Brenda Chapman Biography

Brenda Chapman (born November 1, 1962) is an American writer, animation story artist and director. In 1998, she became the first woman to direct an animated feature from a major studio, DreamWorks Animation's The Prince of Egypt. She co-directed the Disney/Pixar film Brave, becoming the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

Life and career

Chapman was born in Beason, Illinois as the youngest of five. She went to Lincoln College in Lincoln, Illinois, receiving her Associate of Arts degree. She then moved to California and studied animation at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). During her summer breaks, she began her professional career working in syndicated television animation. After graduating with a BFA in character animation, she was a story trainee on the Disney animated film The Little Mermaid. She was one of several key story artists on Disney's Beauty and the Beast, where she worked closely with future Disney director Roger Allers to define many of the key sequences and motifs used in the film. She later served as head of story, the first woman to do so in an animated feature film, for Disney's animated classic The Lion King.

Chapman also worked in story and development for other Disney animated films such as The Rescuers Down Under, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Fantasia 2000. She joined DreamWorks Animation at its inception in the fall of 1994.

Chapman was one of a team of three directors who worked on 1998's The Prince of Egypt, along with Steve Hickner and Simon Wells. She became the first woman to land a directing role in an animated feature by a major studio; three others had helmed independent efforts before her (Lotte Reiniger of The Adventures of Prince Achmed, Joy Batchelor of Animal Farm, and Arna Selznick of The Care Bears Movie).

She also worked on Chicken Run, and several projects in development while at DreamWorks.

Chapman moved to Pixar in 2003, where she had a brief stint on Cars before beginning development on and directing Brave. Chapman conceived the project and was announced as the director of the film, making her Pixar's first female director. In October 2010, however, she was replaced by Mark Andrews following creative disagreements. There were rumors that she subsequently left Pixar, but she remained on staff until shortly after the release of Brave, and started work as a consultant at Lucasfilm at the end of July 2012, where she helped solve story problems of Strange Magic. When asked whether she will return to Pixar, Chapman responded: "That door is closed. I made the right decision to leave and firmly closed that door. I have no desire to go back there. The atmosphere and the leadership doesn't fit well with me." She has stated a sequel to Brave is inevitable.

In 2013, she returned to her old employer, DreamWorks Animation, where she helped in developing Rumblewick that had a strong female protagonist and was described as "funny with magic and heart." As of 2016, she is developing projects for Chapman Lima Productions, with her husband Kevin Lima.

In May 2016, it was reported that Chapman would make her live-action directorial debut with Come Away, a fantasy drama that serves as a prequel to Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan. In May 2018, it was reported that Angelina Jolie and David Oyelowo were cast to play the parents of Alice and Peter, with Jolie and Oyelowo also serving as producers. Anna Chancellor and Clarke Peters joined in August, with filming in London starting that same month. Additionally, on June 6, 2018, Chapman was revealed to be writing the story for the 2019 remake of The Lion King.

Personal life

Chapman is married to director Kevin Lima (A Goofy Movie, Tarzan, Enchanted), whom she met at California Institute of the Arts. They have a daughter, Emma Rose Lima, who was the inspiration for Mrida, Braves young princess. Chapman claims Scottish ancestry. In 2014, Chapman urged Scots to back independence in the September referendum.

Filmography

Year	Title	Notes
1988	Who Framed Roger Rabbit	in between artist: additional animation
1989	The Little Mermaid	story artist
1990	The Rescuers Down Under	story artist
1991	Beauty and the Beast	story
1994	The Lion King	head of story
1996	The Hunchback of Notre Dame	story
1998	The Prince of Egypt	director with Steve Hickner and Simon Wells singing voice of Miriam
1999	Fantasia 2000	story
2000	The Road to El Dorado	additional story artist
	Chicken Run	additional story artist
2001	Shrek	special thanks
2003	Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas	special thanks
2006	Cars	story artist
2008	WALL-E	senior creative team
2009	Up	additional voices senior creative team
2012	Brave	director screenplay/story with Mark Andrews senior creative team
2015	Strange Magic	consultant, voice of Imp
2019	The Lion King	story
TBA	Come Away	director post-production

Television

Year	Title	Notes
1984	Heathcliff	lip sync checker
1985-1986	Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling	character designer 5 episodes
1986	Dennis the Menace	lip sync checker 65 episodes
1986-1987	The Real Ghostbusters	animator 76 episodes lip sync checker 2 episodes
1997	Cartoon Sushi	special thanks 1 episode