Barry Cook

BARRY COOK
Director/Producer/Writer

Barry Cook is a veteran of film and animation with more than 35 years of experience in the industry. His career began at Hanna-Barbera Studios, where he worked as an assistant animator on the pilot episode of “The Smurfs”. In 1981 he was hired by Walt Disney Studios where he lent his talents as an Effects Animator to such notable features as “Tron”, “The Little Mermaid”, “Beauty and the Beast”, “Aladdin” and the Michael Jackson music video “Captain EO”.

In 1992 Barry made his directing debut and his mark as a computer graphics pioneer with the CG short “Off His Rockers”. He continued to sharpen his directorial skills on the Disney/Amblin short “Trail Mix-Up” starring Roger Rabbit.

His feature debut was in 1998 with Disney’s “Mulan” which became an instant classic and earned over $300 million in worldwide box office receipts. For his work on the picture, Barry received the International Animated Film Society’s Annie Award for “Best Individual Achievement for Feature Directing”.

Barry also developed the feature film properties “My Peoples” for Disney in 2003 and “Mean Margaret” for Starz Entertainment in 2005. In 2006 Barry completed his original screenplay “The Cat & the Fiddle”. LAIKA Entertainment engaged Barry in 2008 as a development director where he co-wrote the screenplay for “Jack & Ben”.

In 2009 Barry signed with Aardman Animations and co-directed their hilarious CG animated feature “Arthur Christmas” which was released by Sony/Columbia Pictures in 2011.

Barry’s next feature release as director was, “Walking with Dinosaurs” from 20th Century Fox and BBC Earth in December of 2013. The film’s innovative look was achieved by combining photo-realistic CG creature animation with stunning live-action vistas shot in remote locations in Alaska and New Zealand.

In 2016 he oversaw pre-production for an animated feature based on the manga title “Ikusa no Ko” (aka: Rising Son) for Japan’s North Stars Pictures. Barry also wrote and directed a surreal live-action comedy short titled “BLINKER” which he completed in 2017.

Recently, Barry signed with Aquamen Entertainment as an Executive Producer for their animated feature film “Monkey King - The Beginning” which is currently in preproduction in Los Angeles. He is also currently at work on a graphic novel based on his original screenplay titled “The Cat & the Fiddle”.
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