Karen Rupert Toliver

Karen Rupert Toliver is an American film producer. Toliver has worked as an executive at Walt Disney Animation Studios, 20th Century Fox Animation, and Sony Pictures Animation, and has supervised the production of films such as Ferdinand, Curious George and Meet the Robinsons. She is the executive vice president of creative development at Sony Pictures Animation. Toliver is best known for co-producing the short film Hair Love, for which she received the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 2020.

Career Toliver began her career as an assistant at Walt Disney Pictures, where she worked on The Mighty Ducks film series. She was later hired as a production executive at Walt Disney Animation Studios and worked on movies such as Chicken Little and Meet the Robinsons. Shortly before she changed jobs, she was approached by Matthew A. Cherry for production help with Hair Love.

After her promotion, Toliver assisted Cherry as a side project, and arranged for the film to be shown in theaters ahead of The Angry Birds Movie 2. Toliver stated that her own mother had lupus during Toliver's high school years and lost her hair as a result of the illness. Toliver received a 2020 Oscar for Best Animated Short Film for Hair Love, shared with Matthew A. Cherry, becoming the first African-American woman to win in that category.

Accolades

2020 - Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film - Hair Love