Bruce Wayne Smith (born September 6, 1961) is an American animator, writer and director, best known for his work with Disney.
One of several artists from The Renaissance Age of Animation to study his craft at the prestigious California Institute of The Arts (aka CalArts), Smith is an artist with a resume that's both extremely prolific and extremely varied. His first professional job was as an assistant on the Garfield TV special Garfield In The Rough. His second? A writer on ThunderCats (1985) and Silverhawks! Afterwards, he'd hold a number of odd animation jobs for various studios on both features and television, doing everything from animation to character designs to directing. He'd make his feature directorial debut in 1992 with the Cult Classic Bébé's Kids, the first animated feature to star an all-black cast, and was one of the four credited animation directors on the seminal 90s classic Space Jam.
Smith's relationship with Disney began in the mid-80s as a late hiree for the landmark film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, later working on two of the Roger Rabbit Shorts. A year later, he'd both animate and appear As Himself in the Disneyland short film attraction Back To Neverland. He'd take semi-permanent residence at Disney in the the late 90s through to The New '10s, both as an animator on their last few 2D feature films and as the creator of the Disney Channel series The Proud Family, the first animated series to star a black family.
Smith, along with fellow Disney legend Floyd Norman, is notable for being one of the few animators to make a name for himself in Western Animation while being black. (He cites Norman as an influence.) Unlike Norman, who historically has not liked being defined by his skin color, Smith has embraced this fact and has spent much of his career both lobbying for and creating diverse representation in his field. He agreed to his afore-mentioned appearance in Return to Neverland solely because he wanted to show the public that yes, black people can be Disney animators too, and while obviously grateful for the work Disney has given him, he's also never been shy to call their bluff on lack of proper representation or reliance on positive discrimination. Prior to The Proud Family, he worked on the HBO series Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child, which told famous fairy tales with all-nonwhite casts.
His most recent project was as one of the three directors on the 2019 indie short Hair Love. That same year, he inked an exclusive deal with Disney, with his first project being a revival of The Proud Family, subtitled Louder and Prouder, for Disney+.
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- Who Framed Roger Rabbit: Additional animation
- Space Jam: Animation director
- Cats Don't Dance: Character designer and animator
- Tarzan: Supervising animator for Kerchak
- The Emperor's New Groove: Supervising animator for Pacha
- One by One: Visual development artist
- Home on the Range: Supervising animator for Pearl
- The Princess and the Frog: Supervising animator for Dr. Facilier
- Winnie the Pooh (2011): Supervising animator for Piglet
- Hair Love: Director
