Jared Bush

Jared Bush (born June 12, 1974) is an American filmmaker, who has served as the chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios since 2024.^[1] He is best known for co-writing and co-directing the company's animated films Zootopia (2016), its upcoming sequel Zootopia 2 (2025) and Encanto (2021), with the latter he won an Academy Award for the Best Animated Feature, and writing the screenplays for Moana (2016), its sequel Moana 2 (2024) and the 2026 upcoming live-action remake. He also co-created and executive produced the Disney XD animated series Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero.^[2][3]

Jared Bush
Born	(1974-06-12) June 12, 1974 (age 50) Gaithersburg, Maryland, U.S.
Education	Harvard University (BA)
Occupations	Screenwriter producer director
Years active	1998–present
Employer	Walt Disney Animation Studios (2014–present)
Spouse	Pamela McDonald
Awards	Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Encanto (2021)

Early life and education

Bush was born and raised in Gaithersburg, Maryland. He graduated Harvard University, which he earned his Bachelor of arts degree.^[4]

Career

Bush was originally hired by Walt Disney Animation Studios on a "provisional eight-week contract".^[5] He joined the Zootopia project early on, before it evolved from a spy film into a police procedural; he was excited to work on a spy film because both his father and grandfather had worked for the Central Intelligence Agency.^[6] Several months after joining Disney, he had to personally pitch Zootopia to Disney chief executive officer Bob Iger.^[5]

He went on to write the screenplays for the films Moana and its sequel Moana 2.^[5]

Bush co-created the animated television series Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero.^[7] In 2021, Bush directed Encanto about a Colombian magical family alongside Byron Howard with Charise Castro Smith as co-director.^[8] Bush also co-wrote the screenplay alongside Castro Smith.^{[citation needed]}

On September 19, 2024, Disney Animation announced that chief creative officer Jennifer Lee was stepping down from that position to direct and write Frozen 3 and to write and executive produce Frozen 4.^[1] Bush was named as her successor.^[1]

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Executive Producer	Other	Voice	Note
2000	What Lies Beneath	No	No	No	Yes		Assistant: Mr. Rapke
2014	Big Hero 6	No	No	No	Yes		Creative Leadership
2016	Zootopia	Co-Director	Yes	No	Yes	Pronk Oryx-Antlerson
	Moana	No	Screenplay	No	Yes
2018	Ralph Breaks the Internet	No	No	No	Yes
2019	Frozen 2	No	No	No	Yes
2021	Raya and the Last Dragon	No	No	Yes	Yes
	Encanto	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
2022	Strange World	No	No	No	Yes
2023	Wish	No	No	No	Yes
2024	Moana 2[9]	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
2025	Zootopia 2[10]	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
2026	Moana	No	Screenplay	No	No		Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Creator	Producer	Writer	Story Editor	Composer
2000	DAG	No	No	Assistant	No	No
2002	Baby Bob	No	Co-Producer	Staff	No	No
2003	Totally Outrageous Behavior	No	No	Yes	No	No
2003	Dumber and Dumber	No	No	Yes	No	No
2003–04	Who Wants to Marry My Dad?	No	No	Yes	No	No
2003–07	All of Us	No	Co-Producer	Yes	Executive	No
2014–17	Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero	Yes	Executive	Yes	No	Yes

Short films

Year	Title	Executive Producer	Other	Voice	Notes
2022	Zootopia+	Yes	Yes	Pronk Oryx-Antlerson	Disney+ Original short films

Unrealized projects

• Mancation^[11]

Awards and nominations

Award	Date of ceremony	Category	For	Recipient(s)	Result	Ref.
BET Comedy Awards	2005	Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series	All of Us	Jared Bush, Arthur Harris, Stacy A. Littlejohn, Lori Lakin, Jewel Wormley, Josh Wolf, Demetrius Andre Bady, Byron Hord, Ray Lancon, John Simmons, Rob Rosell, Chad Drew, Betsy Borns	Nominated
Seattle Film Critics Award	2017	Best Animated Feature	Zootopia	Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Rich Moore	Won
Alliance of Women Film Journalists	December 21, 2016	Best Animated Film			Won	[12]
Annie Awards	February 4, 2017	Outstanding Achievement for Writing in an Animated Feature Production		Jared Bush and Phil Johnston	Won	[13]
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America	May 20, 2017	Ray Bradbury Award			Nominated	[14]
Annie Awards	March 12, 2022	Best Animated Feature	Encanto	Jared Bush, Byron Howard, and Charise Castro Smith	Nominated
British Academy Film Awards	March 13, 2022	Best Animated Film		Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Yvett Merino and Clark Spencer	Won	[15]
Academy Awards	March 27, 2022	Best Animated Feature			Won	[16]
Hugo Awards	September 4, 2022	Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form		Charise Castro Smith, Jared Bush, and Byron Howard	Nominated	[17]
Imagen Awards	October 2, 2022	Best Director – Feature Film			Won	[18]
Nebula Awards	May 21, 2022	Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation		Charise Castro Smith, Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Jason Hand, Nancy Kruse, and Lin-Manuel Miranda	Nominated	[19]