William Joyce — Director | Biography, Movies & Career

Biography

William Edward Joyce (born December 11, 1959) is an American writer, illustrator, and filmmaker. He has achieved worldwide recognition as an author, artist and pioneer in the digital and animation industry.

He has written and illustrated over 50 children’s books and novels which have been translated into over 40 languages.

Joyce began his film career as a concept artist for Toy Story (1995), and has since been active in both animation and live-action. He subsequently landed credits on films including A Bug's Life (1998) and Robots (2005). His book A Day with Wilbur Robinson was adapted into the Disney film Meet the Robinsons (2007), with which he had direct involvement.

Among his many awards, Joyce has won six Emmys, three Annies, and an Academy award, the last being for his short film The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (2011).

Joyce was named by Newsweek magazine as “one of the 100 people to watch in the new millennium. His feature films, all based on his books, include Epic, Rise of the Guardians, Robots, and Meet the Robinsons. His television series include the animated Rolie Polie Olie, for which he was creator and showrunner.

He has also painted numerous covers for the New Yorker Magazine. His company, Howdybot Studios, is focused on Joyce's stories in a variety of mediums and media. Joyce's short film Mr. Spam Gets a New Hat (2022) has won awards at a number of film festivals in the U.S. He is also in pre-production on an animated version of The Great Gatsby. Both projects are in collaboration with DNEG Animation.

In 2022, Joyce's novel Ollie's Odyssey was adapted into a Netflix series titled Lost Ollie.

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