Miyazaki Biography

I was born on Jan. 5, 1941 in Tokyo. I first gained my interest in drawing by watching my father working with planes. At a young age, I started to draw planes and battleships. Until my third year of high school, my interest in anime grew tremendously after watching a film named Hakujaden. At that time, I decidedto become a comic artist and started to learn to draw human figures. In 1963, I started my career at the studio Toei Douga after my college graduation. While working at the studio, I gained my recognition with my creative script ideas for the movie Gulliver's Travels Beyond the Moon. In 1965, I married my fellow animator Akemi Ota, and we had two sons Gorō and Keisuke. After having children, I became inspired to produce short films like Panda KoPanda (1972) that were primarily targeted to younger children. This film was considered as the prototype of My Neighbor Totoro as I became inspired to make such film again. In 1971, I left Toei Studio for A Pro, where I co-directed Lupin III animated series with Isao Takahata. By 1978, I started to direct my first TV series, Conan, The Boy in Future. A year later, I directed my first movie, Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro. In 1984, I released an animated movie that I worked on for two years called Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind. The movie led to a huge success and won the Animage Anime Grand Pix Award in the same year. A year later, I co-founded the animation production company Studio Ghibli with Takahata.  In 1997, I produced Princess Monoke, which was the first movie introduced into the U.S market. It even won the Best Picture at the Japanese Academy Awards. In 2001, I released Spirited Away, which became a huge success in my career.