Marlon West is an effects animator who is Head of Effects Animation and Visual Effects Supervisor for Walt Disney Animation Studios. He has twice been nominated for Annie Awards, winning for his effects animation work on ''Moana'' in 2017.

Early life

West became interested in film and animation as a child. He often made short films with an 8mm camera, casting neighborhood kids in his films. He was also interested in making stop-motion films in the style of ''Jason and the Argonauts''. West graduated from University City High School in University City, Missouri in 1981. He then attended

Columbia College Chicago Columbia College Chicago is a Private college, private art college in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1890, it has 5,928https://about.colum.edu/effectiveness/pdf/spring-2021-student-profile.pdf students pursuing degrees in more than 60 undergra ...

where he got a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree in Filmmaking and a Bachelors of Arts degree in Creative Writing in 1985.

Career

Early career

After West graduated from

he worked at a film studio called Hyperion Studios in Los Angeles on two films '' Rover Dangerfield'' and '' Bebe's Kids''. Before he started working at Disney he was freelance animator and worked on commercials and music videos. He's worked on music videos for both The Beastie Boys and

Paula Abdul Paula Julie Abdul (born June 19, 1962) is an American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 and later became the head choreograph ...

. He started as a trainee for Walt Disney Animation Studios in 1994 and his first project was '' The Lion King''.

Current career

He is currently the Head of Effects Animation and is a Visual Effects Animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios. West is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and is on the Board of Governors, specifically the Animation branch.

Art

In 2020 in the wake of the George Floyd murder, West was inspired to create a series of what he called "Ink Tributes" to civil rights heroes and victims of police brutality. He started out by posting his drawings on his social media pages and he has since created over 40 of these tributes. Some of his first tributes were to Breonna Taylor,

George Floyd George Perry Floyd Jr. (October 14, 1973 – May 25, 2020) was an African-American man who was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an arrest made after a store clerk suspected Floyd may have used a counterfeit twe ...

, and Vice President Kamala Harris. West's own son inspired two of his tributes for Nina Pop and Tony McDade. West's son inspired these portraits because he is also transgender. His art was debuted at th
Museum of Social Justice
in Los Angeles on August 13, 2022.

Filmography

Films

TV series

Short films

Other credits

Acting roles

Awards and nominations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:West, Marlon Animators from Missouri Special effects coordinators Year of birth missing (living people) Living people