Tony Bancroft started with one year and one semester at Cal Arts before joining Disney's then-new Florida studio. Advancement opportunities and the woman he married compelled him to move to Burbank where he he rose to become supervising animator on Pumbaa for
The Lion King before returning to Florida to be a co-director for
Mulan. After leaving Disney, Tony developed his
Lenny & Sid animated DVD for Toonacious Family Entertainment. He wrote
Directing for Animation: Everything You Didn't Learn in Art School from Focal Press in 2013. Tony is founded the animation program at Azuza Pacific University before joining his brother Tom at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee while pursuing filmmaking opportunities. He co-directed
Animal Crackers on Netflix with his friend Scott Christian Sava. Tom and Tony are organizing the
Animation Y’all event at Lipscomb in February 2025.
Twin brothers Tom and Tony Bancroft grew up wanting to be cartoonists like Charles Schulz. They ended up going to CalArts to study character animation and went to work for Disney Animation Studios even before graduating. Striking out on their own, they've pursued a number of creative endeavors. Tom and Tony host
The Bancroft Brothers Animation Podcast. Interview subjects include directors Brad Bird and Pete Docter, animators James Baxter, Andreas Deja, Eric Goldberg, and Glen Keane, designers Brittney Lee, Terryl Whitlatch and Victoria Ying, and actor Ming-Na Wen. My brother's Stuart Ng Books sponsors the podcasts. I caught up to Tom and Tony at
Lightbox Expo in Pasadena this year.
Tony brought a portfolio of artwork and a stack of Timon and Pumbaa animation drawings to offer at the event. This piece is one of Tony’s 2019 Inktober pieces. All were Studio Ghibli subjects. The radish spirit is one of the creatures who visit Yubaba’s bath house.
