Madeline Sharafian

Madeline Sharafian (born February 1, 1993)^[2] is an American film director, screenwriter, and storyboard artist. She is best known for her work at Pixar, including directing the short film Burrow (2020) and the feature film Elio (2025).

Madeline Sharafian
Madeline Sharafian at Annecy International Animation Film Festival in 2025.
Born	(1993-02-01) February 1, 1993 (age 32) Alameda, California
Nationality	American
Alma mater	CalArts[1]
Occupations	Film director Screenwriter Storyboard artist
Years active	2013−present
Employers	Cartoon Network (2014–2017) Pixar Animation Studios (2017–present)

Early life

Sharafian was born in Alameda, California,^[2] and is of Armenian descent.^[3] By 2013, she was enrolled in CalArts.^[1]

Career

In 2013, Sharafian wrote and directed the short film Omelette.^[4][5] In 2014, she served as a storyboard artist, writer, and character designer on the Cartoon Network series We Bare Bears.^[4] In 2017, she storyboarded sequences for Coco and Dante's Lunch.^[6][7] In 2020, she was a story lead on the Academy-Award nominated Onward, then later wrote and directed a 2D animated Pixar short film titled Burrow, originally slated to play in theaters before the feature film Soul.^[8] In October 2020, it was announced that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the short would instead premiere on Disney+.^[9][10] In 2022, she served as a storyboard artist for Turning Red.^[1] In June 2025, she made her feature directorial debut with Elio, alongside Domee Shi and Adrian Molina.^[11]

Before Elio, she also served as the associate executive producer on the Disney+ series Dream Productions.

Filmography

Feature films

Year	Title	Director	Story Writer	Story Artist	Pixar Senior Creative Team	Notes/Ref(s)
2017	Coco	No	No	Yes	No	[7]
2020	Onward	No	No	Yes	No	[12]
2022	Turning Red	No	No	Yes	No	[1]
2025	Elio	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	[11][13]

Short films

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Other	Notes/Ref(s)
2013	Omelette	Yes	Yes	Yes	Producer[4]
2017	Weekends	No	No	Yes	Animator Cel painter[14]
	Dante's Lunch	No	No	Yes	Story artist[6]
2018	Purl	No	No	Yes	Story trust[15]
2020	Burrow	Yes	Yes	Yes	Animator[8]
2021	Twenty Something	No	No	Yes	Story trust
	Nona	No	No	Yes	Special Thanks

Television

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Story Artist	Other	Notes/Ref(s)
2014–17	We Bare Bears	No	20 episodes	17 episodes	Yes	Character Designer[4]
2016	Goodnight Ice Bear	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Editor[16]

Accolades

Accolades received by Madeline Sharafian

Award	Date	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref(s)
Academy Awards	April 25, 2021	Best Animated Short	Burrow	Nominated	[17][18][19] [20][21][22]
Annie Awards	February 6, 2016	Outstanding Achievement for Storyboarding in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production	We Bare Bears	Nominated	[23]
	February 3, 2018	Outstanding Achievement for Storyboarding in a Feature Production	Coco	Nominated	[7]
Hollywood Critics Association	March 5, 2021	Best Short Film	Burrow	Nominated	[24]