Jennifer Lee (filmmaker)

Jennifer Lee
Lee at the premiere of Disney's Frozen at the El Capitan Theatre on November 19, 2013.
Born	Jennifer Michelle Rebecchi 1971 (age 45–46) Providence, Rhode Island, United States
Residence	San Fernando Valley, California, United States
Alma mater	University of New Hampshire Columbia University School of the Arts
Occupation	Film director, screenwriter
Years active	2004–present
Known for	Wreck-It Ralph Frozen Zootopia
Spouse(s)	Robert Monn (m. 1999–?; divorced)
Children	1

Jennifer Michelle Lee (born 1971 as Jennifer Michelle Rebecchi) is an American screenwriter and film director best known as the writer and director of the 2013 Disney animated feature Frozen, for which she earned an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. She also co-wrote Wreck-It Ralph (2012), and was credited for story contributions to Zootopia (2016).

Lee is the first female director of a Walt Disney Animation Studios feature film, the first writer at any major animation studio to become a director, and the first female director of a feature film that earned more than $1 billion in gross box office revenue.

Lee was born in 1971 to Linda Lee and Saverio Rebecchi, who were living in Barrington at the time; after their divorce, Lee and her older sister, Amy, lived with their mother in East Providence, Rhode Island. Both Lee and her older sister graduated from East Providence High School and the University of New Hampshire. Lee earned a bachelor's degree in English in 1992 and went to New York City, where she worked as a graphic artist in publishing; she designed audiobooks for Random House. As an adult, she began using her mother's maiden name, Lee, in a professional capacity and in January 1995, legally changed her last name from Rebecchi to Lee.

After the loss of a dear person at age 20, she wanted to tell her own stories. At around 30 years old, she entered Columbia University School of the Arts and earned a Master of Fine Arts in film. There she met Phil Johnston, her future writing partner on Wreck-It Ralph. Lee graduated from Columbia in 2005 and stayed in New York City, where she developed a background in live-action film, working as assistant director on and producer of the short film in 2004, "A Thousand Words".