mickey’s Christmas Carol” 1982 (clean-up inbetweener)
“Black Cauldron” 1985 (animator)
“Great Mouse Detective” 1986 (animator)
“Oilspot & Lipstick” 1987 (CG short, animator)
“Oliver & Company” 1988 (supervising animator, worked mostly on Francis the Bulldog)
“The Little Mermaid” (1989; supervising animator, Ursula the Seawitch)
“Rescuers Down Under” (1990; supervising animator, Jake the Kangaroo Mouse)
“Beauty & the Beast” (1991; supervising animator, Maurice (Belle’s dad))
“Lion King” (1994; supervising animator, adult Simba)
“Pocahontas” (1995; supervising animator, Chief Powhatan)
“Mulan” (1998; supervising animator, Captain Li Shang; won 1998 Annie Award for character animation– Captain Shang)
“Lilo & Stitch” (2002; supervising animator, Pleakley & David)
“Brother Bear” (2003; supervising animator, Denahi)
“Meet the Robinsons” (2007; supervising animator, Mildred and Mr. Willerstein; his first CG feature credit)
“The Princess & the Frog” (2009; supervising animator, Eudora & James)
“Winnie the Pooh” (2011; animator, Winnie the Pooh & Eeyore)
