The Japanese film maker

Haoyao Miyazaki

Born: January 5th, 1941
Occupation: Film director, Screenwriter, Character designer
Year active: 1963 - present


Hayao Miyazaki is a prominent japanese filmmaker of many popular animated feature films. He remined largely unknow to the West, until Miramax released his 1997 Princess Mononoke. By that time, his films had already enjoyed both commercial and critical success in Japan.

Miyazaki's films often incorprate recurrent themes, such as humanity's relationship to nature and technology, and the difficulty of maintaining a pacifist ethic. Reflecting Miyazaki's feminism, the protagonists of his films are often strong, independent girls or young women; with the exceptions of The Castle of Cagliostro and Castle in the Sky, his films often depict villains to morally ambiguous charactors with redeeming qualities.