ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

Kevin Lima (Director) was born and raised in Pawtucket, Rhode Island and has been drawing as long as he can remember. He traces his fascination with animation back to his fifth birthday when he received the book, Preston Blair’s Animation. Inspiration from his grandmother led him to an association with Marc Kohler’s professional puppetry theater, The Puppet Workshop in Providence, RI, and then to a summer with Eve Brook’s Costumes in New York City creating costumes for the Ringling Bros And Barnum and Bailey Circus. These eclectic experiences began his life-long fascination with bringing characters of imagination to life. Lima studied acting and theater design at Emerson College before going on to graduate from the California Institute of the Arts Animation Program.

He took his first animation job designing characters and going to Taiwan for six months to work as an animator for the independently produced feature, “The Brave Little Toaster.” He helped develop a project called “Samurai Cat” and animated on “The Chipmunk Adventure.” Then in 1987 he joined Walt Disney Animation to animate the character of ‘Fagin’ for “Oliver & Company.” Lima worked in many capacities on each of Disney Animation’s next five features. He helped design ‘Ursula,’ ‘Flounder,’ and most of the incidental characters for “The Little Mermaid”; he played a key role in creating the characters of ‘Lumiere,’ ‘Mrs. Potts’ and ‘Cogsworth’ for the 1991 feature, “Beauty and the Beast”; and he storyboarded sequences for “Aladdin.” Concurrently during this period, Lima continued to pursue his passion for live theater; directing a community theater production of Stephen Sondheim’s “Into The Woods.”

In 1992, ready to direct, Lima helmed Disney’s “A Goofy Movie.” The film was a critical and commercial success and breathed new life into a classic Disney character. Lima’s unexpectedly sensitive handling of material about the ‘Goofy’ character and his son gave the film a surprisingly real, everyday quality that moviegoers of all ages related to. He followed this by directing the hugely successful and critically acclaimed “Tarzan.” More than a decade after its release, “A Goofy Movie” continues to be one of Disney’s strong DVD’s and the Tarzan franchise has evolved into a DVD success, an attraction at the Disneyland Parks, a Broadway musical and a video premiere sequel. Again ready for new challenges, in 2000 Lima went on to make his live-action directing debut with “102 Dalmatians” starring Glenn Close. He followed that by directing Julie Andrews in the television features “Eloise at the Plaza” and “Eloise at Christmastime” (2003) for ABC. His work on the latter film won him the Director’s Guild of America award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children’s Programs.

Kevin Lima currently lives in Marin County, California with his wife, artist/director Brenda Chapman who is currently directing a film at Pixar Animation, and their beautiful daughter Emma Rose.

Barry Josephson (Producer) is a 20 year veteran in the entertainment industry with a wealth of diverse experience. He has established mainstream success through numerous motion pictures, television series and specials across a variety of genres. As President of Josephson Entertainment, Josephson’s business acumen is derived from the various positions he has held ranging from a successful Talent Manager to President of Production at Columbia Pictures to film, television and music production.

Josephson has numerous feature film projects in various stages of production. Currently, he is in pre-production on the Fox family adventure film “They Came From Upstairs” written by Mark Burton (“Wallace & Gromit”), Dreamworks “Air Guitar,” and 20th Century Fox's “Dummy.”

Josephson is also at the helm of the hit FOX television drama “Bones” which begins its 3rd season this fall. He also is working on the mid-season show “Nurses.”

Recent box office successes under his producing shingle Josephson Entertainment include: “Hide and Seek” starring Robert De Niro, Dakota Fanning, Elisabeth Shue, and Famke Janssen; “Like Mike” from 20th Century Fox and “The Ladykillers,” written and directed by the Coen Bros., starring Tom Hanks, and “Wild Wild West” starring Will Smith.

His television producing credits include ABC television special “The Great Domestic Showdown”; the critically acclaimed “Maximum Bob” for ABC, based on the Elmore Leonard novel; “The Tick” for Fox Broadcasting Company and the cable series “Tales from the Crypt.” Josephson also executive produced the syndicated show “Moving In,” starring Pat Croce for Sony Entertainment Television.

Before embarking on full time producing duties, Josephson was President of Worldwide Production for Columbia/Sony Pictures where he began his six-year stint with the studio as a Senior Vice President of Production. During his tenure, Josephson was responsible for such hits as “Men In Black,” “Air Force One,” “In the Line of Fire,” The Fifth Element,” “Anaconda,” “Bad Boys,” “The Professional,” and “The Craft.”

Prior to Columbia Pictures, Josephson held a similar post at Joel Silver’s Silver Pictures overseeing such films as “Die Hard 2” and “Lethal Weapon 3.” Josephson’s additional film producing credits include “The Las Boy Scout.” and “Ricochet.”

Josephson was a founder of Sandollar Films, which produced cult classic “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” along with several other feature films and telefilms. Josephson’s earlier endeavors included a post at Lorimar Communications, where he oversaw the music division’s interest in feature film and television programming. Working in the realm of personal management, Josephson shepherded the careers of performers such as Patti Labelle, Paula Abdul and Whoopi Goldberg.

Josephson is a founding member of Comic Relief, hosted by Robin Williams, Billy Crystal and Whoopi Goldberg, the comedy concert which has raised millions of dollars to aid the plight of the homeless. He is an active advocate of animal rights and sponsors The Second Chance At Love canine rehabilitation center. Josephson also holds pivotal rolls in the following organizations: the HBO Aspen Comedy Festival; the Commitment to Life Benefit (Supporting AIDS Project Los Angeles); The NHL Entertainment Board and the 12 year running Heart of Austin Film Festival for screenwriters. Josephson was recently appointed to the NHL Advisory Board along with Jerry Bruckheimer to help improve and capitalize the entertainment values of professional hockey. Additionally, he will be executive producing the 2008 NHL All Star Game for NBC.

Film director Barry Sonnenfeld (Producer) had found commercial and artistic success with such films as “The Addams Family,” “Addams Family Values,” both “Men In Black” films, “Get Shorty,” “Wild Wild West,” “Big Trouble,” and most recently released “RV.” He has produced or executive produced “The Ladykillers,” “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events,” and “Out of Sight” and soon to be released ENCHANTED.

Sonnenfeld began his career as a cinematographer, collaborating with the Coen Brothers on their first feature film, “Blood Simple” and continuing with “Raising Arizona” and “Miller’s Crossing.” In addition, Sonnenfeld served as Director of Photography on Penny Marshall’s “Big,” Danny DeVito’s “Throw Momma from the Train,” and two films for Rob Reiner, “When Harry Met Sally,” and “Misery.” He has also directed numerous Clio award winning commercials for Nike, Reebok, and Isuzu.

In television, he has executive produced “Karen Sisco,” and directed and executive produced “Maximum Bob,” “The Tick,” “Notes from the Underbelly” and “Pushing Daisies.”

Sonnenfeld has been a Contributing Editor for Esquire Magazine, since September 2003 where he writes his monthly column, “The Digital Man.”

He lives in East Hampton, New York and Telluride, Colorado with his beautiful wife, Susan and adorably strong willed daughter, Chloe.

BILL KELLY (Screenwriter) recently wrote the screenplay for the supernatural thriller “Premonition,” starring Sandra Bullock and Julian McMahon for TriStar Pictures. He previously wrote New Line Cinema’s romantic, time-warped comedy “Blast from the Past,” starring Brendan Fraser and Alicia Silverstone.

Kelly grew up in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, where his educational background in journalism led to a producing job in local television. He continues to pursue his interest in writing and performance, finding outlets for his material in stand-up, theater and a stint at Chicago’s famed Improv Olympics, studying with co-creator Charna Halpern and Second City legend Del Close.

Moving to Los Angeles, Kelly met producer Sunil Perkash, the two of them pairing as a writer/producer team on all three of Kelly’s produced screenplays, including further projects in development at Disney and Paramount.

CHRIS CHASE (Executive Producer) started his career in live-action on such varied fare as “Eleanor: In Her Own Words,” a PBS one-woman special with Lee Remick; “Funny, You Don’t Look 200!,” Richard Dreyfuss’ ABC special on the birthday of the U.S. Constitution; and “Prisoner of Honor,” an HBO Film shot on location in the UK. Chase joined Walt Disney Animation in 1993 to work on “Runaway Brain,” a Mickey Mouse short film which garnered a 1996 Academy Award® Nomination for Best Animated Short Film and was selected to open the 1996 Cannes Film Festival.

Following that he served as associate producer on the 1999 Disney hit, “Tarzan,” and then as a producer for the theatrical releases of Disney’s “Return to Never Land” and “Jungle Book 2.” Most recently, he served as producer on “Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch,” Disney’s follow to its 2002 hit.

SUNIL PERKASH (Executive Producer) recently produced the thriller “Premonition,” starring Sandra Bullock and Julian McMahon, for TriStar Pictures. He previously produced the New Line Cinema’s romantic, time-warped comedy “Blast from the Past,” starring Brendan Fraser and Alicia Silverstone.

Perkash grew up in Palo Alto, California. The son of two doctors (his brother is also a doctor), he followed his passion for film and moved to Los Angeles in 1991, the day after he graduated from Stanford University with a degree in economics and communications. After briefly working as the US production coordinator on Guillermo del Toro’s “Cronos,” Perkash began collaborating closely with a small handful of writers, with Bill Kelly, screenwriter of ENCHANTED, being one of them.

Perkash and Kelly have additional development projects set up at Disney and Paramount.

EZRA SWERDLOW (Executive Producer) has amassed a distinguished production career over the past 26 years, working alongside such esteemed directors as Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, Sydney Pollack, Mike Nichols, Barry Levinson and Mel Brooks.

Swerdlow began his career in 1980, serving as a unit manager on Woody Allen’s “Stardust Memories.” He spent the next few years working in a variety of production capacities (including location manager, unit manager and production manager) on such renowned films as “Tootsie,” “Arthur” and “King of Comedy,” before earning his inaugural producing credit on Allen’s “Radio Days” (1987).

Swerdlow’s experience includes a successful foray into development with the adaptation of Terry McMillan’s bestseller, “Waiting to Exhale,” which he also produced with Deborah Schindler. In addition, he has served as executive producer on such hits as “Wag the Dog,” “Head of State” and “Secret Window” and, more recently, on “Little Manhattan.”

ENCHANTED represents Swerdlow’s second film with Disney. He served as executive producer on “Invincible,” the story of Philadelphia Eagles’ underdog Vince Papale, starring Mark Walhberg.

DON BURGESS, ASC (Director of Photography) is an Academy Award®-nominated cinematographer for his work on the highly acclaimed hit “Forrest Gump,” for which he also received an Outstanding Achievement nomination from the American Society of Cinematographers and a BAFTA nomination. He also received a CableACE Award for Best Cinematography on the Robert Zemeckis-directed television movie, “Tales from the Crypt.”

Feature film credits for Burgess include: the blockbuster hits “Spider-Man” and “Terminator 3”; “Cast Away,” starring Tom Hanks; the thriller “What Lies Beneath,” starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford; “Contact,” starring Jody Foster; and the Billy Crystal romantic comedy “Forget Paris.” Additional director of photography credits include “Radio,” “13 Going on 30,” “The Polar Express” and “Christmas with the Kranks” and “Fools Gold.”

Burgess most recently shot the hit Disney film “Eight Below” for director Frank Marshall and “My Super Ex-Girlfriend” for director Ivan Reitman.

STUART WURTZEL (Production Designer) received an Academy Award® nomination for his work on Woody Allen’s “Hannah and Her Sisters.” He also designed Allen’s “Purple Rose of Cairo,” as well as three films by Peter Yates: “Suspect,” “The House on Carroll Street” and “An Innocent Man.” He has designed several projects for HBO, the first being Mike Nichols’ production of “Wit,” starring Emma Thompson. He continued the Nichols/HBO collaboration with “Angels in America,” for which he won both an Emmy Award and an Art Directors’ Guild award in 2004. His most recent HBO venture was “Empire Falls,” directed by Fred Schepisi and starring Paul Newman and Ed Harris. He was nominated for an Emmy Award and won an Art Director’s Guild award for that project.

Wurtzel’s numerous other feature credits include: “Before and After,” “Stepmom,” “Hair,” “Used People,” “Mermaids,” “Romeo Is Bleeding,” “Three Men and a Little Lady,” “Old Gringo,” “Brighton Beach Memoirs,” “The Mambo Kings,” “When a Man Loves a Woman,” “I.Q.,” “Murder by Numbers,” “The Ghost and the Darkness” and “Little Manhattan.”

Wurtzel’s first feature film design credit was Joan Micklin Silver’s “Hester Street,” on which he collaborated with his wife, Patrizia von Brandenstein. His association with Silver continued with “Bernice Bobs Her Hair” for the American Short Stories series on PBS and the feature “Between the Lines.”

Raised in Hillside, New Jersey, Wurtzel studied scenic design at Carnegie Mellon University, earning an MFA degree. He began working as a theatrical stage designer, with four seasons as resident designer at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco and three seasons at Cincinnati’s Playhouse in the Park.

After moving to New York, Wurtzel designed numerous Broadway productions, including: “Summer Brave,” “Unexpected Guests,” “Tiny Alice,” “A Flea in Her Ear,” “Sizwe Banze Is Dead,” “The Island” and “Wally’s Café.” Off-Broadway credits include: “Trumpets and Drums” and “Rosmersholm” at the Roundabout Theatre; “Gimme Shelter” at BAM; “Sorrows of Stephen” (for which he won the Joseph Maharam Award for Stage Design) and “Henry IV, Part I” for the New York Shakespeare Festival.

On television, Wurtzel’s design for “Little Gloria...Happy At Last,” earned him an Emmy Award nomination for Art Direction.

Wurtzel’s feature film design work was most recently seen in the holiday hit “Charlotte’s Web.”

STEPHEN A. ROTTER (Editor) has both an Emmy and an Academy Award®. He is mostly interested in non-action films and prefers working on interesting projects that have the potential to be thought-provoking and challenging.

Rotter’s credits include almost every genre, however, lately his concentration has been on comedies.

GREGORY PERLER (Editor) was born in New Jersey and educated at New York University where he graduated with a BA in film studies. While still in film school, Perler found his interests gravitating towards editing.

Perler’s relationship with Disney began when he was hired as an assistant on “Beauty and the Beast” (the only animated film to be nominated for an Academy Award®); he was then promoted to co-­editor, where he remained for two years. Previously, he had lived in New York and served as staff editor for Sporn Animation, working on a series of short films for the Children’s Television Network.

Perler first met Kevin Lima in 1993 and has edited all of the director’s films since. In addition to Lima’s “A Goofy Movie,” “Tarzan,” “102 Dalmatians,” and two “Eloise at the Plaza” television films, his other credits include the Oscar®-nominated “Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius,” and the Oscar®-winning “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of Were-Rabbit,”

Perler and his family live in Studio City, California.

MONA MAY (Costume Designer) emerged as a talented young designer with the release of “Clueless” in 1995. Since then, she has steadily advanced the art of costume design with such films as “Stuart Little 2,” “Master of Disguise” and “The Haunted Mansion.” Critics from The New York Times, Women’s Wear Daily, Vogue and other international publications noted her early work and propelled her into the spotlight. Her career quickly blossomed through a succession of hit films, “Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion,” “The Wedding Singer” and “Never Been Kissed.”

May designed the wardrobe for “Stuart Little 2,” a film whose main character was a four-inch tall digital mouse. Working closely with visual effects experts from Sony Imageworks, she created a closet full of virtual clothes through a computer. Every detail—from the textures and patterns of fabric to the scale and placement of buttons, zippers, even the size of the thread—had to be entered into the computer as data. Her skills were no longer confined to the drawing board or the fitting room.

Known for her satiric fashion sense and flair for comedy, Joel Schumacher gave Mona a chance to depart into the world of film noir with "8MM." She created the clothes for this dark, dank journey into the underworld of realism and dressed Nicolas Cage, Joaquin Poenix, James Gandolfini.

May went on to her first period piece, "The Haunted Mansion," in 1880 New Orlean's. Specialty costumes, prosthetics, visual effects and the need for historical accuracy were a few of the challenges she faced for this. Dressing hundreds of extras in fantasy attire for an elaborate Mardi Gras ball, zombies in various states of decay and dozens of ghosts who needed to appear translucent and glowing. Working with the director of photography and the digital effects team, May painted the ghost costumes with a substance that was able to emit reflected light, causing the clothes themselves to become a special effect.

Disney's "Enchanted" fairy tale world starts out in 2-D animation and collides with modern-day New York City. Mona May reinvents these iconic magical characters with the influence of Art Nouveau blending animated art with high fashion. May seamlessly manifests these costumes in each of the 3 mediums. Queen Narissa's (Susan Sarandon) high collar, chromed crown and translucent dragon cape stand out on 42nd street, one minute from being on the pages of Women's Wear Daily. Princess Giselle (Amy Adams) gowns are the new sought-after fashion for young girls sold at the Disney Store! And, Patrick Dempsey (Amy's love interest in the modern world) is just sought after!

"I Know What Boys Like," an Adam Sandler produced film with Anna Farris as a playboy bunny was May's return to the commercial world of trendy fashion and make-over's with a message. Believing in yourself and knowing what counts is on the inside.

Mona May was born in Calcutta, India to European parents and grew up in Poland and Germany. Her father was a Diplomat and her mother has an Art Gallery in Berlin. Educated in Europe, Mona speaks four languages and studied Fashion in Europe and America.

ALAN MENKEN (Composer / Songs by), who has won more Academy Awards® than any other living person, is world-renowned as the composer of the songs and scores to “The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin,” “Newsies,” “Pocahontas,” “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” “Hercules” and “Home on the Range,” as well as the songs to the stage and film versions of “Little Shop of Horrors” and the score for Disney’s recent film re-release of “The Shaggy Dog.” The Broadway version of “Beauty and the Beast” recently closed after a smashingly successful 13-year run. “The Little Mermaid – The Musical” will premiere at the same Theater on Broadway next month. Other work includes: Madison Square Garden’s stage and NBC film productions of “A Christmas Carol,” plus the stage productions of “King David,” “God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater,” “Real Life Funnies,” “The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz,” “Weird Romance” and “Der Glöckner Von Notre Dame.”

His collaborators have included: Howard Ashman, Stephen Schwartz, Tim Rice, Lynn Ahrens, David Zippel, Jack Feldman Glenn Slater, and David Spencer. In addition to winning eight Oscars®, he has been nominated 14 times. He has also won seven Golden Globes and 10 Grammys, as well as the London Evening Standard, Olivier, New York Drama Critics, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards. His other achievements include: Billboard’s # 1 album (“Pocahontas”) and # 1 single (“A Whole New World”). Alan Menken is the recipient of The Disney Legends award - honoring those individuals whose body of work has made a significant impact on the Disney Legacy. His upcoming projects include: stage versions of “The Little Mermaid,” “Leap of Faith,” and “Sister Act.”

Stephen Schwartz (Songs by) previously collaborated with composer Alan Menken on the Disney animated features “Pocahontas” (which won Academy Awards®, for Best Song and Best Score and the Golden Globe for Best Song) and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” He wrote the songs for the DreamWorks animated feature “The Prince of Egypt,” which also won an Academy Award® for Best Song.

Also for Disney, he provided music and lyrics for the original television musical “Geppetto,” seen on “The Wonderful World of Disney,” and the theme song and other material for Disney Channel's current "Johnny and the Sprites".

For theater, he has contributed music and/or lyrics to “Godspell, “Pippin,” “The Magic Show,” “The Baker’s Wife,” “Working” (which he also adapted and directed), “Personals,” “Rags,” “Children of Eden” and the current Broadway and international hit, “Wicked.”

Other credits include: English texts for Leonard Bernstein’s “Mass” (in collaboration with the composer); the title song for the play and movie “Butterflies Are Free;” and, for children, a picture book “The Perfect Peach” and a one-act musical, “Captain Louie.” He has released two CD’s of new songs entitled “Reluctant Pilgrim” and “Uncharted Territory.”

Under the auspices of the ASCAP Foundation in alliance with Disney, he runs musical theater workshops in New York and Los Angeles. Mr. Schwartz serves on the board of governors of ASCAP and the council of the Dramatists’ Guild. Additional awards and honors include four Grammy Awards, four Drama Desk Awards, and a tiny handful of tennis trophies.

DAWN SOLÉR (Music Supervisor) has been a dynamic entity in the world of music supervision for over 20 years and has worked on more than 100 films and television shows. She began her career at Inaudible Productions, working with notable industry veteran Peter Afterman. After starting her own company, Working Music, she went on to create several hit soundtracks for New Line Cinema, including “Now and Then,” “Dumb & Dumber” and “Don Juan DeMarco,” which garnered both Academy Award® and Grammy nominations.

Joining PolyGram Film Entertainment in 1995, she created and headed up a music division for the growing film conglomerate. One of her first missions was to help Tim Robbins put together a stellar group of artists (including Bruce Springsteen, Eddie Vedder and Johnny Cash) to write and record songs for the film “Dead Man Walking.” This gold soundtrack was followed by her music supervision of “Home for the Holidays,” “What Dreams May Come” and “Hi-Lo Country.” As Executive in Charge of Music, she also guided the musical direction for “The Game,” “Gridlock’d,” “Sleepers,” “French Kiss,” “Elizabeth,” “Notting Hill” and numerous other PolyGram Films.

After the dissolution of PolyGram, Soler went back to her roots of independent music supervision with her company Working Music. Some of the projects that she has completed are “Being John Malkovich,” “Princess Diaries I & II,” “Sweet Home Alabama,” “Moonlight Mile,” “Raising Helen” and “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.” Dawn just completed Disney’s ENCHANTED before making her leap from features to television.

Dawn joined ABC Studios in December, 2006, to head the new Music Department. Just like in her past, she has hit the ground running to make ABC Studios the prominent leader of music on television. By using her priceless knowledge of the music business and her well-cultivated relationships, she has been able to, in a very short time, catapult the quality of music to a whole new level. One of her greatest feats—securing George Micheal to appear in the premiere episode of “Eli Stone.” Even with such an amazing start to her move to ABC Studios, this is just the beginning for Dawn Soler. She has a lot more musical memories to create for her new ABC family.

On a personal note, Dawn lives in Thousand Oaks with her husband of 10 years and almost two-and-a-half year-old daughter. She thrives on cooking, gardening and fine wine.

JAMES BAXTER (Animation Director) was born in Bristol, England, in May, 1967, and moved to Bishop’s Stortford six months later. He started experimenting on little animation tests with an 8mm camera at age 16. After a one-year art foundation course at Cambridge College of Arts & Technology, Baxter attended the West Surrey College of Arts & Design. He studied animation for one year before leaving to work on “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” with Richard Williams in London. James started as an inbetweener and finished as an animator.

In 1988, James moved to Burbank, California, to work at the Walt Disney Company. He worked on three pictures and a short: “The Little Mermaid,” “The Rescuers Down Under,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “Tummy Trouble.” James took a two-year break to work in London at Passion Pictures and in San Francisco at Colossal Pictures, working on commercials for both. In 1992, James returned to the Walt Disney Company and served as a supervising animator on two more pictures—“The Lion King” and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”

James made the move from Disney to DreamWorks SKG in 1996 and animated and supervised animation on six feature films, which included “The Prince of Egypt,” “The Road to El Dorado,” “Spirit, Stallion of the Cimarron,” “Sinbad, Legend of the Seven Seas,” “Shrek 2” and “Madagascar.” At the beginning of 2005, he left DreamWorks to start his own studio—James Baxter Animation. In addition to animating and supervising, Baxter lectures frequently on the subject of animation at colleges and animation studios.