Bruce W. Smith

Bruce W. Smith is an American film and television producer, animator, character designer and film director. He is best known as the creator of Disney Channel's The Proud Family (2001–2005) and Disney+'s The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder (2022–2026). Employed by Disney since 1996, Smith has served as the supervising animator for Kerchak and Baboons & Baby Baboon in Tarzan, Pacha in The Emperor's New Groove, Pearl Gesner in Home on the Range, Dr. Facilier in The Princess and the Frog and Piglet, Kanga and Roo in Winnie the Pooh. His directorial debut was the 1992 animated film Bebe's Kids.

Early life Smith grew up in Los Angeles, California. At age 10, he made his first animated film based on designs of One Hundred and One Dalmatians. Smith attended the Character Animation program at California Institute of the Arts.

Early career In 1984, he was the key assistant animator on a TV short of Garfield in the Rough. and joined the Walt Disney Studios as an animator for Who Framed Roger Rabbit, as well as other Roger Rabbit shorts produced by the studio.

He was an animator for the Back to Neverland short, Michael & Mickey. and Rover Dangerfield—for which he served as a storyboard artist, character designer, character animator, and sequence director. and was an animator for The Indescribable Nth and Garfield in the Rough. The Pagemaster, as well as the television series Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child.

Smith also served as co-director on the Warner Bros. live-action animated film Space Jam before returning to Disney as supervising animator on such films as Tarzan (Kerchak and Baboons) and The Emperor's New Groove (Pacha).

Career While working in animation on the feature film side, Smith furthered his interest in television animation by creating The Proud Family for Disney Channel in 2001. Initially pitched to Nickelodeon in 1998, a pilot was created for the network. He co-founded Jambalaya Studios, which worked in conjunction with Willard Carroll's Hyperion Pictures to produce the series, for which he worked on over 50 episodes as well as The Proud Family Movie (2005).

The name of the series, the first venture for Jambalaya Studio, came from something he told his co-founder, Tom Wilhite when he showed him the show's main characters drawn as though they were in a family portrait. That same year, co-created and served as executive producer for the series Da Boom Crew for The WB. Smith later described the series as mixing concepts of Star Wars with Boyz-N-The Hood, and argued that the series tries to recreate the "black experience in animated form." Although 13 episodes were produced, only four of which aired; the series was a commercial failure.

In 2009, Smith returned to the Walt Disney Animation Studios and Duncan Studio Production to supervise 2D animation on The Princess and the Frog—for the character Dr. Facilier—as well as the 2011 film Winnie the Pooh—for the characters Piglet, Kanga and Roo. In addition, he served as the lead animator for the animated short Tangled Ever After. Smith's character design ability led him into visual development for the studio's subsequent projects, namely Wreck-It Ralph and Frozen. In 2018, he served as an animator for Teen Titans Go! To the Movies. In 2019, he directed the short film Hair Love, which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. In 2019, he worked on the traditionally-animated indie steampunk short series Hullabaloo.

He returned to The Proud Family with the reboot The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, which began airing on Disney+ in February 2022. This was spurred by the fact that on January 1, 2020, the original The Proud Family series began streaming on Disney+, and shortly thereafter, Disney executives approached Smith and Ralph Farquhar regarding a reviving of the series. On February 27, 2020, the show was formally ordered on the streaming service. Smith concurred with Farquhar, saying that the "show never really went away" and called it the "perfect time to bring back this show." Smith also argued that the series is "blazing a path...[in] this animated sphere," saying it has parts of the horror, sci-fi, and Western genres. The show is rated TV-PG, making this Disney Television Animation's first series to carry the rating.

In December 2020, he and Farquhar signed an overall deal with Disney to further produce television properties. On April 18, 2022, Disney+ renewed The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder for a second season.

Filmography Year Title Credits Characters 1984 Garfield in the Rough (TV Short) Key assistant animator 1987 Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night Animator 1988 Who Framed Roger Rabbit Animator: Additional Animation 1989 Back to Neverland (Short) Key animator Tummy Trouble (Short) Animator Vytor: The Starfire Champion (TV Movie) Happily Ever After 1991 Michael & Mickey Rover Dangerfield Storyboard Artist / Character Designer / Character Animator / Sequence Director Rock-A-Doodle Character Animator 1992 Bebe's Kids Director / Principal Character Designer 1993 A Cool Like That Christmas (TV Movie) Character Designer 1994 The Pagemaster Supervising Animator 1995 Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child (TV Series) Director - 12 Episodes / Character Designs - 2 Episodes/ Character Designer - 12 Episodes A Goofy Movie Character Designer 1996 C Bear and Jamal (TV Series) Creative Consultant - 3 Episodes / Character Designer Quack Pack (TV Series) Animation Director / Supervising Animator - 1 Episode Space Jam Animation Director 1997 Cats Don't Dance Character Designer / Supervising Animator Sawyer and Max 1999 Tarzan Supervising Animator Kerchak, Baboons & Baby Baboon 2000 The Indescribable Nit (Short) Animator John Henry Character Designer & Visual Development Artist The Emperor's New Groove Supervising Animator Pacha 2001–2005 The Proud Family (TV Series) Director - 6 Episodes / Executive Producer / Writer / Creator - 52 Episodes / Developer - 2 Episodes 2004 Home on the Range Supervising Animator Pearl GesnerOne by One (Video short) Visual Development Artist Da Boom Crew (TV Series) Co-Creator / Executive Producer 2005 The Proud Family Movie Director / Executive Producer The Picnic (TV Movie) Director The Beach (TV Movie) 2009 The Princess and the Frog (Video Game) Voice The Princess and the Frog Supervising Animator / Party Guest, Jeremy (voice) Dr. Facilier 2011 Winnie the Pooh Supervising Animator Piglet, Kanga and RooKung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Masters (Video short) Animator: Duncan Studio Production 2012 Tangled Ever After (Short) Lead Animator Wreck-It Ralph Additional Visual Development Artist 2013 Frozen 2014 The Pirate Fairy (Video) Senior Creative Team Planes: Fire & Rescue 2016 Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life Animator: animation sequences 2018 Teen Titans Go! To the Movies Animator: additional animator The Late Batsby Storyboard artist 2019 Hair Love Director 2022–2026 The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder Director / Executive Producer / Writer / Creator 2023 Hullabaloo Character Animator (Episode: "The Great Race")

Internet Year Title Notes 2016 Cartoons vs. Cancer Himself