Clarksville, TN – Animation duo Tom and Tony Bancroft, who have worked on iconic Disney films such as The Lion King, Mulan, Aladdin, and Beauty and the Beast, will speak at Austin Peay State University (APSU) during a free public event on Thursday, September 11th, 2025, at 6:00pm in Art + Design Room 120.
Austin Peay State University’s Department of Art + Design, with support from the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts, will host the Bancroft brothers as they discuss their work, careers, and the highlights of a life spent building characters. The two have worked as supervising animators, directors, authors, university faculty, and more, and currently host The Bancroft Brothers Animation Podcast (available on Spotify or Apple Podcasts).
About the Artists
Tom Bancroft has over 25 years of experience in the animation industry, much of which was for Walt Disney Feature Animation. He was an animator on four animated shorts and eight feature films, including Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Aladdin, Pocahontas, Mulan, and Brother Bear. He has been nominated for Annie and Reuben division awards, spoken at the Kennedy Center and awarded an entry into the Chicago Children’s Film Festival.
Bancroft left Disney in 2000 to follow his heart and help Big Idea Productions, creators of the popular VeggieTales animated series, create their first feature film, Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie. While there, he also directed and co-created the popular 2D animated video series Larryboy: The Cartoon Adventures.
Additionally, Bancroft has illustrated over 50 children’s books, is the creator and president of the art instruction website TaughtByAPro.com, co-creator of a daily sketching prompt app (SketchBite), co-host of the most popular animation podcast on iTunes (The Bancroft Brothers Animation Podcast), and is Artist in Residence for the Animation undergraduate program he developed for Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee, where he lives with his family.
With over 30 years in the animation industry, Tony Bancroft has been creatively involved in almost every position making animated films, videos, commercials, and short films. His animation and directing skills have been sharpened and honed while working at Walt Disney Feature Animation, Sony Pictures, his own animation company, Toonacious Family Entertainment, and currently, as an independent contractor working with Disney, Warner Brothers, and many more.
Bancroft was accepted into the exclusive California Institute of the Arts (Cal-Arts) in 1987, where he thrived artistically and developed a lifelong passion for animation. Soon after, he realized one of his childhood dreams as he was hired to animate for Walt Disney Animation Studios.
During his 12-year career with Disney, Bancroft helped create and animate Pumbaa, the lovable warthog in The Lion King; ?Kronk, the dim-witted sidekick in The Emperor’s New Groove; Cogsworth the nervous clock from Beauty and the Beast; and Iago the pestering parrot in Aladdin.
Bancroft’s most notable accomplishments include being the co-director of Disney’s animated film, Mulan, for which he received the Annie Award for Director of the Year from ASIFA-International; and animation supervisor of Sony’s Stuart Little 2, for which he received the Visual Effects Society’s top award for character animation.
Bancroft also served as the animation director for Stuart Little 2, and, in 2003, was the voice director of the English language version of the Hayao Miyazaki film Porco Rosso through Walt Disney Studios.
About the APSU Department of Art + Design
Established in 1927, the Austin Peay State University Department of Art + Design is one of the original departments at Austin Peay State University. Accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design, the department offers studies in animation, art education, art history, ceramics, drawing, digital media, graphic design, illustration, painting, photography, printmaking, and sculpture.
The department is housed in the APSU College of Arts and Letters and consists of 19 full-time faculty for approximately 350 students. Three on-campus galleries also support the art and design programs. In 2017 the department moved into a state-of-the-art building.The APSU Department of Art + Design also houses the Goldsmith Press and Rare Type Collection, a remarkable collection of antique and vintage wooden letterforms.
To learn more about the department, contact McLean Fahnestock, department chair, at fahnestockm@apsu.edu.
About the APSU Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts
Since 1985, the Austin Peay State University Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts (CECA, or “seek-ah”) has been providing students, the Clarksville community, and the Middle Tennessee region with engaging experiences through the Art + Design, Music, Theatre & Dance, and Creative Writing programs at APSU.
CECA brings as many as 85 guest artists to Clarksville each year and presents up to 100 public arts & culture events annually, including concerts, exhibitions, artist lectures, master classes, artist residencies, and more.
In addition, CECA provides the arts faculty at APSU with research opportunities to enhance their professional growth as well as numerous student scholarships each year to support APSU’s own emerging artists.
