Glen Keane

Glen Keane is a 38-year veteran of Walt Disney Feature Animation. His earliest art training came from his father, cartoonist Bil Keane, creator of the syndicated panel The Family Circus. In 1974, he was mentored by Walt Disney’s “Nine Old Men.” As a Disney animator, Glen created many beloved characters such as Ariel of The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, the Beast, Tarzan, and Rapunzel—on whom he collaborated with his daughter, Production Designer Claire Keane.

In 2012, Glen departed Disney, founding Glen Keane Productions as a way of furthering his exploration of animation, design, and film. He has since collaborated with partners such as Google, The Paris Ballet, and Riot Games.

In 2018, he directed and animated Dear Basketball with composer John Williams and the late Kobe Bryant and received the Academy Award for Best Animated Short. For Netflix, he directed Over the Moon, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

He and his wife, Linda, are currently living in Paris, France, with their children and grandchildren. He is currently animating JOY, a 24-minute version of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, to a score recorded by Hans Zimmer and conducted by Paavo Järvi. He and his son Max Keane are working together on Max’s Netflix preschool series Trash Truck, in which Glen is the voice of Trash Truck and his grandson Henry does the voice of Trash Truck’s best friend, Hank.

He has written and illustrated a series of Christian children’s books titled The Adventures of Adam Raccoon, which he first created in the ’80s to teach the kids at his church’s daily vacation Bible school. The books will be republished by Penguin Random House Christian Publishing Group.