Jared Bush

Jared Bush (born June 12, 1974) is an American filmmaker serving as the chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios since 2024.

Early life and education Bush was born and raised in Gaithersburg, Maryland. He attended Harvard University, where he was president of Harvard-Radcliffe Television. He graduated from Harvard with a degree in English and American literature.

Career Bush was originally hired by Walt Disney Animation Studios on a "provisional eight-week contract". He joined the Zootopia project early on, before it evolved from a spy film into a police procedural; he was excited to work on a spy film because both his father and grandfather had worked for the Central Intelligence Agency. Several months after joining Disney, he had to personally pitch Zootopia to Disney chief executive officer Bob Iger. He later went to co-write the screenplay and co-direct the film. He returned to write the screenplay for Zootopia 2, the sequel to Zootopia, which he also directed alongside one of the first film's directors Byron Howard. Bush and Howard alongside producer Yvett Merino received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature for Zootopia 2, but lost to Sony Pictures Animation's KPop Demon Hunters. In November 2018, Bush originally developed the Star Wars series Andor, writing a pilot script and series bible for the project. In 2021, Bush directed another Disney animated film Encanto about a Colombian magical family alongside Howard with Charise Castro Smith as co-director. Bush also co-wrote the screenplay alongside Castro Smith. Bush, Howard and Merino alongside another producer Clark Spencer won the Academy Award for Encanto.

On September 19, 2024, Disney Animation announced that chief creative officer Jennifer Lee was stepping down from that position to direct and write Frozen 3 and to write and executive produce Frozen 4. Bush was named as her successor. In production

Television Year Title Creator Producer Writer StoryEditor Composer 2000DAG 2002 Baby Bob 2003 Totally Outrageous Behavior Dumber and Dumber 2003–04 Who Wants to Marry My Dad? 2003–07 All of Us 2014–17 Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero

Short films Year Title ExecutiveProducer Other Voice Notes 2022Zootopia+ Pronk Disney+ Original short films

Unrealized projects Save the Date Adrenaline

Awards and nominations Award Date of ceremony Category For Recipient(s) Result BET Comedy Awards 2005 Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series All of Us Jared Bush, Arthur Harris, Stacy A. Littlejohn, Lori Lakin, Jewel Wormley, Josh Wolf, Demetrius Andre Bady, Byron Hord, Ray Lancon, John Simmons, Rob Rosell, Chad Drew, Betsy Borns Seattle Film Critics Award 2017 Best Animated Feature Zootopia Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Rich Moore Alliance of Women Film Journalists December 21, 2016 Best Animated Film Annie Awards February 4, 2017 Outstanding Achievement for Writing in an Animated Feature Production Jared Bush and Phil Johnston Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America May 20, 2017 Ray Bradbury Award Annie Awards March 12, 2022 Best Animated Feature Encanto Jared Bush, , and British Academy Film Awards March 13, 2022 Best Animated Film Jared Bush, , and Academy Awards March 27, 2022 Best Animated Feature Hugo Awards September 4, 2022 Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form , Jared Bush, and Byron Howard Imagen Awards October 2, 2022 Best Director – Feature Film Nebula Awards May 21, 2022 Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation , Jared Bush, , , , and Academy Awards March 15, 2026 Best Animated Feature Zootopia 2 Jared Bush, , and Annie Awards February 21, 2026 Best Feature Best Writing – Feature Jared Bush British Academy Film Awards February 22, 2026 Best Animated Film Jared Bush, , and Best Children's & Family Film