Ellen Woodbury (born August 10, 1962) is an American stone sculptor, former Disney directing animator and character animator who worked at Walt Disney Animation Studios.
Woodbury grew up in Corning, New York, and she earned a BFA in Film and Art from the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University. She attended the Experimental Animation program at the California Institute of the Arts under the mentorship of Jules Engel.
Animator at Disney Woodbury worked for over 20 years at Walt Disney Feature Animation where she worked as an animator on films like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King where she supervised the creation of the hornbill Zazu. She was Disney's first female directing animator.
Full-time sculptor She moved to Loveland, Colorado in 2005 to become a full-time sculptor. She taught Character Animation at the Art Institute of Colorado from 2010 to 2014, and ran a character animation workshop along with her class each week. In 2019, the National Sculpture Society presented Woodbury with the 2019 Marilyn Newmark Memorial Grant.
Filmography Year Title Credits Characters 1983 The Christmas Tree Train (TV Movie short) Assistant Animator 1985 He-Man and She-Ra: The Secret of the Sword Animator He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (TV Series) Animator - 32 Episodes She-Ra: Princess of Power (TV Series) Animator - 65 Episodes He-Man & She-Ra: A Christmas Special (TV Movie short) Animator 1986 The Great Mouse Detective Assistant Animator 1987 Sport Goofy in Soccermania (TV short) Additional Animator 1988 Oliver & Company Animating Assistant 1989 The Little Mermaid Character Animator 1990 The Rescuers Down Under 1991 Beauty and the Beast Animator Maurice 1992 Aladdin Abu 1994 The Lion King Supervising Animator Zazu 1995 Pocahontas Additional Animator 1996 The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1997 Hercules Supervising Animator Pegasus 1999 Tarzan Additional Animator 2000 Fantasia 2000 Animator - Segment "Rhapsody in Blue" 2002 Treasure Planet Supervising Animator Captain Long John Silver's Pirate Crew 2005 The Zit (Short) Animator Chicken Little 2006 Independent Lens (TV Series documentary) Animator - 1 Episode 2007 Meet the Robinsons Animator
References
External links
Ellen Woodbury's website Creative Talent: Ellen Woodbury A Conversation with Ellen Woodbury-And a Closer Look at Zazu