Michael Surrey is a Canadian animator and character designer, who worked at Walt Disney Animation Studios and is currently a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) and the creative director of Story and Animation at Spire Animation Studios since 2020.
A native of Toronto, Surrey attended Sheridan College from 1983 to 1987 with a diploma in Character Animation. Before beginning his animation career, was pursuing his BFA at New York Institute of Technology from 1987 to 1990 and is also a graduate from Sheridan College, where he studied animation. He soon began an 18 year career at Walt Disney Animation where he worked on films, such as Beauty the and Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, The Princess and the Frog, Tangled, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, where he was nominated for an Annie Award for his work. He left the studio in February of 2013.
Additionally, Michael worked at DreamWorks Animation as a CG Animator from July 2003 to September 2004 and a storyboard artist from February 2012 to October 2020.
Filmography[]
| Year | Film | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | The Prince and the Pauper | Animating assistant |
| 1991 | Beauty and the Beast | Animating assistant |
| 1992 | Aladdin | Animator: Aladdin |
| 1994 | The Lion King | Supervising Animator: Timon |
| 1996 | The Hunchback of Notre Dame | Supervising Animator: Clopin |
| 1999 | How to Haunt a House | Animator |
| Tarzan | Supervising Animator: Terk | |
| 2001 | Atlantis: The Lost Empire | Supervising Animator: Lyle Tiberius Rourke |
| 2004 | Home on the Range | Supervising Animator: Buck |
| 2009 | The Princess and the Frog | Supervising Animator: Ray |
| 2010 | Tangled | Animator: Pascal |
| 2011 | Winnie the Pooh | Additional animator |
