John Lasseter

reference John Lasseter popped into the world in Hollywood, but he and his twin sister Johanna actually grew up in Whittier, just outside LA. His mom, Jewell Mae, taught art, and honestly, that’s where his whole animation obsession started. He’d binge-watch Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, and somewhere in high school, a lightbulb went off—he could actually make cartoons for a living. He even wrote to Disney, but, well, nothing came of it at first. Fast forward to 1975, Disney launches an animation program at CalArts and, with his mom’s push, John jumps in. Turns out, he’s surrounded by future legends like Brad Bird and Tim Burton, all learning from Disney’s old-school masters. John cranked out two shorts—Lady and the Lamp, and Nitemare—both snagged Student Academy Awards. Pretty wild. After graduating, he landed a gig at Disney as an animator. But things got spicy in ’83 when he saw some early Tron CGI and realized computers could take animation to a whole new level. He and a buddy made a secret test film. Management found out, freaked out, and canned him. Not that it slowed him down. He got scooped up by Lucasfilm, which Steve Jobs later bought and renamed Pixar. John literally wowed Steve by animating a desk lamp—yep, Luxo Jr.—and the rest is history: Toy Story, Oscars, a bunch of nominations, and eventually, the guy’s running Pixar, Disney Animation, and DisneyToon. Even scored a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Not bad for a kid from Whittier.