Moana, Frozen, Wreck-it-Ralph, and more: As head of animation at Walt Disney Animation Studios, alum Amy Lawson Smeed (BFA 1997) is behind the scenes of your favorite movies.
Smeed arrived at SAIC as a painter, but she appreciated that SAIC encouraged interdisciplinary study, so she signed up for graphic design, and then for a course in the relatively new field of computer animation. With her first taste of animation, she was hooked.
When she graduated, she was sure that she wanted to be an animator. She got her foot in the door by applying for a job at Disney Animation Studios doing technical work in scene setup for the movie Dinosaur. In her off hours, she used the equipment to build out her own portfolio.
As a leader, Smeed makes every effort to protect creativity. Her goal is always to protect an animator’s ownership and risk-taking and not overwrite them with her own taste. This philosophy and care have shaped the animation teams that Smeed leads at Disney and helped to drive her undeniable success.
