Kirsten Lepore

Kirsten Lepore is an American animator, known for her stop-motion short films, including Sweet Dreams, Bottle (2011), and Move Mountain (2013). She is known for her 2016 stop-motion episode of the American cartoon series Adventure Time entitled "Bad Jubies", as well as her work writing, directing, and executive producing the I Am Groot short series for Disney+.

Education Lepore was raised in South Brunswick, New Jersey. In an interview with The A.V. Club, Lepore explained that, as a child, she was fascinated by the animation techniques used by both Disney and the Jim Henson Company. Following college, she applied to studios and freelanced on the side, but she "never heard back from the studios, and the freelance work kept coming." As a result, she attended CalArts, graduating in 2012 with a Master of Fine Arts in experimental animation. Her graduate thesis, a short film entitled Move Mountain (2013), caught the attention of Adventure Time showrunner Adam Muto, and Lepore guest-animated the episode "Bad Jubies".

Accolades

Lepore has won various awards, including a Student Annie Award, a South by Southwest special jury award for animation, and an Annecy + award for best animation. She has also won two Children's and Family Emmy Awards for her work on I Am Groot and the Gabby's Kid Power Challenge public service initiative, respectively.

Personal life Lepore has been married to fellow filmmaker and animator Daniel Kwan since 2016, and together they have one son.

Selected filmography