Ruben A. Aquino

Ruben A. Aquino
Ruben A. Aquino
Born	Ruben Azama Aquino; December 18, 1953 (age 70); Okinawa, Japan
Citizenship	United States
Alma mater	University of Pennsylvania
Occupation	Supervising Animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios
Years active	1975–present
Employer	Walt Disney Animation Studios (1981-2013)

Ruben Azama Aquino (born December 18, 1953) is a Japanese-born Filipino-American character animator and a supervising animator who formerly worked at Walt Disney Animation Studios. His work has included several Disney characters, including Ursula in The Little Mermaid, Maurice in Beauty and the Beast, Simba as an adult in The Lion King, Chief Powhatan in Pocahontas, Li Shang in Mulan, Denahi in Brother Bear and Eudora and James in The Princess and the Frog. In March 2013, it was announced that Aquino had been laid off, as well as 8 other animators who worked at the studio, including Nik Ranieri.

His style is easily recognized by his powerful figures and his extremely geometric facial movements.

Early life

Ruben A. Aquino was born on December 18, 1953 in Okinawa, Japan. His mother is Japanese while his father is a Filipino.

He studied in Christ the King International School in Okinawa from kindergarten to high school and graduated in 1971. He attended the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and majored in Architecture.

Professional career

From 1975 to 1979, Ruben worked as a graphic artist in Honolulu, Hawaii. He worked for Farmhouse Films as a trainee, which was his first job in animation.

After moving to Los Angeles in 1980, he worked for Hanna-Barbera Studios in visual development, character design and layout. He was laid off after a year.

Months later, he was able to enter Walt Disney Feature Animation's clean-up training program and after completing it, he worked on a 30-second animation test of Fflewddur Fflam from The Black Cauldron and submitted it to the review board. He was promoted to animating assistant and worked for Disney from 1982 until 2013.^[1]^[2]

Filmography

Year	Title	Credits	Characters
1981	Laverne & Shirley in the Army (TV Series)	Character Designer - 1 Episode
1981	The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang (TV Series)	Character Designer - 11 Episodes
1985	The Black Cauldron	Character Animator
1986	The Great Mouse Detective	Character Animator
1988	Mac and Me	Alien Designer
1988	Oliver & Company	Supervising Animator	Francis
1989	The Little Mermaid	Directing Animator / Supervising Animator	Ursula
1990	The Rescuers Down Under	Supervising Animator	Jake
1991	Beauty and the Beast	Supervising Animator	Maurice
1994	The Lion King	Supervising Animator	Adult Simba
1994	The Lion King (Video Game)	Special Thanks
1995	Pocahontas	Supervising Animator	Chief Powhatan
1996	The Hunchback of Notre Dame	Additional Animator
1998	Mulan	Supervising Animator	Li Shang and Fa Li
1999	Tarzan	Additional Animator
2000	Fantasia 2000	Additional Animator
2002	Lilo & Stitch	Supervising Animator	Pleakly and David Kawena
2003	Brother Bear	Supervising Animator	Denahi
2007	Meet the Robinsons	Supervising Animator	Mildred and Mr. Willerstein
2009	The Princess and the Frog	Supervising Animator	Eudora and James
2011	The Ballad of Nessie (Short)	Supervising Animator
2011	Winnie the Pooh	Animator	Winnie the Pooh and Eeyore
2013	Frozen	Additional Visual Development
2015	Pups of Liberty: The Dog-claration of Independence (Short)	Supervising Animator
2016	The Land Before Time: Journey of the Brave (Video)	Character Designer / Character Animator

References

^ "Ruben Aquino - Taught By A Pro Art and Animation Instruction". Taught By A Pro. Retrieved 2014-05-06.
^ "Ruben Aquino". The Animator Letters Project. 2011-10-04. Retrieved 2016-12-20.

External links

Ruben A. Aquino at IMDb

[1] "Ruben Aquino - Taught By A Pro Art and Animation Instruction". Taught By A Pro. Retrieved 2014-05-06.

[2] "Ruben Aquino". The Animator Letters Project. 2011-10-04. Retrieved 2016-12-20.

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