ANDREAS DEJA (Supervising Animator) first applied for a job as a Disney animator at the age of 10. Deja, who was born in Poland and raised in Germany, remembers writing to the studio immediately after seeing The Jungle Book. “I’d never seen a Disney feature before,” says the artist. “It was one of those key experiences, because I just couldn’t believe what I’d seen—all those drawings moving, thinking and acting so real.”

The studio wrote back to Deja, explaining that they were fully staffed, but they were always on the lookout for new talent. This response offered him the encouragement he needed and motivated him to work hard toward his goal. At the age of 20, after completing his studies in visual communication at the Folkwangschule in Essen, Germany, he applied again and was accepted.

Working with Eric Larson, one of Disney’s legendary “nine old men,” Deja completed several tests and went on to do early character design, costume research and animation for The Black Cauldron. His next assignment was The Great Mouse Detective, for which he animated the mouse queen and her robotic twin. Deja helped design many of the characters for Oliver & Company and did some animation before spending a year in London as a lead animator on Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, under director Richard Williams.

On The Little Mermaid, Deja oversaw the animation of Triton, a powerful figure requiring expert skills in draftsmanship and acting ability. For Disney’s Academy Award®-winning animated musical Beauty and the Beast, he served as the supervising animator for the first of his many Disney villains—the pompous and narrow-minded Gaston.

Deja continued down his dark path by designing and animating the evil vizier Jafar for Disney’s hit animated musical Aladdin. He also supervised the animation for the power-hungry villain, Scar, in The Lion King, which has become The Walt Disney Studios’ most successful film, as well as one of the highest-grossing films of all time.

Deja next worked on Runaway Brain, the first Mickey Mouse short since 1953. He supervised the animation on the famous mouse at the company’s Paris-based animation facility.

Deja then served as the supervising animator for the title character in Disney’s epic animated comedy Hercules. He was the supervising animator for Lilo, the little Hawaiian girl in Lilo & Stitch, and animated Bambi’s father, the Great Prince, in Bambi II from DisneyToon Studios.

In February of 2007, Andreas received the prestigious Winsor McKay – Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Animation Film Society – Hollywood, citing Andreas for his for outstanding and unique contributions in the field of Animation.

Deja recently animated Goofy for the hit short film, How to Hook Up Your Home Theater.

He is currently serving as Supervising Animator (for Mama Odie and Juju) on Walt Disney Animation Studios’ upcoming The Princess and the Frog, which marks the Company’s much-anticipated return to hand-drawn animation.