Disney ‘Legend’ Andreas Deja is a Polish-born American animator/director, most noted for his 30-year career at Walt Disney Animation Studios. 

Deja first applied for a job as a Disney animator at the age of 10 after seeing Disney’s 1967 animated The Jungle Book. The Studio wrote back to Deja explaining that there were no openings, but they were always on the look-out for new talent. This offered him the encouragement he needed and the motivation to work hard towards that goal. At the age of 23, after completing his studies, he applied again and this time he was accepted.

Working with Eric Larson, one of Disney’s legendary “nine old men,” Deja went on to do early character design, costume research and animation for “The Black Cauldron.” He proceeded to work on “The Great Mouse Detective,” and design many of the characters for “Oliver & Company, before spending a year in London as a lead animator on the ground-breaking animation/live-action hybrid “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” under the direction of Richard Williams.

On “The Little Mermaid,” Deja oversaw the animation of Triton, a powerful figure that required expert skills in draftsmanship and acting ability. For Disney’s Academy Award-winning animated musical “Beauty and the Beast,” he served as the supervising animator for the first of his many Disney villains, the very pompous and narrow-minded Gaston.

Deja continued to explore his darker side by designing and animating the evil vizier, Jafar for Disney’s animated-musical hit, “Aladdin.”  He went on to supervise the animation of the power-hungry villain, Scar, in “The Lion King,” which quickly earned a place as one of the industry’s biggest films of all time.  

Deja’s career also includes overseeing the animation of Mickey Mouse in “Runaway Brain,” the Studio’s first new Mickey short since 1953 and an Oscar nominee in 1996 for Best Animated Short. Following that, he brought to life more characters including the title hero in Disney’s 35th full-length animated feature, “Hercules,” the charming and unpredictable little Hawaiian girl, Lilo, in “Lilo & Stitch” and the Mama Odie character in “The Princess and the Frog,” as well Tigger for a new Winnie the Pooh feature, which was released theatrically in 2011.

In 2007, Andreas Deja was honored with the Winsor McKay Award lifetime achievement award from ASIFA (the International Animated Film Association).  In 2015, he was named a Disney ‘Legend,’ the company’s recognition of individuals who have made extraordinary and integral contributions to The Walt Disney Company.

Currently, Deja works on special projects and animation, including having just completed his directorial debut, the 10-year labor of love short film Mushka, created in the 2-D style of 101 Dalmatians – an homage to classic Disney animation.  His blog is “Deja View.”