Hayao Miyazaki
Directing • Born 1941-01-05
Biography
Hayao Miyazaki (Miyazaki Hayao, born January 5, 1941) is a Japanese manga artist and prominent film director and animator of many popular anime feature films. Through a career that has spanned nearly five decades, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a maker of animated feature films and, along with Isao Takahata, co-founded Studio Ghibli, an animation studio and production company. The success of Miyazaki's films has invited comparisons with American animator Walt Disney, British animator Nick Park as well as Robert Zemeckis, who pioneered Motion Capture animation, and he has been named one of the most influential people by Time Magazine. Miyazaki began his career at Toei Animation as an in-between artist for Gulliver's Travels Beyond the Moon where he pitched his own ideas that eventually became the movie's ending. He continued to work in various roles in the animation industry over the decade until he was able to direct his first feature film Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro which was published in 1979. After the success of his next film, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, he co-founded Studio Ghibli where he continued to produce many feature films until Princess Mononoke whereafter he temporarily retired. While Miyazaki's films have long enjoyed both commercial and critical success in Japan, he remained largely unknown to the West until Miramax released his 1997 film, Princess Mononoke. Princess Mononoke was the highest-grossing film in Japan—until it was eclipsed by another 1997 film, Titanic—and the first animated film to win Picture of the Year at the Japanese Academy Awards. Miyazaki returned to animation with Spirited Away. The film topped Titanic's sales at the Japanese box office, also won Picture of the Year at the Japanese Academy Awards and was the first anime film to win an American Academy Award. Miyazaki's films often incorporate 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. Miyazaki is a vocal critic of capitalism and globalization. While two of his films, The Castle of Cagliostro and Castle in the Sky, involve traditional villains, his other films such as Nausicaa or Princess Mononoke present morally ambiguous antagonists with redeeming qualities.
Filmography
51 credits
Professional Special: Director Miyazaki Hayao
Movie • 2009
Self
Hideaki Anno: The Final Challenge of Evangelion
Movie • 2021
Self
Yasuo Ōtsuka's Joy in Motion
Movie • 2004
Self
Mei and the Kittenbus
Movie • 2002
Totoro (voice)
Ghibli Landscapes - A Journey to Encounter Directors Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki's Starting Point
Movie • 2011
Self
Giant God Warrior Appears in Tokyo
Movie • 2012
Giant Robot (voice)
Kurosawa's Way
Movie • 2011
Self
The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness
Movie • 2013
Self
The Birth of "Princess Mononoke" Part 1: A Drama on Paper
Movie • 2001
Self
Isao Takahata and His Tale of The Princess Kaguya
Movie • 2014
Self
25th Anniversary Studio Ghibli Concert
Movie • 2008
Self - Filmmaker
A Hedgehog Came Out of the Fog
Movie • 2011
2399 Days with Hayao Miyazaki & Studio Ghibli
Movie • 2023
Self
Miwa: A Japanese Icon
Movie • 2013
Himself
Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron
Movie • 2024
Self
NEWS ZERO Spinoff: "Ponyo on the Cliff" Close-Up! Five Genius Craftmen
Movie • 2008
Self
Super TV: Frontline Information 15 Months of Exclusive Coverage! The Secret Behind "My Neighbors the Yamadas"
Movie • 2000
Princess Mononoke: Making of a Masterpiece
Movie • 2004
Self
The Work of Toshio Suzuki Don't Believe in Myself, I Believe in People
Movie • 2006
Self
Japanese Cinema: New Territories
Movie • 2011
Self
The World, The Journey Of My Heart - Traveler: Animation Film Director Hayao Miyazaki
Movie • 1998
Himself
Miyazaki, Spirit of Nature
Movie • 2025
Self (archive footage)
Hayao Miyazaki Produces a CD
Movie • 2004
Self
Hayao Miyazaki and the Ghibli Museum
Movie • 2005
Self
Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki
Movie • 2017
Self
The Nippon Television Special of Spirited Away
Movie • 2001
Himself
Poppy Hill - 300 Days of War Between Father and Son
Movie • 2011
Himself
The Work of Hayao Miyazaki "The Wind Rises" Record of 1000 Days/Retirement Announcement Unknown Story
Movie • 2014
himself
Princess Mononoke in the U.S.A.
Movie • 2001
Himself
Ghibli and The Miyazaki Mystery
Movie • 2005
Self - Interviewee
The Art of 'Spirited Away'
Movie • 2003
Himself
How Ponyo Was Born: Hayao Miyazaki's Thought Process
Movie • 2009
Self
How Ghibli Was Born
Movie • 1998
Himself
The Birth of "Princess Mononoke" Part 3: The Day The Record Was Broken
Movie • 2001
Self
A Ghibli Artisan - Kazuo Oga Exhibition - The One Who Drew Totoro's Forest
Movie • 2007
Self
The Birth of "Princess Mononoke" Part 2: Life Has Been Breathed Into It!
Movie • 2001
Self
In Love With and Living Within Movies - Akira Kurosawa and Hayao Miyazaki
Movie • 1993
Self
"The Ornithopter Story: Fly, Hiyodori Tengu!"
Movie • 2002
Himself
Imaginary Flying Machines
Movie • 2002
Le cochon
The Making of Only Yesterday
Movie • 1991
Self
Lasseter-san, Thank You
Movie • 2003
Himself
Inside Ghibli's Creation: 400 Days of Clash Between Hayao Miyazaki and The New Director
Movie • 2010
Himself
The Cat Returns - Making of
Movie • 2002
Self
Manga!
Movie • 1994
Self
Ghibli's Bookshelf
Movie • 2010
self
Ghibli Scenery: A Journey to Japan Painted in Miyazaki’s Works
Movie • 2008
The Birth of Studio Ghibli
Movie • 2003
Miyazaki
Movie • 2025
Self
The Professionals
TV
Himself
10 Years with Hayao Miyazaki
TV • 2019
Self
Professional: Shigoto no ryûgi
TV • 2006
Self