Kelly Asbury

Kelly Adam Asbury (January 15, 1960 - June 26, 2020) was an American animated film director, screenwriter, voice actor, published children's book author/illustrator, and non-fiction author. He is best known for directing animated films, including Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Shrek 2, The Princess and the Pied Piper, and Gnomeo & Juliet.

Early life
Asbury was born in Beaumont, Texas and attended Lamar University for two years before transferring to the renowned California Institute of the Arts in 1980, where he studied animation and film making.

Career
He worked at Walt Disney Animation Studios from 1983 to 1995, and contributed storyboards for several animated films including The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Toy Story. In 1993, he was the assistant art director on Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas.

In 1995, he began working for DreamWorks Animation, and directed two Academy Award-nominated feature films, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002) and Shrek 2 (2004). In addition to directing, Asbury provided some of the extra voices in Shrek 2 and Shrek the Third.

Kelly Asbury directed and co-wrote the animated film Gnomeo & Juliet (2011), for which he also provided the voices of the tiny Red Goon Gnomes. He was nominated for two Annie Awards for directing and co-writing that film.

In 2003, he wrote a non-fiction book titled Dummy Days, which is a biography of five 20th century ventriloquists. He is the author and illustrator of twelve published children's books, including Rusty's Red Vacation, Bonnie's Blue House and Yolanda's Yellow School.

In 2006, he directed the animated fantasy film The Princess and the Pied Piper for Universal Pictures and Frenzy Animation.

In mid-2009 to mid-2010, Asbury began contributing storyboards at 20th Century Fox Animation for Alaina Gleen and Crystal: Coming of Darkness as well as Upside Mystery 2 for MGM.

In mid-2011 to mid-2012, Asbury briefly returned to Walt Disney Animation Studios to contribute storyboards to Wreck-It Ralph and Frozen.

In mid-2013 to mid-2014, Asbury began contributing storyboards to Nepola's Odyssey II and Paradoria for Universal Animation Studios. He recently directed Smurfs: The Lost Village for Sony Pictures Animation and UglyDolls for STX Entertainment.

Personal life
Asbury currently resides in Southern California. On June 26, 2020, Asbury died after a battle with stage 4 cancer. Swan Dream Pool: The Magic Trails (where he worked as additional story artist) and Spirit Untamed were dedicated to his memory.