Roger Allers

Roger Allers
Allers at the 34th Annie Awards in 2007
Born	1949 (age 67–68) Rye, New York
Residence	Venice, California
Occupation	Film director, writer, storyboard artist, animator, playwright
Years active	1970–present
Known for	The Lion King
Spouse(s)	Leslee Allers
Children	2

Roger Allers (born 1949) is an American film director, screenwriter, storyboard artist, animator and playwright. He is most well known for co-directing the highest-grossing 2D animated film of all time, Walt Disney Animation Studios' The Lion King, and for writing the Broadway adaptation, The Lion King.

Born in Rye, New York but raised in Scottsdale, Arizona, Allers became a fan of animation, at the age of five, after seeing Disney's Peter Pan. Deciding that he wanted to pursue a career at Disney and even work alongside Walt Disney himself, a few years later, he was sent off to Disneyland for a do-it-yourself animation kit. However, Allers, by then a high school student, grew discouraged about achieving his dream when he heard of Walt Disney's death in 1966.

Despite not getting the chance to meet Walt, Allers still pressed on to receive a Fine Arts degree from Arizona State University. But when he enrolled in a class at Harvard University, he realized his interest in animation has been revitalized. After receiving his degree in Fine Arts, he spent the next two years traveling and living in Greece. While there, he spent some time living in a cave, and eventually met Leslee, whom he later married. As a young adult, Allers accepted a job with Lisberger Studios, where he worked as an animator for projects such as Sesame Street, The Electric Company, Make a Wish, and various other commercials.

In 1978, he relocated to Los Angeles with Steven Lisberger to work on a feature film titled Animalympics to which he provided story work, character design and animation for the film. Three years later, Allers found work serving as part of the storyboard team for Tron, which was the first theatrical feature film he worked on. In 1980, Allers and his family moved to Toronto, Canada, where he worked for Nelvana Studios as an animator on a feature titled Rock & Rule. Following a brief return to Los Angeles, Allers provided character design, preliminary animation, and story development for the Japanese-produced animated feature, Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland. For the next two years, he resided in Tokyo to serve as an animation director overseeing the Japanese artists.