Glen Keane

Glen Keane is an American animator, director, author, illustrator, and cartoonist whose career spans more than five decades of groundbreaking work in both traditional and computer‑generated animation. Born on April 13, 1954 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he grew up in a creative household as the son of celebrated cartoonist Bil Keane, the creator of The Family Circus, and developed an early passion for drawing after his father gave him a copy of Burne Hogarth’s Dynamic Anatomy and encouraged him to study body forms. After graduating from Brophy College Preparatory in 1972, Keane attended CalArts where he was mentored by Jules Engel before joining Walt Disney Animation Studios in 1974, where he spent 38 years shaping some of the studio’s most beloved characters, including Ariel in The Little Mermaid, Beast in Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, Tarzan, and Rapunzel in Tangled. His work earned him a 1992 Annie Award for character animation and the prestigious 2007 Winsor McCay Award for lifetime contribution to the field, and he was honored as a Disney Legend in 2013. In 2017 Keane co‑directed the Oscar‑winning short Dear Basketball with Kobe Bryant, cementing his reputation for innovative storytelling across media. Beyond Disney, he has explored experimental hand‑drawn animation with Google’s Motorola Advanced Technology Group, creating the 60‑fps short Duet, and directed the Netflix feature Over the Moon in 2020. He is also a prolific author of children’s books featuring the Adam Raccoon series, and a committed Christian who has spoken publicly about living with aphantasia. Keane’s impact on animation is evident in the way his expressive character work continues to inspire new generations of artists worldwide.